Post-1981 Rock Concert Ticket Price Hikes Revisited

 

As Sean Kay recalled in his 2017 book Rockin' The Free World: How The Rock & Roll Revolution Changed America And The World:

"..The price of concert tickets (often channeled through corporations like Live Nation and Ticketmaster) went up. By 2012, the average concert ticket price had increased abour 400 percent since 1981. This far outpaced the 150 percent increase in overall consumer price inflation."

The same book also indicated how the ownership of the corporate media radio stations which air rock music in the USA became more monopolized by only a few corporate media conglomerates--after Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs [SIPA] Professor and Columbia University SIPA's Institute of Global Politics Director Hillary Clinton's husband--Bill Clinton--signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996:

"By 2012 only 6 national corporations owned 90 percent of media outlets. The Future of Music Coalition found in 2006 that the top 4 radio station owners had almost half the listeners and the top 10 almost two-thirds of listeners in the United States. Local or regional ownership had declined by one-third between 1975 and 2005. The Future of Music Coalition concluded that `...radio consolidation has no demonstrated benefit for the public.'...

"This consolidation trend results from President Bill Clinton signing the...Telecommunications Act of 1996...Large companies--many with direct interest in controlling what programming aired--bought out regional and smaller market stations...The Future of Music Coalition shows advertising revenue increased from 12 percent market share for the top 4 companies in 1993 to 50 percent market share for the top 4 companies in 2004 while playlists from commonly owned stations in the same format overlapped up to 97 percent. For example, Clear Channel (now iHeart Radio), the Future of Music Coalition showed, `multiplied its stations holdings by a factor of 30, going from 40 stations to 1,200 within 5 years of the Telecom Act.'...

"Common Cause found that between 1997 and 2005, 8 of the nation's largest communications companies and 3 of their trade groups had spent more than $400 million on political contributions and lobbying in Washington..."