Oh, this again? Time after time an arena tour is announced and one slice of the general ticket-buying public responds with some degree of shock-and-horror about how much it costs to get in. Today’s edition features Kendrick Lamar, whose recently announced run of early 2018 European and UK dates has been met with a weird breed of entitlement, as though seeing him shouldn’t be a costly expense.
Cast a casual eye over Twitter – the de facto place of Bad (and self-centred) Opinions – and you’ll easily spot people venting their frustration at having to pay what is a seemingly very average price (£80 for a standing ticket) for London’s gigantic O2 Arena. And because Lamar has a song called “Humble”, the jokes, obviously, go something like this: “kendrick lamar tickets are £80? not very humble that is it”. Yeah, hehe, real good one. Easy, dumb, boring lols.
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Of course it’s easy to understand that, for some, sending eighty sheets across to Ticketmaster in exchange for a ticket isn’t really possible and to do so would be at the detriment of eating food or other essential daily necessities. But to speak on the topic of whether £80 is too much for a ticket to what will likely be a high-end production arena show… what were people expecting? That Kendrick Lamar at the O2 would cost £20? Less than a pair of Air Max trainers?
The conversation regarding ticket prices comes down to the increasing entitlement of music fans – one that started with Napster and grew with Spotify – and the continuing devaluation of art, whether it should be paid for, how much it should cost. Okay, maybe that’s slightly too drastic. But at what point do we draw the line on music fans expecting something to cost less than it does? When do we just say, mate did you not expect seeing a world-renowned, Grammy-winning artist perform live to be a little expensive?
The Metro published an op-ed on Wednesday that argued by putting on a show at The O2 Arena – and therefore having to charge higher ticket prices to match higher overheads (something not mentioned in their piece) – Kendrick Lamar was placing the opportunity to see him live firmly in the hands of the middle classes, which is a fair point. However, besides putting on a free show or adding a smaller venue to an already packed schedule it’s hard to see how Lamar could reduce prices for his European tour and be able to meet demand for the number of people who want to see him. And even then a show at a lower-tier venue would likely be priced around £35, not much less than the cheapest tickets on the DAMN tour (seated tickets cost £58.25).
Then there’s the other argument – that even if Lamar were to do these smaller shows, would he be pleased and happy within himself? Would he be able to present his work in the way he wants it to be presented? Looking at his performance at this year’s MTV VMAs you can see how large his stage productions are – featuring pyrotechnics, stuntmen and the like, hardly something that can be achieved in a small venue and for a low price. It’s the kind of thing that rivals a Broadway show (bro, the Lion King cost between £45-£142), hence the current price tag for this tour. To charge less would surely diminish the show as there wouldn’t be enough to cover overheads.
Once the stage and everything in and around it has been paid for through ticket sales (including tour opener James Blake, don’t forget), Lamar and his team presumably want (and deserve?!) to make money from their work. Surely that’s something they should feel entitled to, rather than it being perceived as a nuisance by the music fan who feels entitled to get more for less. And that, ultimately, is why people should stop complaining. More value should be placed on art, it shouldn’t be cheap or free; it’s something that takes talent and time. Obviously Lamar and his ticket prices are at the higher-end of the scale but the sense of deserving work of this quality for less is emblematic of a wider issue. And, call me old-fashioned or whatever, it’s an idea that should get the fuck outta here.
You can find Ryan on Twitter.
