Coldplay tickets are cheaper in Seattle than Vancouver. Here's why

Vancouver's Maureen McCartney was excited to buy Coldplay tickets for her and her partner until she saw the good seats going for as much as $800 on Ticketmaster, the world's largest ticket seller.

The British band will be performing at Vancouver's B.C. Place on Sept. 22 and 23 — the only Canadian stop on its world tour. 

"It's just so much trouble to go to a concert," McCartney said. "It's just too cost prohibitive. And even if you could afford to go, you probably would only go to one.

Tickets are considerably less expensive in Seattle, angering fans and highlighting Ticketmaster's dominance of the ticket-selling industry.

Experts say different venue sizes with different production costs could be contributing to the price discrepancy, but it also comes down to a lack of competition and Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing policy, which automatically increases some ticket prices when demand is high.

As of Tuesday afternoon, floor tickets for the Sept. 23 Vancouver show were selling for about $300. A few upper bowl seats, farthest from the stage, were selling for about $190 before taxes and other fees. But the majority of upper bowl tickets were upwards of $300.

Meanwhile, seats in the 200-level section range from about $300 to roughly $800, according to Ticketmaster. The prices are similar for the Sept. 22 concert. 

Some Coldplay fans on Reddit and Twitter were furious at the prices and pointed out that tickets for the concert in Seattle on Sept. 20 were much cheaper. 

Upper-level seats were selling for $74.50 US as of Tuesday afternoon. Some lower-level seats were about $224 US, which works out to about $300 Cdn — less than half the price of the $800 being charged in Vancouver.

Why are tickets cheaper in Seattle?

Catherine Moore, an adjunct professor of music technology and digital media at the University of Toronto, says a range of factors, including different production costs and venue sizes, could also account for the difference in prices. 

Seattle's Lumen Field seats about 72,000 people, while B.C. Place seats 54,500, according to their websites.

"It's supply and demand. If there's fewer seats ... you think, well, there's going to be more scarcity. So, therefore, we can raise the ticket prices," Moore said.

Moore says Vancouver being the only Canadian stop on the Coldplay tour is also a huge factor.

[Promoters] feel that people might be travelling from other parts of Canada in order to go to the shows in Vancouver. And the people that can afford to travel can, therefore, afford to pay high ticket prices."

WATCH | Music technology professor outlines the factors that go into ticket pricing:

Music technology professor explains why some Vancouver concert tickets are so expensive

2 years ago

Duration 1:08

Catherine Moore, an adjunct professor of music technology and digital media at the University of Toronto, says there are a number of reasons why tickets for certain shows in Vancouver are particularly pricey.

Coldplay is performing in three U.S. cities, so there is less demand focused solely on Seattle, Moore also noted.

Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing model

Due to the high demand for Coldplay tickets in Vancouver, Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing model is increasing prices even higher, according to experts. 

For certain shows, the company will reserve a number of tickets allowing prices to fluctuate based on demand. These "dynamically priced" tickets labelled "official platinum" seats are not necessarily in a prime spot, as the name suggests, and can, in fact, be located anywhere in the venue. 

The pricing model can result in tickets being hundreds of dollars more.

"It would be great if artists had more power to ask Ticketmaster to turn off that practice," said Vass Bednar, the executive director of McMaster University's master of public policy in digital society program.

Ticketmaster did not respond to CBC's request for comment, but the company defends its dynamic pricing model.

Ticketmaster's website describes the practice as giving "fans fair and safe access to the best tickets while enabling artists and other people involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their true market value."

U.S. Ticketmaster probe could benefit Canadians: prof

U.S. senators recently grilled executives of Ticketmaster's parent company Live Nation at a hearing about the lack of competition in the ticket industry, sparked by November's fiasco involving ticket sales for Taylor Swift's upcoming concert tour.

The high demand for tickets during the pre-sale period overwhelmed the system, with site crashes, causing many people to wait eight hours or more in online queues, with tickets going for upwards of $40,000 US on secondary sales sites like StubHub.

Bednar says Canadians could likely benefit if the hearing results in changes such as Ticketmaster adjusting its business structure.

"Hopefully, that wouldn't be geographically bound to the U.S., and it would spill over and benefit us here. But that doesn't mean we should rely on the U.S. alone to kind of do our homework for us," she said.

WATCH | U.S. senators grill Live Nation:

U.S. senators tell Ticketmaster execs: You're the problem

2 years ago

Duration 2:04

Ticketmaster executives were grilled by U.S. senators at a hearing about the lack of competition in the ticketing industry after the company’s problems managing the sale of tickets for Taylor Swift's upcoming concert tour.