Ticketmaster has launched “all-in” pricing in the US and once again, people have got it wrong.

Once upon a time, it was very annoying to buy a plane ticket for a very specific reason. You’d see an ad in the paper promising a trip from Toronto to Vancouver for $159. “Great!” you’d say, “I’m booking!” But then the truth was revealed. That $159 price was one-way and didn’t include all the other fees passengers have to pay. Airport improvement taxes. Passenger taxes. Nav Canada fees. Sales tax. Security fee. By the time you hit checkout, that $159 ticket was well north of $400.

This was unacceptable, so new pricing rules were imposed. The advertised price of a ticket had to include ALL fees so that consumers knew going in what the final cost was going to be. No more bait-and-switch with a low advertised price that was completely unattainable. This has become known as “all-in” pricing. The US House of Representatives passed the Ticket Act, which is all about upfront pricing with no hidden fees.

Ticketmaster has been under fire for years because of the fees charged on top of the face value of the ticket. These so-called “junk fees” (more on that in a moment) include things like a Ticketmaster fee, a venue charge, a convenience fee, and sales tax. By the time you paid for what you had in your cart, the final price of the ticket was 25, 50, or even 100% more than the advertised cost.

In line with new laws laid down by the Federal Trade Commission in the US, Ticketmaster has made the switch to all-pricing. That means the advertised price of the ticket is what you’ll pay. No surprises at checkout.

This does NOT reduce the cost of a concert ticket. That was never the intention. It simply makes the ticket-buying experience more honest from the get-go.

This, however, has not satisfied people because the so-called “junk fees” remain. But let’s be clear: These fees are NOT junk. Here’s the brutal truth.

• Ticketmaster does NOT set the price of the face value of a concert ticket. That price is the sole domain of the artist.
• Ticketmaster does NOT get a piece of the face value of a concert ticket. The only way they’re compensated for their time, technology, people, and R&D is the fee they drop on top of the cost of a ticket. That’s how Ticketmaster makes any money.
• Venue fees compensated the venue. An artist does not pay rent when they play an arena or an amphitheatre. The venue needs to make money to cover their overhead (staffing, electricity, security, mortgage, etc.) The venue fee takes care of that.

Yes, we can talk about the size of those fees, but that’s a different conversation entirely. And there’s plenty to talk about in that area.

Bottom line? No fees, no show. That’s it. These fees aren’t “junk.” They make live music possible.