Neil Young joins the growing number of artists trying to improve upon what he calls “the bad thing that has happened to concerts world-wide”—that is, inflated ticket prices, particularly under Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system. On his website, Young highlighted a 2024 interview with The Cure’s Robert Smith in which he criticized modern ticketing and artists who “hide behind management” when it comes to such price-gouging strategies. Young wrote that he agreed with Smith’s choice to opt out of platinum and dynamically priced tickets, and would do the same for his own 2025 tour. “It’s this story that really helped me to realize I have a choice to make and can make a difference for my music loving friends,” Young wrote.
“My management and agent have always tried to cover my back on the road, getting me the best deals they could. They have tried to protect me and the fans from scalpers who buy the best tickets and resell them at huge increases for their own profits,” the legendary singer-songwriter continued. “Ticketmaster’s high-priced Platinum tickets were introduced to the areas where scalpers were buying the most tickets for resale. The money went to me. That did not feel right. Very soon, Platinum tickets will no longer be available for my shows. I have decided to let the people work this out. Buy aggressively when the tickets come out or tickets will cost a lot more in a secondary market….”
There have of course been a lot of criticisms of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which has what’s been called a monopoly over concerts and live events. Individual artists and bands—like The Cure—have attempted to improve the ticket purchasing process for their fans in various ways. Maggie Rogers has piloted an in-person ticketing program for her last two tours to keep tickets off the secondary market; she encouraged fans to go to physical box office locations for better-priced tickets. Pearl Jam opted for “all-in” ticket pricing and limited dynamic pricing to just 10% of tickets in order to “help subsidize lower prices” for the other 90 per cent. Other artists enjoy the benefits of dynamic pricing: In 2022, Bruce Springsteen admitted that on his most recent tour he felt himself and his septuagenarian band deserved the benefit. “We have those tickets that are going to go for that [higher] price somewhere anyway. The ticket broker or someone is going to be taking that money,” he said. “I’m going, ‘Hey, why shouldn’t that money go to the guys that are going to be up there sweating three hours a night for it?'” Neil Young will eschew that type of thinking on his upcoming tour, which begins in April.
