[Music News] Beyoncé is selling $157 “listening only” tickets for her Renaissance tour. The seats are behind the stage, so you can’t see the concert, any of the set, or dancing.

I’m reminded of the meme:
“Capitalism breeds innovation!
The innovation:”
So does this mean what used to be “the cheap seats” become mid-tier seats? This makes me think of this sub-economy airline tickets. Everything just gets worse and worse.
- It is the E3 part (the Eventual Enshittification of Everything) of Capitalism that They forgot to warn Us about when They invented it.
  
  E3 for thee but not for me.
  You can still drop 1k for front row, ain't nobody stopping you hehe

I mean, if you're blind it's probably a sweet deal if you want the experience of going to a concert of hers but have no need for a prime seat.
- Or if you value the experience of going to a Beyonce concert without breaking the bank, or if you’re willing to trade off an amount of the experience for a 85% discount. There’s always a set of seats that are behind the stage, and there’s a lot of people who want to see a Beyoncé concert but can’t.
  
  Without breaking the bank would be 20-60 Dollars
  
  if you’re willing to trade off an amount of the experience for a 85% discount.
  I feel this is being a bit disingenuous. Most artists do tiered seating. It's not like every seat available in the venue was $900 unless you get seats behind the stage.

Fuck these ultra wealthy pop stars. They are part of the problem. There are millions of independent artists across hundreds of genres we can support instead.
And I know it's subjective to a large extent but 90% of pop is absolute garbage.
- while Beyonce et al are part of the problem, the ticket monopoly giant capitalist machine sure ain't helping - and that affects even indie artists with a decent following.
  
  True but I go to shows for bands all the time that don't fuck with ticket master and do it all DIY, never paid more than 20-30$ for a ticket.
  Those monopolies suck but Beyonce doesn't need to be charging that much money for you to listen and not even be able to see it. It's a greedy cash grab and she looks disgusting doing it.
- The problem isn't exactly the pop stars but live nation's monopoly which strangles every aspect of the live music industry. As a musician if you want to preform at almost any large venue you'll have to get in bed with live nation or be black listed. If you run venue you better join live nation's network and use ticket master or else you won't be able to book money making artists. And as a fan you better buy your price gouged tickets through ticket master or else you won't get to see anyone play.
  
  Except you can't actually buy the tickets through Ticketmaster because it throws errors for the first 5 seats you find, and then it's sold out. You have to buy them from scalpers, which Ticketmaster now encourages and even allows them to resell right there on Ticketmaster.
- Absolutely agree! Most of the pop scene is just rubbish squared.. I wonder who the fuck is listening to that bullshit? Are most of the people so stupid?
  And.. 900$ for a fucking ticket?! Are they NUTS? I wouldn't pay that to see my favourite artist let alone Beyoncé. In 2017 I paid 100$ for close to stage tickets at LP concert. That was to much (but worth it).. 900$ is just another another level of insanity.

What do you expect from a woman who claims to empower girls, while making them work in her sweatshops, while she's off doing private concerts for amoral Saudi princes.
- I'm not one to hate on pop stars but her image always perplexed me. She's clearly an awful human being but somehow avoids being canceled because she's pretending to empower minorities.
  
  Outside of BLM, her image since she went independent has always been to be strategically silent on a lot. She doesn't tweet or even try to communicate her views on the world.
  Interviews from when she was in Destiny's Child show she had the education of someone you would expect who spent their teen years working on their singing career instead of focusing on high school or going to college.
  She is a symbol because she can be a symbol. Her PR team seem to operate the same way the British Royal Family does; don't comment on controversy and heavily control press events.
  And it works.

Wait 900$ for a concert? That's dumb enough for me.
- they've gotten crazy if you are a big-big name like Swift, Beyonce, Drake, etc. Don't know how people can drop that kind of scratch!
  
  I don't know if there is anything in live entertaining I would pay 900, or actually I'm pretty sure there is nothing.
  
  Don't know how people can drop that kind of scratch!
  Credit cards!

I used to go to a lot of concerts, but after COVID they got too expensive. $100 is insane for a ticket. $900 is almost rent. Who is her target audience?
- you got a lot of imbeciles in this world. So them
- She is popular in the realm that a significant percentage of society are fans.
  So the rich from that group.

I'd pay $157 for Beyonce to shut the fuck up.
- I'll chip in

I don't understand why people are willing to pay that much for tickets. The "market" is ridiculously inflated. After my last experience at a live nation event first and only one in a long time, not for me not dealing with that cluster fuck and rip off trap ever again.
Live nation ticket checking procedure is dumb AF. You have to be online to show the ticket but because the Wi-Fi and 5g arent working because 10k plus people are trying to use them it causes a problem. Then they don't give you an arm band so every time I had to piss or whatever I had to show my ticket to get back to my seat. I cussed them out the 3rd time, almost got booted. I hate getting controlled like idiot sheep. Live nation doesn't accept cash and want 17 bucks a drink. Force you to buy liquid death water too because fuck you pay me.
I'm sticking to smaller venues, ones that dont have share holders to impress.
- I agree with your sentiments, but you don't need to cuss out the people just working at the venue. By all means boycott any and all events that go through live nation / ticketmaster, but there's no need to pour your anger on the venue workers.
- Because they like Beyonce that much?

I saw this posted elsewhere a few days ago, and people made a good point that folks who are blind or have limited vision still go to concerts and will buy those tickets. The price is another I guess, but the seats themselves are valuable to the blind community.
- To be fair, a blind person probably wouldn't know the difference.
  These aren't marketed as "handicap accessible seating" but rather as "yall poors can't afford my $900 stadium seats, so I have to capitulate at the request of my management team".
  I appreciate your optimism, though!
- Every sunday I put my trash on the curb which gives the homeless an opportunity to rummage through it for anything useful. Simply put Im a philanthropist. Im also really good at putting lipstick on a pig.
- I'm all for accessibility but I don't think this that's what this is.
- If it’s behind the stage won’t the sound be much worse though? The speakers are out front and facing the crowd

If i was forced to buy a ticket, i would prefer the cheaper one.
900 dollars... lol
- 900 is insane. Ain’t no concert worth the price of a computer where I can make my own damn music lol.

Before everyone freaks out (and yes, this shit is stupid-expensive), Beyoncé isn't a complete piece of shit. But I guess you can afford this when you charge that much:
Beyoncé’s tour paid $100,000 to extend DC Metro hours after weather delayed show
Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” tour paid $100,000 to keep all 98 Metro stations in the Washington, DC, area open for an extra hour after Sunday’s show at the outdoor FedExField venue was delayed because of heavy rain and lightning, a news release from the transit authority said.

Blind people might be interested?
- If it was an accessibility thing, I’d get it. But it ain’t.

Times like these I'm so glad I love metal. I can pay 30 bucks to WATCH, listen and go sick to a band full of talent. I'd be livid if I was an artist and saw that my fans were having to pay $900
- I'm watching 156 quality bands at brutal assault for like 100 euro
  
  Niiice! I'm seeing Be'lakor when they get back from their Euro tour for $30 in September. Can't ask for better than that!

I paid $60 for 5th row tickets to Ween at red rocks and $5 for a hit of acid - probably better than a front row Beyoncé ticket. $900 for anything but a combined front row/meet and greet/over the pants HJ from an artist sounds just absolutely insane to me.

This sounds like streaming music with extra steps.

So by Beyonce's own math, only about 17% of her performance's value is actually the music.
Sounds about right.
- I'm not a Beyonce fan by and stretch of the imagination, but she is a crazy good singer.

That's like a Live CD but with extra steps.
- Does she even sing live or her concerts have more focus on dancing?
- lololol

Under the stage for $75, all you hear boomy bass and foot tapping from one of the biggest stars of all time!
- lolol

How much does it cost to listen from the rest rooms?
- $75 but shit tickets are $25 per single ply square.
  
  Jokes on them, i'd just use the walls
- Lolol woof.

Beyonce is worth over $1/2 BILLION. Fuck off.

the new VIP tickets will be listening from under the stage and having the opportunity to catch glimpses of the performance through the floorboards

This is just fucking ridiculous. Paying $157 to go to a concert for a regular seat for me is already a bit much, let alone this bullshit. The saddest thing is that I bet these seats will still sell out.

While this is shitty, I don't really care about Beyoncé and didn't subscribe to this community to see news about her. I hope it doesn't end up as a dunking on mainstream music community instead of a showcasing sweet alternative music community.
- I hear you, this is really more about the state of concerts & concert tickets which medium-sized and old-school alternative & indie acts still have to deal with… Pearl Jam has fought the good fight since the 90s, The Cure is still dealing with it 30 years later.
  
  I reckon it’s good call posting this article. It’s painfully obvious we aren’t here to discuss Beyoncé and her catalogue or talent. Got some really nice engagement with this one.👍
  
  Pearl Jam still exists? If so, wow!

Nothing wrong with liking pop but she has vastly more money than I will ever earn. I rather support indie or up and coming performers that won't take my financial support for granted.
Also helps to enjoy a wide variety of music so if one scene is getting overpriced or doesn't tour your area, you can still enjoy and support other acts.
- What bothers me is that “ideas” like this have a way of trickling down to smaller venues and artists - just hoping that we don’t start getting “sub-economy” tickets for medium sized indie acts.

My nosebleed Taylor Swift concert tickets were cheaper than this, and I didn't miss a single scene of the show.
Beyoncé really thinks she's better than Taylor?
- Beyoncé really thinks she’s better than Taylor?
  Why not? Her fans do. You say it like its something that can be true, that one artist's art is objectively better than another's. I think they both make uninspired boring music personally. In either case they are both very popular and sell out shows wherever they go.
- While at a Taylor concert I had the thought that it would be nice if they could give those seats out to vision impaired people just to enjoy it as well. Even those that are hard of hearing just to enjoy the bass would probably be lots of fun
- Well we know Kanye's opinion of that. He's gonna let you finish though.

Empowering, yaaaaaaaaaas queen!

Does she sing live or is it playback?

Same for the Aerosmith farewell tour. Except the listening only tickets are $100-300; and the rest of the stadium is $300-over $1500.

how in the world are tickets so expensive in the US? you can get tickets to big names when they tour here for like $200AU, the same acts that charge triple or more in the US. Is it a demand thing? blows my mind
- @jcit878 Big US cities have big airports, international travel. You are no longer competing with just the local area.
  
  to be fair thats a thing here in australia too, and people do travel to come to concerts here. still baffles me there is that demand anywhere in the world for those prices

hehehhehhhehheheeeereeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhHA!
insanity

Man, imagine grabbing the cheapest tickets to the concert and not realizing...
- Shoulda known your place lol

I wouldn't ever pay 100 bucks to see beyonce. If you pay so much, it's your choice. You are the dumb person, not them.

If its stupid and it works it aint stupid.
I mean there will be people paying for it and it doesnt affect me in any way. People can spent the money they make the way they like as far as I am conferned.
Whether that is stupid so be it their own fault if they buy those tickets.
- If it's greedy and it "works", it's still greedy and worthy of contempt.
- "I don't care if rich people price everyone out of every commodity. This particular instance of gentrification doesn't affect me so none of the others will, either!"
  
  a proper way to stop resellers would be that tickets are valid only with id, plus reselling only on the official site to the same price if your plans change so you can rebrand them would do a lot more than complaining about no view seats
- It doesn't affect you yet. This is just testing the waters to see if it's a viable money making mechanism.

everyone is going to realise how shit she sounds.

Beyonce really is just Ni'jah from Swarm, Donald Glover once again with a completely accurate satire of real life.

How much is a regular ticket?

Stuff like that doesn't really bother me. I would never pay that much to not see her, but she is probably one of the most popular musicians of this century. It is only natural that opportunities to hear her live have a high scarcity and prices rise to whatever people are willing to pay for it. If you don't like paying you can chose to listen to artists that have lower ticket prices or if you want to listen to Beyonce you can do so for free at home.
- There is no magic market. Prices dont magically rise on their own. Behind every price hike is a human being who made that decision. A person with an address, family, and a larger bank account than you. Why does one feel it necessary to apologize and shift blame for an invisible wealthy person youve never met?
  
  I think there are a lot of people who need this reminder. People act like "the market" is some autonomous, intelligently acting entity that we're powerless to control. If demand and prices go up, well, nothing to be done! Humans are mere slaves to their own creation!
  
  there are also people who make the tour happen who need pay increases. yes most of it goes to execs and the band but roadies and tour managers and door people and on and on need get some of it. i get why they cant do tickets for $10 anymore. though this crap were commenting on is inexcusable.

I love not giving a single shit about pop music.
- Wow can I be like you when I'm in highschool?

I see the dislike of Beyoncé is as strong here as on Reddit. 🙄 I went to her concert and had an amazing time. She sounded wonderful and was so sweet even when it was pouring out.
Listening only tickets would have been nice for some. I saw people just vibing and some that people that were so high they just had their eyes closed the whole time lol
- I like Beyoncé. But ticket prices and Ticketmaster shenanigans haven’t gotten out of hand. Full stop.
  
  Of course you are right. I wanted to go to other shows this year but they were too much. I chose the one I wanted most and went for it.
  It’s the tone of comments with regards to Beyoncé specifically that I expected on Reddit and I suppose now here. I don’t get that on other social sites or irl. I find it odd.
  You know, in reality, there were plenty of cheap tickets still available facing the stage. Thinking about it now I can’t see a real reason to buy these you talked about…