Money

The Cost of Being a Music Fan

Data & Guides Money The Cost of Being a Music Fan

As a music lover, it doesn’t get any better than seeing your favorite band or artist in concert, especially after a long-awaited absence. The post-pandemic fear of ‘missing out’ on live shows and newer ‘dynamic pricing’ ticketing has seen the price of concerts soar, [1] The New York Times: Live Music Is Roaring Back. But Fans Are Reeling From Sticker Shock. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/arts/music/concert-ticket-prices.html and relentless demand for industry giants like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé has created a challenging set of circumstances to be a music fan in the 2020s.

In a sign of just how much fans are willing to sacrifice to see their favorite acts, a survey by LendingTree reveals that 26% of concert-goers would be willing to take on debt, while 32% of fans are prepared to spend $500 or more to get into their preferred gigs. [2] CNBC: 26% of concertgoers plan to take on debt to attend shows this summer—here’s how to avoid it https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/07/26-percent-of-concertgoers-plan-to-take-on-debt-to-attend-shows-this-summer.html 

With this in mind, researchers on behalf of Self Financial have analyzed the cost of being a music fan in 2023, taking into account the cost of a ticket for an artist’s show, the cost of merchandise, and the price of a vinyl record for their latest album. 

Key findings

• The average cost to support just one of the most-streamed artists is $319.76, including concert tickets, merch and record sales.
• Concert tickets for the top 95 artists cost $168.16 on average, while a t-shirt and hoodie will cost a combined average of $120.
• Taylor Swift ($1,090) and Kanye West ($672) fans are among the most priced-out in the industry.
• boygenius and Ice Spice are the best-value top artists to support, costing fans an average of $152 and $179 for tickets, merch, and vinyl respectively. 

Taylor Swift and Ye (Kanye West) fans pay more than any other artist

To gauge the cost to support a major pop artist in 2023, this research analyzed the average cost of a ticket for an act’s latest tour, the cost of their official merchandise including t-shirts and hoodies, as well as the cost of a vinyl record for their latest album.

Vinyl records were chosen as the benchmark, as their resurgence in popularity among music fans has seen sales outpace those of CDs for the first time since 1987, [3] Rolling Stone: For The First Time In Decades, People Bought More Vinyl Than CDs Last Year https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/riaa-vinyl-units-surpass-cds-1234693223/ and it is now seen as the popular choice for fans seeking physical copies of their favorite artist’s work.

Overall, this research found that music fans pay an average of $320.00 per artist. This can make supporting your favorite act expensive, especially when considering most people aren’t just fans of one singular artist.

The performer with the highest average cost is Taylor Swift, with the fan combination of purchases costing an average of $1,089.89. The pop-country artist’s ticket prices were the highest in this study by a long way, likely due to how her 2023/2024 Era’s Tour is set to be the biggest world tour ever. [4] CNN Business: First on CNN: Taylor Swift’s Eras tour could become the highest grossing tour of all time https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/17/business/taylor-swift-eras-tour-two-billion/index.html This demand has seen ticket prices soar, with some resales reaching a staggering $22,000. [5] The Guardian: Taylor Swift tour tickets listed for as much as $22,000 as Ticketmaster crashes https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/16/taylor-swift-tickets-eras-tour-dates-2023-presale-ticketmaster-crashes In August 2023, SeatGeek reported this average cost was even higher at $1,619, [6] U.S. News: This is How Much It Costs to See Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/spending/articles/this-is-how-much-it-costs-to-see-taylor-swift-on-the-eras-tour all fuelled by an aggressive resale market.

After Swift, Kanye West, known officially since 2021 as ‘Ye’, proved to be the second-most expensive artist to be a fan of. While West hasn’t toured in the U.S. since 2016, it is likely fans would be expected to pay over the odds should he return to the stage, with SeatGeek estimating prices can fluctuate between $88 and $497 for a concert, [7] SeatGeek: Kanye West Ye Tickets https://seatgeek.com/kanye-west-ye-tickets although this could be much higher if he toured now.

Ye’s merch is the priciest in music

Fan merchandise is a major aspect of artist revenue on tour. In 2018, the industry was estimated to be worth $3.5bn, according to Licensing International. [8] Licensing International: Global Sales of Licensed Products and Services Reach US $280.3 Billion, Fifth Straight Year of Growth for the Licensing Industry https://licensinginternational.org/news/global-sales-of-licensed-products-and-services-reach-us-280-3-billion-fifth-straight-year-of-growth-for-the-licensing-industry/ With streaming services limiting the earning potential for stars and their respective record labels, physical merchandise sold at gigs and online is a major alternative revenue generator.

Ye, formerly Kanye West, according to this research, has the most expensive merchandise of any major artist today. This is largely due to the artist’s unconventional merchandise strategies, selling them in small batches at higher prices, with a long-sleeved t-shirt from his recent album being sold in 2021 at $200. [9] High Snobiety: KANYE'S PRESIDENTIAL 'DONDA' MERCH IS AVAILABLE NOW https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kanye-west-donda-merch-2024-president/

Artists with the most expensive official clothing merchandise

It is important to note that this reflects official merchandise costs directly from the artists, alternatives produced and sold by other companies or sold outside of concerts, considered ‘unofficial’, would vary in price. 

boygenius is the most affordable artist for fans

In contrast to the high price of fandom for artists like Taylor Swift, others in pop offer much better value for money. With an average ticket price of $41 [10] SeatGeek: Sia Tickets https://seatgeek.com/Sia-tickets and merch costing $90, [11] Sia Official Online Store https://shop.siamusic.net/ Wayback Machine was also used on the store to find crewneck prices in August 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220819020800/https://shop.siamusic.net/ indie supergroup, boygenius, is the most affordable artist among the artists in this study.

Ice Spice is the second-most affordable, and the most affordable rap artist costing fans $155.50 to see her live and buy merch. 

Sia and Teddy Swims the artists with the best value merchandise

Despite being a nine-time Grammy-award nominee, Sia, was found to have the most affordable merch at $65 for a t-shirt and hoodie (a crewneck was used in this instance as no official hoodies were available). [11] Sia Official Online Store https://shop.siamusic.net/ Wayback Machine was also used on the store to find crewneck prices in August 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220819020800/https://shop.siamusic.net/ Joint with Sia, American singer-songwriter, Teddy Swims’ merch also costs just $65 for a t-shirt and hoodie.

While Harry Styles ($418) is among the priciest artists to follow to concerts, this research found that his merch is still 22% cheaper than the other artists on the lists.

On average, across all major artists analyzed, a hoodie costs $79.64, while a t-shirt will set fans back an average of $39.93.

Major artists with the most affordable clothing merchandise

Methodology

A seed list of 109 top artists was created based on the top 75 artists from the Billboard 100. [13] Billboard Artist 100 (Data correct as of 11/1/23) https://www.billboard.com/charts/artist-100/ The following modern artists were manually added to the list (BTS, Lady Gaga, Daddy Yankee, Coldplay, Shawn Mendes, The Chainsmokers, Maluma, Beyonce, Maroon 5, J Balvin, Ariana Grande, Sam Smith, Halsey, Shakira, Camila Cabello, Khalid, Calvin Harris, DaBaby, Marshmello, Cardi B, Young Thug, Lil Wayne, Katy Perry, Ty Dolla $ign, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Uzi Vert, Myke Towers, Sia) because they are currently popular artists with higher Spotify streaming figures than others, but also not present on the Billboard 100. Spotify does not publicly release a ranking of streaming figures, therefore industry-collected data was used from October 2023. [14] Chart Masters, ‘Most streamed artists on Spotify’ (Data correct as of 11/1/23) https://chartmasters.org/most-streamed-artists-ever-on-spotify/ 

Inactive, or deceased, artists were removed. 13 artists were removed from this list in final analysis where they did not sell official merchandise, or where they did not have vinyls for sale. This included the likes of David Guetta, Chris Brown, and Ozuna to name a few. 

Ticket prices were taken from SeatGeek’s own data on average ticket prices across the U.S. The research took the maximum and minimum of prices across the venues listed per artist. SeatGeek collates average ticket prices from its own cost data and may change over time. 

Merchandise pricing largely comes from the artist’s respective official merchandise stores. In some instances, Wayback Machine was used to review the cost of merch when the artist’s latest tour was on if no merchandise was currently available. In some instances, such as Kanye West, no official information on tour merchandise was available, so average costs were taken from alternative online merchandise stores. Where artists didn’t have official hoodies available, sweatshirt crewnecks were used. 

The latest album vinyl prices were also primarily taken from official stores, if it was not available, alternatives such as Target, Walmart, Merchbar, Barnes & Noble, Rough Trade, or local record stores websites were used as an alternative. For all merchandise and vinyl purchases sales were ignored, shipping was not accounted for, and sales tax was not applied. Where possible, standard edition vinyls were chosen.

Sources

• ^[1] The New York Times: Live Music Is Roaring Back. But Fans Are Reeling From Sticker Shock. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/arts/music/concert-ticket-prices.html
• ^[2] CNBC: 26% of concertgoers plan to take on debt to attend shows this summer—here’s how to avoid it https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/07/26-percent-of-concertgoers-plan-to-take-on-debt-to-attend-shows-this-summer.html
• ^[3] Rolling Stone: For The First Time In Decades, People Bought More Vinyl Than CDs Last Year https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/riaa-vinyl-units-surpass-cds-1234693223/
• ^[4] CNN Business: First on CNN: Taylor Swift’s Eras tour could become the highest grossing tour of all time https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/17/business/taylor-swift-eras-tour-two-billion/index.html
• ^[5] The Guardian: Taylor Swift tour tickets listed for as much as $22,000 as Ticketmaster crashes https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/16/taylor-swift-tickets-eras-tour-dates-2023-presale-ticketmaster-crashes
• ^[6] U.S. News: This is How Much It Costs to See Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/spending/articles/this-is-how-much-it-costs-to-see-taylor-swift-on-the-eras-tour
• ^[7] SeatGeek: Kanye West Ye Tickets https://seatgeek.com/kanye-west-ye-tickets
• ^[8] Licensing International: Global Sales of Licensed Products and Services Reach US $280.3 Billion, Fifth Straight Year of Growth for the Licensing Industry https://licensinginternational.org/news/global-sales-of-licensed-products-and-services-reach-us-280-3-billion-fifth-straight-year-of-growth-for-the-licensing-industry/
• ^[9] High Snobiety: KANYE'S PRESIDENTIAL 'DONDA' MERCH IS AVAILABLE NOW https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kanye-west-donda-merch-2024-president/
• ^[10] SeatGeek: Sia Tickets https://seatgeek.com/Sia-tickets
• ^[11] Sia Official Online Store https://shop.siamusic.net/ Wayback Machine was also used on the store to find crewneck prices in August 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220819020800/https://shop.siamusic.net/
• ^[12] Lil Baby, Shop https://shop.iamlilbaby.com/
• ^[13] Billboard Artist 100 (Data correct as of 11/1/23) https://www.billboard.com/charts/artist-100/
• ^[14] Chart Masters, ‘Most streamed artists on Spotify’ (Data correct as of 11/1/23) https://chartmasters.org/most-streamed-artists-ever-on-spotify/