Buying Your Way Backstage

Several times when I’ve bought tickets to concerts recently, I’ve noticed that the bands offer “Meet and Greet” packages; these usually cost ~$50 more than just admission to the concert (which is itself ~$50), and get you:

• Entry to the show via name on doorlist, rather than a ticket
• Personal Meet and Greet with $_BAND
• 2 items signed
• Souvenir tour laminate
• Official tour poster
• Priority Entry

From an economist’s perspective, this is a fairly sensible idea: the people who will want these things – colloquially “hardcore” fans – have an increased willingness to pay relative to the rest of the public, and insituting a tiered pricing system is an excellent way for the band to capture more of this willingness to pay in the form of money.

Previously, of course, fans used to get this sort of stuff by hanging around after the show long enough and/or getting to know the band manager/touring crew well enough to cajole their way back stage. This is the way I’ve done it with, for example, The Living End. It’s an investment – sometimes a significant one – but it’s an investment of time and effort, rather than money.

What does the band get out of that? Not much: at the end of the day, they’re still talking to plebs, signing shit, and smiling wanly into a parade of cameras. Especially for touring bands, who may only visit a country once every few years, selling this time may be worth more than developing a dedicated and loyal fanbase of the sort engendered by repeated access on the basis of effort.

As a music fan, of course, the practise disgusts me. It feels mercenary, and the “cred” of backstage access loses a lot of its value (for me) when earned with money, rather than time. My economist brain tells me that this is silly: like actors who request money for photographs or autographs when appearing at conventions, someone is simply using a price to adjust the relationship between (fixed) supply and (limited, but still vastly larger) demand.

I don’t want to claim that all bands that do this are mercenary: recently I hung out, post-show, with (part of) a band that sold these “VIP” tickets. How? The old-fashioned way: I hung around long enough and got to know the right people.

(For the record, The Living End do not do this sort of shit: most of the time they’ll come out after shows – regardless of what country they’re in – sign stuff, pose for photographs, and have a chat. Sure, they won’t invite you backstage – but hey, they’re working! It’s often not that exciting backstage, anyway. Seriously, what are these touring bands offering? Card games with the bands? Pre-show pep talk? For $50, I’d want a decent feed and maybe a back massage.)