Concert tickets are expensive, and the price you pay today might not be the price someone else pays tomorrow.
WATCH: Pabst Theater Group CEO reveals what fans get wrong about buying concert tickets
A viewer recently shared a striking example: He bought tickets months in advance, only to later see similar seats selling for half the price. His original purchase came to $115 per ticket. Three months later, the current price was $54 each — a difference of $61 per ticket.
It's a frustration Keenan Schwartz knows well.
"The fees and stuff are crazy, like ridiculous," Schwartz said.
Schwartz, who lives in Milwaukee, said he has experienced the sting of post-purchase price drops firsthand.
"Yeah, yep, all the time," Schwartz said when asked if he had ever bought tickets to a live event and then seen the prices drop afterward.
So who sets ticket prices, and why do some tickets get cheaper closer to showtime? Gary Witt, CEO and co-owner of the Pabst Theater Group, which oversees several major Milwaukee concert venues, broke it down.
"Well, ticket prices are overall approved and accepted by the artist because it's somewhat based on a scale of economy, based on how much the artist gets paid," Witt said.
However, Witt says that once tickets leave the primary market, artists lose control over the price.
"They define really where the ticket prices are, but they don't define it once it leaves the primary market and the primary venue's hands. Once it gets bought and someone tries to resell it somewhere else in America, you could sell it for as much as possible," Witt said.
Witt says the broader trend is hard to ignore, and points to one dominant force behind it.
"It's just factual that ticket pricing is 10 times outpaced inflation. I think that what you see is the net result of what happens in an industry when the industry is dominated by a monopoly," Witt said.
Witt says that dominance gives Live Nation and Ticketmaster sweeping control over the entire concert experience. As for why prices sometimes fall before a show, Witt offered a straightforward explanation.
"I mean, at the end, when tickets are less it's solely because they just need to sell them because they have a face value investment in the tickets," Witt said.
Witt says the frustration is felt on both sides of the transaction.
"I mean, this is an extinction-level event if we don't allow consumers, regular people, access to go to shows," Witt said.
Many fans assume buying early guarantees the best deal. Witt says that's not necessarily true — but there is one habit worth keeping.
"Buying directly from the venue is the best way to always do it," Witt said.
He added that the safest approach is to follow the artist's lead on where to buy.
"Follow the band and go where the band tells you to buy tickets," Witt said. "The other thing is, if you're a Milwaukeean, the best thing you can do is become a Pabst Theater Group member because you'll always have access to buy tickets first, and they'll always be the best priced seats because we nurture and develop our community. We want to make sure that we can find a way to get people to experience the 6 venues that we have and be able to see a show."
The risks of buying outside official channels can be severe. Witt described a recent incident at the High Life Theater during a David Byrne show.
"We had to turn someone away who had spent $900 a ticket on tickets for the David Byrne Show, buying tickets that were $100 per ticket. The tickets that they bought from a secondary market scalper were not even legal tickets," Witt said. "They were fake, and we had to give them information on how they could contact their credit card company and try to get the money refunded. By the way, they traveled here from Michigan to come see the show. But luckily, David and his group had returned a number of tickets that they had held for themselves, so we sold them tickets for face value. The tickets were actually better than the seats that they had thought they had purchased from a scalper."
For Schwartz, the advice is already shaping how he thinks about his next show.
"I think I'm still gonna go to Summerfest, see the free stages, but I don't know if I'll spend that much money to see the more expensive stages," Schwartz said.
The bottom line: There is no guarantee that buying early will get you the lowest price. Witt says buying directly from the venue or the artist's official ticket link is still the best way to protect yourself. He also says lawmakers across the country are taking a closer look at the ticketing industry, with more than 120 ticketing-related bills currently under consideration.
"Currently in America, there are over 120 ticketing bills that are taking place right now where America is fighting back against these groups that have become millionaires and billionaires by taking advantage of fans' love of great music or comedy or live entertainment," Witt said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
