Johnny Joy: Consolidation.

Event producer and former artist manager

“The first real thing that started changing was probably in the late ‘90s or 2000s, where venues and promoters at the club level on up started adding in what they call the facility fee,” Joy said in a phone interview. “And to me, that was the beginning of the downfall.”

But Joy added that a lot of those early fees were only seen internally. By increasing the ticket price slightly, these extra fees for the facilities and promoters remained baked into the price of a ticket. From Joy’s viewpoint, two major shifts occurred that catalyzed the ticket-buying experience we know today: the turn to digital ticketing, which made fees more visible, and the merger of Ticketmaster, the nation’s largest ticket marketplace, with Live Nation, the nation’s largest production manager, in 2010. 

Combined, these elements led to what Joy sees as the biggest change to the industry in the past decade: “Consolidation — consolidation of companies to strengthen their numbers, squeezing out independents” Joy said. 

Geoff Brent: Production. 

Owner, The Black Sheep

“Everyone’s kind of one-upping each other as far as who can put on a cooler show,” Brent said. Brent is the owner of The Black Sheep, a music venue in Colorado Springs that holds 450 people. He estimated that 10 years ago, nearly every band that came in to perform used the in-house lighting setups; now about half of them are traveling with their own production equipment. 

As far as economics goes, Brent doesn’t name one big change, but the accumulation of smaller price increases. “People are definitely talking about how expensive it is, but it’s like, did you drink seven beers? Was the ticket expensive, or was it the service fee? Like, was the shirt you bought too much? More likely just all of those things went up incrementally. Honestly, like band merch has gotten way more expensive though.”

Brian Kitts: Artist revenue. 

Spokesman, Denver Arts and Venues

“The rise of streaming has meant most artists won’t make much selling music through downloads or physical sales,” Kitts said in an email to The Sun. “Hitting the road is the way artists get paid now and every part of the concert industry is affected.  But, touring isn’t an inexpensive proposition either, so prices increase and, so far, fans are willing to pay for a cool experience. As we saw during COVID, I think we’d taken for granted the ability to get together for music, arts or sports — we really value those things more now.”

Kitts is a director at Denver Arts & Venues, which oversees Red Rocks, Bellco Theatre and the Denver Coliseum. He has watched the number of events at Red Rocks grow from about 75 in 2012 to over 200 in 2023, with ticket prices increasing along the way. But what Kitts and many others thought might be a massive spike in ticket prices after COVID, as artists and venues try to recoup the past year’s losses, was not as drastic as he’d expected. “The thing about entertainment is it’s a want not a need, so that discretionary income spending and pricing tends to be a little more thoughtful.”

Jonathan Kahn: Professionalism.

Manager of cabinetry company

“Aside from the inflated costs,” Kahn wrote in an email to The Sun, “I do think the professionalism of the musicians has increased. The bands seem tighter musically, and the sets are more elaborate. I suspect musician’s personal revenues are tied much more to concert proceeds than when they sold albums. They need to make sure they put on a good show so word of mouth will ensure greater attendance down the road.”