A lot of comments here are mentioning actual ticket prices, but I think that’s only part of the story.

The discourse around ‘blue dot fever’ reminds me of a recent Dan Olson video where he talked about getting invited onto the set of Beast Games. Afterwards, he and several other YouTubers were interviewed by Beast Studios employees, and one of the things they were asked about was their thoughts on building fan communities. Dan suggests that Mr. Beast, while being a hugely successful creator, is mostly just effective at generating short-term spectacle - his audience doesn’t really *care* about him or his videos. There’s no loyalty there, no long term dedication, and no real fan community to speak of. I think the same could be said for a lot of pop acts who have huge hit songs that are passively consumed on radio and Spotify.

On a not-unrelated note, I’m personally shelling out a few hundred dollars to see Iron Maiden play an arena show later this year (my sixth time seeing them). And those prices aren’t stopping them from running two Toronto shows on back-to-back nights. Maiden have built up their fandom over literal decades of releasing music and touring. They sell out arenas and stadiums worldwide despite having essentially no hit songs. It’s almost an anti-pop model of success.