In April, Ticketmaster announced a partnership with Market Share to offer dynamic pricing for their events. (See Press Release here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ticketmaster-partners-with-marketshare-to-deliver-dynamic-pricing-tool-120080789.html)
The New York Times article in relation to this press release says that purchasing concert tickets will be more like airline tickets – what you pay will be determined by when you order tickets. (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/business/19pricing.html)
Personally, I would not mind having to pay more for good seats and less for crappy seats. It would of course all depend on how much more expensive those high end seats were going to end up being. And if the crappier seats were really cheap – I could see people going to more events. $20 for nose bleed would probably entice some people to go. The pricing they have in place now – when lower level and upper level of arenas are often the same price, does turn me off from buying upper level seats. If I am paying lower level pricing, I want lower level seats.
Although I am not too into this idea if there will be a ‘fire sale’ a week or so before a show and people can get seats equal to or better than mine for cheaper amounts. It may lead people to wait until closer to the show to get cheaper tickets and would end up being a bit of a gamble.
It will be interesting to see how this all ends up working out.