A night out often costs twice as much today as it did a few years ago. Is this an inevitable consequence of rising costs, or is live music becoming a luxury product?
On 13 October, our expert panel will tackle the question: Why are concert tickets so expensive? Through different perspectives, we will explore who actually sets the price of a concert ticket and how we can ensure that live music remains accessible to everyone.
Since the pandemic, demand for live music has skyrocketed. At the same time, organisers are facing sharply rising costs, while dynamic pricing, secondary ticket markets and international competition are creating new challenges for the sector.
Moderator Margot Otten will guide us through this discussion, which extends beyond the music industry and touches on broader societal issues such as inflation, consumer behaviour, digitalisation and cultural policy.
To examine the topic from multiple angles, Laura Clays (Testaankoop), Emma Hessels (artist and former AB Ticketing & Customer Service staff member), Jan De Loecker (KU Leuven) and Jan Digneffe (FKP Scorpio) will join the panel.
Meet the Panel
Laura Clays
Laura Clays has been the spokesperson for Testaankoop since May 2022, where she oversees media relations. She also represents Testaankoop in discussions with companies, civil society organisations and political stakeholders, as well as in panel discussions and lectures. She studied law and journalism and previously worked for ROBtv.
Jan De Loecker
Jan De Loecker is Professor of Economics and Research Professor (BOF) at KU Leuven, a Fellow of the Econometric Society, former Research Associate at the NBER and Research Fellow at the CEPR. He earned his PhD in Economics from KU Leuven in 2006. From 2006 to 2008, he was a faculty member at NYU before joining Princeton University, where he served on the full-time faculty from 2008 to 2017, including a tenured appointment from 2014 to 2017. He has also been a visiting professor at Yale University and Stanford University. His research focuses on industrial organisation, international economics and development economics.
Emma Hessels
Emma Hessels is a singer-songwriter who has captivated audiences across the country since being selected as a laureate of Sound Track 2023. Until recently, Emma worked in Ticketing & Customer Service at AB. Alongside customer service and event management responsibilities, she was co-responsible for Solidair Ticket, an initiative through which AB aims to lower financial barriers to attending concerts and events.
Jan Digneffe
Jan Digneffe is the director of the Belgian branch of FKP Scorpio, an independent concert promoter headquartered in Hamburg with offices in ten countries. He previously worked as a booker for Clear Channel (now Live Nation) and founded the three-day music festival Live is Live in 2022, which takes place in Middenvijver Park on Antwerp's Linkeroever. His upbringing had a lasting influence on his career and outlook: his father was a prominent socialist trade unionist in the railway sector, as well as a passionate music lover and DJ.
Margot Otten
Margot Otten, the moderator of this talk, is a radio journalist based in Brussels. For BRUZZ, she produces In Brussel, a weekly program that features two stories from the city. She also works for VRT NWS on radio news and the podcast Het Kwartier. Under the name Stadsoren, she creates audio walking tours in various Brussels neighborhoods, focusing on the stories and memories of city residents.
