Kid Rock’s $20 Tickets. Will more artists follow suit?

Kid Rock’s “$20 Best Night Ever” tour says what it does on the tin. It gives fans the opportunity to experience a rock concert without having to take out a small loan.

There are concerns that by offering tickets at such a low face value it may encourage exploitation by scalpers. It’s not hard to imagine entrepreneurs scooping up loads of tickets for $20 a piece, and then selling them for triple or quadruple face value. Kid Rock himself reserves 1,000 tickets for each show to sell at a higher price. Essentially scalping the scalpers and in turn making a profit on these premium seats.

In truth these days you’d have to take out a small loan to see live music, for example, The Rollings Stones played at Hyde Park earlier this month with reports of tickets exchanging for thousands of $’s. In their defense Ronnie Wood said “We feel no bad thing about ticket prices. We’ve got to make something.”

This is in stark contrast to Kid Rock’s belief that “Someone has to go out there and fight these high prices and change things up, and I’m lucky enough that I can afford to take a pay cut.”

Unusual & Risky Tactic

By purchasing tickets at Walmart, fans can even avoid parking and service charges. Prices for concert T-shirts, beer, and food at the shows are also being kept low—$20 shirts, $4 draft beers—with the hope that fans will purchase more because they won’t feel ripped off.

Venues will give out free coffee at the end of shows, perhaps to balance out the abundance of $4 beers. Instead of getting a large upfront fee for each show, Kid Rock is receiving a piece of ticket and concession sales—which is both unusual and risky in the concert business.

The events have been a sell-out and undoubtedly Kid Rock is profiting not only from the sales but also from the extra publicity. The question remains if this will be just a one-off or will other artists follow suit?

Is low ticket pricing a way of building rapport and trust with fans?
Or is it just a clever marketing ploy by a multi-millionaire artist? Join in our discussion on Twitter & LinkedIn