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ABSTRACT
In an age of streaming, popular music fans have shifted their expenditures on recordings to concert tickets. That shift raises the question of how fans discuss the value of concerts. As an answer to that question, this article argues that three key considerations – financial, emotional, and experiential – shape the discussion because of their influence on ticket purchases. Informed by John Fiske’s notion of capital accumulation, the article demonstrates that argument through a textual analysis of online conversations among fans of U2, Guns N’ Roses, and Coldplay. It concludes that those considerations have implications for fair pricing and profit sharing in the context of a consolidated concert industry that favors the few at the expense of the many.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Tom Kitts, the anonymous reviewers, and L. Gabiger for their comments on an earlier version of this article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
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Notes on contributors
Christopher Joseph Westgate
Christopher Joseph Westgate, Ph.D. is a media scholar whose research program includes communication history, digital culture, journalism studies, Latinx media, and popular music. His articles and reviews have been published in Media, Culture & Society; Communication, Culture & Critique; the Journal of Communication; and the Journal of Popular Music Studies. Dr. Westgate is currently an associate professor of media and communication studies at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He has more than a decade of experience in the radio industry.