Identification of Factors that Influence Pricing in the US Concert Industry

This study is aimed at determining factors that influence ticket pricing in the U. S. concert industry and computing their impact on ticket prices. In order to achieve this aim multiple research methods are applied. For instance, qualitative analysis of U.S. promoters’ pricing policy is conducted in order to evaluate whether the factors mentioned in scientific publications are relevant given the current state of the U.S. concert industry. Furthermore, quantitative methods, namely text analysis of concert viewers’ feedback on “ticketmaster.com” based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation, are used to reveal the characteristics of concerts that influence customers’ valuation of concerts and performers. Both qualitatively and quantitatively detected factors are treated as exogenous variables in a multiple regression interpreting their influence on ticket prices. The results indicate that a performer’s popularity, the rating of a venue, the population of a city, VIP-status positively influence concert ticket prices, while a balcony seat and the remoteness from the stage have a negative impact on them. Moreover, country concerts on average are cheaper than pop and rock concerts.