UK concert ticket prices continue to soar- but who is actually benefiting?
image credits: Andre Benz
The music industry is facing a ticket price crisis, frustrating fans and making live music less accessible.
Click below to jump to one of the following:
- Why are ticket prices rising?
- Ticket fees rise: the hidden costs
- Dynamic pricing is a problem
- Ticket reselling
- Small steps towards consumer protection
Why are ticket prices rising?
Prices surge
Concert ticket prices have increased rapidly in recent years, rising 42% overall since the pandemic, with a 23% jump last year alone. Fans are feeling this, with Observer analysis showing that fans are paying mark-ups as high as 41% over a ticket’s face value. But these increases aren’t necessarily translating into higher profits for artists, instead there’s a “cost of touring” crisis.
The true cost of touring
For artists, touring has become more expensive:
- Transport: Rising fuel prices and a post-Brexit shortage of drivers has pushed up premiums.
- Freight costs: Large-scale tours, like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, can require up to 50 trucks, including insurance of up to £3.8 million per truck.
- Accommodation: Hotel prices have doubled in the last five years, needed for the crew.
- Catering and stage equipment: Both are essential but increasingly expensive.
These costs leave artists with minimal profit margins. Despite price hikes, a large proportion of revenue is swallowed by production expenses. UK Music’s 2024 report argues this is only making touring more difficult, particularly for smaller artists.
Streaming’s role
Streaming has also affected artists’ revenue streams, dropping significantly since the days of vinyls and CDs. With many musicians earning just 5% of their income from streaming, many rely on tours for profitability.
Ticket fees rise: the hidden costs
Ticket fees are something we all hate seeing slapped onto the price of concert tickets once we reach the checkout. Whilst ticket fees have always been around, these fees have risen from adding 18% onto the face value of the tickets, to averages exceeding 25%.
For instance a £20 ticket for a February concert at the O2 Academy incurred a 41% markup, consisting of a booking fee, venue levy fee, a processing fee, and a fee for having a mobile ticket. Ticketmaster have defended these fees as necessary to cover operational costs and ‘prevent ticket bots’.
Whilst the music industry “may be the worst example of rampant commercialism,” this problem also extends to theatre, sports, and tourist attractions.
“Tickets for popular gigs can be eye-wateringly expensive, and it’s no surprise consumers feel taken for a ride when they see sneaky extra fees for booking and processing added at the checkout.”
Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, pleased with the new consumer protection laws.
Dynamic pricing is a problem
Dynamic pricing, where tickets prices fluctuate based on demand, has angered fans. Ticketmaster recently used this for Oasis’s reunion tour, frustrating fans that queued for hours to find that standing tickets that started at £135 rose to £355.
This practice has prompted a Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation into Ticketmaster’s practices. The CMA is examining whether:
- Ticketmaster engaged in unfair commercial practices prohibited under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
- Consumers were given clear and timely information explaining the tickets were subject to dynamic pricing and how it would operate.
- Consumers were pressured into quick decisions to buy tickets, and at a higher price than they understood.
“It’s important that fans are treated fairly when they buy tickets, which is why we’ve launched this investigation. It’s clear that many people felt they had a bad experience and were surprised by the price of their tickets at check-out.”
Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA.
Speaking in Parliament, Emma Foody, Cramlington and Killingworth MP, vented her frustration at the ridiculous scheme. Likening it to being in a supermarket where people would be furious if the price suddenly changed when you got to the checkout, she questioned, “why should we be any less furious when it happens on a website?”
Dynamic pricing exploits fans’ emotional attachment to artists. As Gideon Gottfried, Pollstar’s European Editor notes, many make “irrational decisions” to secure tickets for their favourite artists, distorting the market.
Ticket reselling
Secondary ticketing platforms worsen the problem, often selling tickets way over face value. A £50 ticket for an Olivia Rodrigo concert in 2025 was listed for £2,573 on Viagogo- a 5,146% markup.
Remarkably, one in five tickets end up on secondary platforms, costing consumers an estimated £145 million annually. Touts and bots dominate these markets, buying tickets in bulk and inflating prices, unfortunately pricing many genuine fans out of the “events and experiences they love.”
Efforts are underway to address this, as the Labour government vowed to tackle ticket resales. Debated in Westminster in October 2024, the government is clearly trying to start the conversation on restricting ticket reselling.
Backing the government’s plans to protect fans against ticket exploitation through new laws, O2 is also “tired of professional ticket touts abusing the ticket marketplace and stealing tickets out of fans’ hands, only to immediately relist them at inflated prices.” Implementing its own measures to block bots, it prevented 50,000 suspected bots from entering its Priority platform in just six weeks.
“This has been a priority focus for the CMA for several years, having previously taken enforcement action and recommended changes to improve the secondary tickets market. We are committed to working closely with government to tackle the longstanding challenges in the ticket market.”
Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA.
Additionally, the EU has introduced measures to protect against ticket reselling. These include capping resale prices and mandating transparency in ticket availability, a strategy that the UK could consider adopting.
Small steps towards consumer protection
From April 2025, new consumer protection laws will require ticket platforms to display all fees upfront, aiming to eliminate “drip pricing.” Moreover, the CMA is working with the government to improve transparency and regulate resale practices.
For now, the surge in ticket prices seemingly benefits no one but ticket companies and resellers. While fans struggle to afford tickets and artists battle rising costs, the industry’s profiteers continue to exploit fans.
The government’s initial steps are promising, but real change will require sustained pressure from fans, industry advocates, and the CMA. Until then, live music risks alienating more consumers from the experiences that they love.