Bruce Springsteen ticket prices causes fan magazine to shutter in protest
The Boss’ fans won’t be bossed around.
A respected fanzine known as “Backstreets” announced Friday that it will be shuttering the website in protest against Springsteen’s “dynamic pricing” according to an editorial.
“After 43 years of publishing in one form or another, by fans for fans of Bruce Springsteen, it’s with mixed emotions that we announce Backstreets has reached the end of the road,” wrote editor-in-chief Christopher Phillips.
“We are immensely proud of the work Backstreets has done, and we are forever grateful to the worldwide community of fellow fans who have contributed to and supported our efforts all these years, but we know our time has come.”
The fan-run site began its publication in the 1980s and became a go-to resource for fans of Springsteen and his plans. The site also has an international audience as well.
“If you read the editorial Backstreets published last summer in the aftermath of the U.S. ticket sales, you have a sense of where our heads and hearts have been: dispirited, downhearted, and, yes, disillusioned,” wrote Phillips. “It’s not a feeling we’re at all accustomed to while anticipating a new Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band tour.”
The anger from fans comes after the rocker’s manager defended having tickets that went for nearly $4,000.
“Regardless of the commentary about a modest number of tickets costing $1,000 or more, our true average ticket price has been in the mid-$200 range. I believe that in today’s environment, that is a fair price to see someone universally regarded as among the very greatest artists of his generation,” said Jon Landau.
The “Born to Run” singer also defended the rise in prices.
“What I do is a very simple thing. I tell my guys, ‘Go out and see what everybody else is doing. Let’s charge a little less.’ That’s generally the directions. They go out and set it up,” explained Springsteen during a Rolling Stone interview.
“This time I told them, ‘Hey, we’re 73 years old. The guys are there. I want to do what everybody else is doing, my peers.’ So that’s what happened. That’s what they did.”
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