Just as a follow up on Clear Channel, Sting and the rising cost of ticket prices lately... Clear Channel followed up with a letter to Rolling Stone about how the artists decide ticket pricing and take up to 90% of the profits. And so it goes... The experience of going to a concert has gotten more expensive, too. In 1999, the average concert ticket cost $36.56; four years later, the price skyrocketed to $50.35, an increase of thirty-eight percent. And that's only part of the total. Clear Channel's extra fees have outpaced even ticket prices. When Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard testified in Congress against Ticketmaster in 1994, the battle centered on a $3.50 service charge. Today, Clear Channel regularly charges more than twice that. For the May 27th Cypress Hill show at Detroit's 1,400-seat Clutch Cargo club, tickets cost $30, but there's also a $7.20 "convenience charge" and a 75-cent facility fee. The pinch at amphitheaters hurts even more. A top seat for Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution Tour stop on July 28th at the Mansfield, Massachusetts, Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts cost $53 -- plus an $8.90 convenience charge and a $4.10 processing fee. In addition, you had the option to pay $30 for a premium parking pass. Artists don't get off much easier. Many band managers complain that the company pads its audience with giveaways, season tickets and luxury boxes that guarantee a large crowd of eyeballs and concession buyers. Because most of these extra tickets are giveaways, the artists lose out on their cut of sales. "Corporations have been sold all the good seats," says Steve Miller, recalling a 1999 Nashville concert with an attendance of 18,166 and only 2,311 in ticket sales. "[They] are removed from the ticket manifests and not shared with me." Clear Channel's Becker says that increasing fees are a reflection of growing artist demands and an attempt to account for the company's investment in amphitheaters. He refused to discuss Miller's specific case but says the company often has no choice but to increase attendance with giveaways. "Seventy-five percent of artists do not sell enough tickets to cover the guarantee that we have paid them," he says. Artists deserve part of the blame: Sting, the Eagles and the Rolling Stones have all spearheaded moves to charge fans more than $100 per ticket. And for the most established artists, Clear Channel's growth has led to longer concert runs and a larger share of the profits. Full article here: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6432174