Here Is Another Way For Your Show Tickets To Cost More

Image by Anna Sulencka from Pixabay

Are you ready for the latest premium added to the cost of the seats at your next concert? Paying for convenience is now everything.

From Billboard.com:

Taking cues from the travel industry, Live Nation has recently begun to offer aisle seats at select shows at a surcharge of between $5 and $30 a pop. Now labeled as “premium aisle seats,” the seat at the end of each row and as many as three additional seats further into the row are being promoted on Ticketmaster as an option for fans who are looking to “enjoy the convenience of easy access to refreshments, restrooms and venue exits.”

“Lots of artists are doing it — people will pay more for them. You look at the seat map and the aisle seats are all sold,” says Paradigm agent Larry Webman, who helped book Sara Bareilles’ latest tour. “Live Nation pitched that it works, and in Sara’s case we rolled the dice with them and it seems to be coming to fruition.”

The brainchild of Live Nation senior vp touring Brad Wavra, the premium aisle seat option is helping many artists and their camps boost revenue in a saturated live entertainment market, though aisle price hikes must be approved by both the artist and the promoter.

“It’s such a no-brainer it’s amazing it hasn’t been thought of before,” says Artist Group International chairman Dennis Arfa. “Many of our shows, whether it’s Billy Joel or Rod Stewart, we’ve noticed that the aisle seats are a contribution to the face-lift of the tickets. On an arena or stadium act, it could easily be six figures a night. If you’re a theater act and it’s 20 grand a night, that’s a big number.”

So you could be in the very back row, 4 seats from the isle, and still paying a premium? What is next? Bathroom reservations?

Susan Saunders 5/29/19

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