Music fans and a major producer are furious after the CEO of Live Nation said concert tickets are actually underpriced.
Michael Rapino, the President and CEO of Live Nation Entertainment, recently said concert tickets should actually be more expensive. Yes, you read that right.
“Music has been under-appreciated,” Rapino said, during CNBC and Boardroom’s Game Plan conference last week.
“In sports, I joke it’s like a badge of honour to spend 70 grand for a Knicks courtside [seat]. They beat me up if we charge $800 for Beyoncé.”
“The average concert price is $72, try going to a Lakers game for that,” Rapino said. “The concert is underpriced, it has been for a long time.”
He went on to say that the industry has changed, with artists generating 98 per cent of their income from live performances.
“The record label, all the other ways they made money are irrelevant now, the show is where they’re making their money.”
“We just did the Beyoncé tour; she’s got 62 transport trucks outside. That’s a Super Bowl she’s putting on every night,” he explained, saying that 10 years ago, bigger artists would tour with around 12 trucks.
He says that artists are elevating the experience of concertgoers, and as such, prices have gone up.
“The cost has gone up, but the investment [is] in the experience,” he continued, saying that artists are actually forfeiting income to improve their shows for fans.
“You hear about these $100 million gross (income) that artists, depending on the show, he may only take home 30 per cent of that, he’s spending 70 on the show.”
Music producer Jack Antoff, best known as lead singer of the rock band Bleachers and a favourite producer of Taylor Swift, called out Rapinoe on X, saying that his take on ticket pricing was “sick.”
“This really breaks my heart and is a sick way of looking at it,” Antoff posted to X on Thursday.
“[The] answer is simple: selling a ticket for more than its face value should be illegal. Then there is no chaos, and you give us back the control instead of creating a bizarre free market of confusion amongst the audience who we love and care for,” he said in another post.
“As always when I read things like that I call my people right away to think of new ideas around it. we’ll never stop doing that. It could all be so easy if the people up top didn’t see the audience as a faceless group to extort money from.”
FANS SOUND OFF ON CONCERT TICKET PRICING
Online, music fans are sharing their thoughts on Rapino’s comments. Many feel his opinion is a reflection of his own wealth — Rapino’s 2025 net worth is approximately $997.1 million USD, as per VICE News.
“Badge of honour to spend 70 grand for Knicks tickets,” a Redditor said. “This just tells what kind of wealth bubble people like this guy live in. No wonder they think like this.”
“Yeah, $70,000 for 41 games, comes to $1700 per game. And I wasn’t counting the 3 preseason games you also get,” another Redditor said. “Buying a courtside seat for 1 game is like $4k-$5k.”
“And it’s not just this guy. Most politicians, billionaires and CEOs think the same way. This is one of the reasons why the first world is self-imploding, and everything is getting so expensive. We need to do something about it.”
“Most households don’t have enough money saved up for an emergency, let alone $70k for concert tickets. F**k corporate greed.”
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Rapino’s comments come at a time when many people have already been sharing complaints about the rising cost of attending not just concerts but other events as well, including TIFF, and the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.
