Let Them Attend Concerts

The Weight of Politics and the Escape of Music

Recently, I attended a concert, fleeing politics as my brain was overwhelmed, burnt out, and tired from the suffering of the world. I decided that for one night, I would stop thinking. Thinking is a difficult action, and feeling the weight of the world upon my shoulders was starting to get old. So, Alex G, one of my favorite musicians of all time, took the stage and rocked my world. My soul was stolen, and for an hour and a half, I didn’t have to think about politics anymore. I didn’t have to examine every action and how it affected the people around me. I could just get lost in the music, until Sam Acchione, Alex G's masterful guitarist, quiet and dedicated to his craft yet incredibly important to the band, took the microphone and did something that every band, at every concert, since the beginning of time has done.

A Simple Action that Changed Everything

Next to me, I have Alex G on guitar and drums, and he names the band. But here's where Sam Acchione changed the script. He named the drum tech, the lighting technician, their manager, the people working security, and every single person involved in making the show happen. Then, they played one more song and left.

The Weight of Politics and the World’s Struggles

Now, I must admit, as I said earlier, I’ve been overwhelmed by politics—quite anxious and not going through my best epoch. The same way that Martin Luther struggled with his Christian faith, the same way John Stuart Mill questioned if his life would really be dedicated to utilitarianism, I found myself in a similar slump, and in many ways, I still am. However, Sam Acchione's simple action has been rattling in my brain ever since. This is a paper I’ve been flirting with writing for the last month, yet there was never the moment that triggered me to write it. I can imagine how a French peasant felt when Marie Antoinette said, “Let them eat cake.” Because although it isn’t life or death in the same way that eating is, a study by H&R Block shows that 85% of Canadians are living paycheck to paycheck. We might be able to eat, but it is getting close. So, when LiveNation CEO Michael Rapino came out and said that concert tickets were underpriced, that they were “once-in-a-lifetime opportunities,” and that the lower to middle class would still attend the concerts if the tickets were $800 instead of $80, I couldn’t help but hear, “Let them attend concerts.”

Capitalism’s Growing Grip: The "Let Them Eat Cake" Phenomenon

Although this paper begins with something that every good philosophy, English, or writing teacher tells you not to do—frontloading—it has been done for a reason. It marks Afarid0fAsteroids' return but also highlights the situation we’re in. Although we’re not starving yet, capitalism is beginning to reach its final form, where the richest think it’s okay to charge us any number they like because it isn’t a necessity. But how long until they begin with necessities? Regardless, this paper will explore Michael Rapino's wealth, his mistreatment of workers, and how this connects to wider-reaching capitalism. Because if we stand around while they say, “Let them attend concerts,” before long, it will be “Let them eat cake.”

Michael Rapino: The Capitalist Who Built a Concert Empire

Michael Rapino was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in 1967. He attended Lakehead University in 1989, studying business administration. He later founded various concert promotion companies, which were eventually acquired by Clear Channel Communications. At Clear Channel Communications, he held several roles. When Clear Channel Communications spun off into the company we know as LiveNation, Rapino became CEO. The crowning moment of Rapino's career came in 2010 when LiveNation, the company in charge of promoting and booking concerts, merged with Ticketmaster, the company in charge of selling tickets, creating a monopoly.

The Myth of Capitalism as a Force for Good

To diverge from Rapino's life, I must make a point. People often claim that capitalism breeds innovation, that the capitalism we are facing today is flawed, that it isn’t true capitalism. But of course, it is. The capitalist world is not one where anything is valued except for capital. Jacobin recently published a great article titled The Case Against Business Schools, which proves this point perfectly. The goal of capitalism, whether it’s in the control of concerts, houses, or food, is never for the good of all people. Milton Friedman, patriarch of the Chicago School of economics, summed up the most vulgar form of the MBA ethos in a 1970 essay published in the New York Times Magazine: “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits.” The title says it all; suffice to add that any talk of “social conscience,” Friedman declared, was “pure and unadulterated socialism” and a misuse of shareholders’ money. Rapino’s business degree was successful, as we can see from his comment that “working-class people will continue to buy tickets, even if they are raised from $80 to $800.”

Rapino’s Wealth: A Reflection of the Capitalist Machine

Now, for someone like Rapino, those $800 are pocket change. In 2022, he earned $139 million from LiveNation. In 2023, he “sadly” only earned $23 million from LiveNation (still 831 times the median worker at LiveNation). To return to Rapino's life story, he got into an argument with Robert Smith when Smith rightfully called for more regulations to stop price gouging concertgoers. Rapino responded, “Ticket prices should be like ‘as if they’re buying a Gucci bag,’” stating that the average consumer could afford such a luxury. "This is a business where we can charge a bit more," Rapino continued. "I’m not saying excessively, but it’s a great two-hour performance of a lifetime that happens once every three, four years in that market. You don’t have to underprice yourself—low to middle-income people will make their way to that arena for that special night." He recently returned to the spotlight when he commented that sports often charge $70,000 for courtside tickets, so why is it an issue when he charges $800 per ticket?

Concerts Are a Luxury, But They Shouldn’t Be

The one place where I can agree with Rapino is that going to a concert is not life or death, and in many aspects, it can be considered a luxury. But that is where I am going to stop agreeing with him. Although a concert can be considered a luxury, it doesn’t have to be. I am very confident in this statement, because as usual, the workers make the concert happen, and the capitalist takes credit for it. If Michael Rapino died tomorrow, The Cure would perform many more concerts. So would Alex G, and so would Beyoncé. But without these artists, Michael Rapino would be a nobody. And yet, he has the audacity to argue that we should pay more money. But where does the money go? It doesn’t go to the workers. It barely goes to the artists. Instead, it goes to Rapino. So, of course, Rapino thinks that we can pay more. The reason Rapino thinks that is because he lives off the back of our labor.

The Real Value of Workers: What Capitalism Hides

Which brings me to my point, though not an original one: we can live without the Rapinos of the world, but they cannot live without us. The same way that the Fortinos, Tim Hortons, Loblaws, and Canadian Tire franchise owners and CEOs make millions—countless money that we will never see in our lifetimes—they will turn to us and say they could charge us more, that they should be charging us more. But I have seen countless Fortinos run by workers doing every action to make it successful, but I am yet to see one run by a single man. And until the day I see a single man run a concert by himself, perform the concert, have the lighting on stage perfect, and get everyone in comfortably, then maybe that man deserves the amount of money Rapino has. (And I would even argue that any good man would decide to move that money around.) But until that day comes, we must demand our fair share. We must defend ourselves and ask for the respect we deserve, because Rapino has never performed a concert, but workers have. So, the next time a capitalist says that workers are asking too much, just ask yourself the simple question: Can the capitalist survive without workers, or can the workers survive without the capitalist?