Bruce Springsteen has made a career of writing songs about good ol’ fashioned working American people. But why can’t they afford to attend his concerts? That appears to be happening with Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing for Springsteen and The E-Street Band’s newly announced US tour dates for 2023. Tickets for concerts at arenas from Tampa Bay to Tulsa, and Boston have been going for upwards of $4,000, and not all of them are even in the floor section. Fans of The Boss are predictably fuming.
As Variety reports, Ticketmaster’s new dynamic pricing features make it so the “platinum ticket” prices fluctuate based on demand. I suppose the thinking here is to cut out the secondary market by just jacking up the prices yourself? This feels like a slap in the face to fans in the name of capitalism. “Tampa mid-floor for $4,400 each, anyone?,” the Springsteen-focused fan mag Backstreets tweeted out.
Tampa mid-floor for $4,400 each, anyone? #catchandrelease
“Ticketmaster's Official Platinum seat program enables market-based pricing (adjusting prices according to supply and demand) for live event tickets, similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold.” pic.twitter.com/8qyanN0OQA
— Backstreets Magazine (@backstreetsmag) July 20, 2022
Backstreets also cited a portion of Ticketmaster’s explanation for this controversial pricing structure, which says they are, “Similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold.” This is what the Ticketmaster copy looks like in full:
“Are Official Platinum Seats resale tickets?
No. Official Platinum Seats were not purchased initially and then posted for resale; they are being sold for the first time through Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster’s Official Platinum seat program enables market-based pricing (adjusting prices according to supply and demand) for live event tickets, similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold. The goal is to give the most passionate fans fair and safe access to the best tickets, while enabling artists and other people involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their true market value.”
For example, the Tampa tickets posted by Backstreets are $3,819 plus another $568.50 for a total of $4,388.50. All of this to see a man who famously sang about having just, “A dollar in my pocket.” Fans have called this out for being “official scalping,” and have said they’ll just resort to bootlegging the concerts online instead.
This is all going to blow up. @Ticketmaster say this is to prevent scalping. IT IS OFFICIAL SCALPING.
— WMD (@rain_again) July 20, 2022
This is why I changed my stance on bootleg streams of concerts – I can’t afford $4,000 PLUS $500 in fees to see a show. I’ll just watch in my living room
— Ryo Vie (@ryovie) July 20, 2022
There is no official response yet from Springsteen, although E-Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt tweeted, “I have nothing whatsoever to do with the price of tickets. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Bubkis. Dick.”
I have nothing whatsoever to do with the price of tickets. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Bubkis. Dick. https://t.co/NsDJvoLMWu
—
Stevie Van Zandt
(@StevieVanZandt) July 20, 2022
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