Ripoff gigs

comerla

€70 for a gig is a ripoff.

Thats all.

AlmightyCushion

Then don't go to the concert.

SligoBrewer

comerla wrote: »

€70 for a gig is a ripoff.

Thats all.

Depends.

I'd pay 70 quid to see several artists at the minute.

comerla

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Then don't go to the concert.

I'm not going. I saw the same band last year for €45 though.

Bands cant make money from albums so its interesting how the money making machine has transformed itself.

Creamy Goodness

don't think that all the money goes to the band, the promoter gets a huge chunk especially in this country as it's so expensive to host an event even if it was one guy ****ting in a toliet.

comerla

Yes you are dead right it is the promoter that sets the price.

I know that insurance is high here but the profit is also high. And they're crap experiences usually.

The best gigs are at small intimate clubs (and maybe electric picnic). I missed Radiohead at the ******* a few years ago and I think it was about 20 euro. Small promoters like electric underground and Ping Pong here in Cork put on world class hows usually for less than a tenner and you can get a pint easily , use the toilet and get home quickly.

But €70/ €100 for huge crowds and all the hassle? no thanks.

SligoBrewer

comerla wrote: »

Yes you are dead right it is the promoter that sets the price.

I know that insurance is high here but the profit is also high. And they're crap experiences usually.

The best gigs are at small intimate clubs (and maybe electric picnic). I missed Radiohead at the ******* a few years ago and I think it was about 20 euro. Small promoters like electric underground and Ping Pong here in Cork put on world class hows usually for less than a tenner and you can get a pint easily , use the toilet and get home quickly.

But €70/ €100 for huge crowds and all the hassle? no thanks.

€100 to see Bruce Springsteen? Worth every penny

JæKæ

Gigs don't cost near as much here in Canada and the US.
Eg. Fujiya & Miyagi Vancouver €13
Smashing Pumpkins Vancouver €44
Super Furry Animals Portland €14
Interpol Seattle €27
Ben Harper Vancouver €43
Decemberists Seattle €27
The Cure Vancouver €55
The National Vancouver €19

Ticketmaster still take a nice chunk, but the overall prices aren't extortionate. Fair enough the likes of Fujiya & Miyagi ain't too big, that's why they are cheap. But The Cure are as big as it gets, and they're $80, which is €55.

Creamy Goodness

it's like everything really,

people can justify anything...

example someone may pay €400 for a handbag, whereas someone may think it's a waste of money.
another example someone may pay €200,000+ for a ferrari, whereas someone may think it's a waste.

in the same way with gigs, i'd know i'd pay 100 euros to see some bands i know they be very few maybe the likes of Zepplin etc. but i don't think that anyone who pays these sorts of prices are mad or wasting their money as they'll probably get a once in a lifetime oppurtunity to see their favourite artist and they'll take it.

Toast

This one pops up every few months. Theres a bunch of reasons why stuff is more expensive here. The ticket tax certainly didnt help, insurance, smaller population, we're an island (travel costs for bands and equipment higher) as well as promoters here are in the habit of offsetting losses with more popular gigs and covering the costs of festival appearances with pricey individual concerts. The market has hit saturation though and a lot of high profile gigs failed to sell out last year so things should settle down a bit.

Mushy

Mr.S wrote: »

there was peice in the papers about who gets what, i think it was something like 55%? accualy goes to the artist themselves.

Exactly. Was in the Ticket yeah?

garthv

JæKæ wrote: »

Gigs don't cost near as much here in Canada and the US.
Eg. Fujiya & Miyagi Vancouver €13
Smashing Pumpkins Vancouver €44
Super Furry Animals Portland €14
Interpol Seattle €27
Ben Harper Vancouver €43
Decemberists Seattle €27
The Cure Vancouver €55
The National Vancouver €19

Ticketmaster still take a nice chunk, but the overall prices aren't extortionate. Fair enough the likes of Fujiya & Miyagi ain't too big, that's why they are cheap. But The Cure are as big as it gets, and they're $80, which is €55.

Yeah but theres a whole load of things you aren't taking into account here....
Size of the venue, whether the band will actually attract a crowd, how much of a crowd the band will attract....the list goes on really.

Ireland is a small country, with an even smaller selection of large venues, when you bring a large act over there is more expenses then you might think. Hell, I was thinking of bringing over a small norwegian post rock band a while ago there...after paying for their flights, carting their gear over, putting them in a hotel, paying for the venue, paying for advertisement and paying for tickets the venue I picked was too small to recoup the money I was spending on brining the band over. Couldn't have put them in a bigger venue because they never would have filled it.

So have a thoguht about what actually goes into bringing a band over before you moan about ticket prices.

prices have gone up due to the mass illegal downloads of music. They tour more to make up for their losses.

windowcleaner

Mushy wrote: »

Exactly. Was in the Ticket yeah?

Yes, it was The Ticket

The piece is here - http://www.ireland.com/theticket/articles/2007/1130/1196263158458.html

rubadub

They also know people have more money now, and know the prices tickets go for on the blackmarket. So now you have legal overpricing/touting, in the form of "fanclubs" and "special memberships", so you pay €50 and get some poster and the privelege to buy a ticket before normal sale.

Many younger people will not realise how dear tickets are now. I keep my old ticket stubs and remember seeing in the early-mid 90s we were going to the point almost once a month. Headlines would be Prodigy supported by the Chemical brothers, and tickets were only around £12-14 (~17euro). We went so much since a nightclub was £6-10 anyways. Whereas now the multiple has gone up huge. Cinema prices have not gone up as much, off licences have become cheaper! bar prices have not gone up much either.

There was a time when you could see a sellout artist and pay around the same for the ticket as the price of a cd. I have thought about going to see some artists but have none of their music, but could get their entire back catalogue and live dvds for the same price as a ticket now.

I do still go to gigs and pay over the odds, I am still surprised so many others do, especially what you see people paying touts outside gigs, you could get a holiday for the same money.

catch--22

Never underestimate the influence of the artists themselves on ticket prices! You can blame ticketmaster and the promoters for the hikes but if Radiohead decided that they were going to play in Dublin for €25 a ticket it will be done. They chose €70, ticketmaster and the promoters happily agreed!

Extraplus

I understand the extra overheads and why tickets are more expensive in Ireland than the rest of Europe. I wouldn't mind paying the prices if promoters but on quality gigs but they don't.

Fair enough charge more to cover overheads but at least put some effort in. But no, promoters put on gigs in poor venues with poor facilities and, worst of all, crap sound. When will promoters learn that one piece of equipment does not suit all venues and results in awful sound?

I still end up going to a lot of gigs though, so I guess I am adding to the problem!

boomshackala

IMHO the reason that gigs are more expensive AND more popular now is that the 'album' experience has been watered down as itsso easy to come by. I regularly download what I could consider to be excellent albums if I could be bothered to listen to them..I have so much...I crave the real thing now..

I paid something like 27.50 for a Presidents of The United States of America ticket today and would have gladly paid double that for one. I know they're not the biggest act and in the world but I'm sure they could have gotten away with charging 40 euro a ticket.

eth0_

My friend went to see Arcade Fire in San Francisco a few months ago for about 30 dollars. T-shirts were $25.

We then went to see them in the phoenix park, and tickets where what, 60 euro? And t-shirts were €25 which is $36.

I don't think they can justify the high prices of gigs in Ireland. It's purely because one promoter has the strangehold on most of the venues and have deals with the biggest names. Aiken gigs tend to be more reasonably priced.

Armstrong

garthv wrote: »

Ireland is a small country, with an even smaller selection of large venues, when you bring a large act over there is more expenses then you might think. Hell, I was thinking of bringing over a small norwegian post rock band a while ago there...after paying for their flights, carting their gear over, putting them in a hotel, paying for the venue, paying for advertisement and paying for tickets the venue I picked was too small to recoup the money I was spending on brining the band over. Couldn't have put them in a bigger venue because they never would have filled it.

So have a thoguht about what actually goes into bringing a band over before you moan about ticket prices.

Honestly how much more does it cost for a band to travel from London to Edinburgh than it does for a band to travel from London to Dublin?
Does all the extra expenses amount to close to 100k extra at a 10K capacity concert?

I have been to a lot of gigs in 2007 but a resolution of mine is to attend less in '08. not to be ripped off...

The majority of gigs when you walk out the door be always worth far more than you paid for the ticket.

Blatant profiteering can only be tackled in one way...

Why can't we be more like the french...

Einstein

you'll actually find that the bands prob have little to do with it. It's highly unlikely that they change the prices purely because Ireland gig goers are stupid.
Normally when events are being organised in mulitple cities, the work off a percentage, just like any other business that makes money.

for eg. if a bands/promoters want X amount of money, they will adjust the ticket prices to whatever will give them that amount. If they can do that by selling tickets for a tenner, they'd more than likely do it. But with Ireland Massive insurance premium huge venue fees, compared to other venues around europe...there's no doubt it's gonna be more expensive.

SxE Punk

I'd pay 140 to see Decapitated again anytime soon. If a band is good, I'd pay nearly anything to see them.

Like some guy said, if you aren't happy with the ticket price, don't go.

Bluetonic

eth0_ wrote: »

My friend went to see Arcade Fire in San Francisco a few months ago for about 30 dollars. T-shirts were $25.

We then went to see them in the phoenix park, and tickets where what, 60 euro? And t-shirts were €25 which is $36.

I don't think they can justify the high prices of gigs in Ireland. It's purely because one promoter has the strangehold on most of the venues and have deals with the biggest names. Aiken gigs tend to be more reasonably priced.

How much would you say an experienced typical customer services agent gets paid in Dublin? Around 25,000 euro. How much would you say in San Francisco? It's all relevant.

catch--22

villains77 wrote: »

did anybody read that article in the times about where the money actually goes for ticket prices.

As already mentioned by Windowcleaner, it's here:

http://www.ireland.com/theticket/articles/2007/1130/1196263158458.html

machiavellianme

SxE Punk wrote: »

I'd pay 140 to see Decapitated again anytime soon. If a band is good, I'd pay nearly anything to see them.

Like some guy said, if you aren't happy with the ticket price, don't go.

Is that price because you'd have to bring members back from the dead?