Original article published on Pollstar (01/19/18) by Gideon Gottfried

Dynamic ticket pricing is of growing interest to the European events industry, but it remains uncertain whether this model can be successfully applied to live concerts. Advocates say dynamic pricing will inhibit the secondary ticketing market by guaranteeing that popular tickets are sold for a higher amount in the primary sale already, making bulk purchases less lucrative for large-scale ticket brokers and ensuring increased revenue goes to promoters and artists. HostelProfessionals co-founder Viktor Novak says the most challenging task to finding the right pricing is forecasting customer demand, and he thinks the events industry has far better data on customers than the hostel industry, for example. Novak notes ticket prices could be altered accordingly to strike the right balance between occupancy and pricing. Meanwhile, critics say customers are not acclimated to the dynamic pricing model, and they also cite many promoters' reliance on their early-sell-out cash flow to fund events. Supporters counter that customers would eventually adjust to paying different amounts. The European Marketing and Communications Group's Andras Berta says promoters could first test the model with a certain category of tickets. By capping the maximum price even when using dynamic pricing, promoters could make customers less likely to view them as avaricious and still prevent some secondary market activity.

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