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Here's why it's costing more to go to gigs

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Beyonce on stageImage source, Getty Images

Ticket prices to see some of the biggest stars perform have gone up - but the reason for the rise might not be artists wanting more money.

Blossoms tour manager, Dan Woolfie, says record sales are down and the cost of putting on a live show has gone up.

"The bigger the show, the bigger the act, the bigger the bill at the end," says Dan.

He says the production for Ed Sheeran, where it's just him and his guitar, is still pricey.

"If you think an artist is selling 10,000 tickets at 拢100 each and then leaving with a million quid in their back pocket, then you're mistaken," says Dan.

Image source, Getty Images

According to Dan, here are some of the of reasons why tickets cost more now.

Record sales: People aren't spending as much money on buying music, but streaming or illegally downloading it instead.

Bigger shows: There's a lot of production that goes into putting on a tour like Beyonce's Formation.

Greater expectation: People might only go to a gig once a year, so they want it to be good and often shows sell out very quickly.

More people to pay: A bigger show means more people working on it.

"The list is endless when it comes to a live show," says Dan.

"There's promoters, managers, booking agents, tour managers, session musicians, sound engineers, backlight engineers, lighting engineers, sound system hire, staging hire, buses trucks, crew, extra crew, catering hire."

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Dan Woolfie, tour manager for the Manchester band Blossoms

Dan admits there have been questions about Ed Sheeran's show because it's just him on his own.

"It's all that background stuff that's going on that costs.

"Ed Sheeran still needs someone to put that lighting rig up, he's still got that whole production and all those people on the road with him.

"The only thing he hasn't got is a bass player and drummer, he's still got everyone else with him."

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Kendrick Lamar is performing at the O2 in February and standing tickets are 拢70.00

But according to Pollstar, which advises the music industry on the costs of touring, the income of the biggest 100 acts in the world has jumped by 33% since 2011 - with a total of 拢4bn in 2016.

It's reported that Adele made 拢142m profit from her 15-month world tour, which kicked off in 2016.

Despite this, the group says it hasn't put us off - we're still going to gigs - and prices aren't likely to come down any time soon.

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