Jordan Jones
Mrs. Straub
March 9 2015
Econ
Two Dollars Too Much?
Attending Summer Fest to listen to decent music and have a good time with friends and family will cost individuals a little more money this upcoming June. The already pricey ticket $17 is now increased to $19. Which to some, two dollars isn’t much, however, if you’ve attended before you know that a couple years ago the ticket prices were $15. This difference might not seem that big but if you add up the four dollars for each visit you could easily buy yourself food while you’re inside or that money could go to the bus fee. For High School students in this area, the bus is the main transportation, a $10 fee, this brings the total fee to $29 each visit instead of $25. Twenty-five dollars to just enter the park; we all know you’re going to want that juicy burger or whatever it is that you’re craving. So lets just add $8 to that total. That’s $37, but let me remind you that’s for one night! Summerfest is a 11-day festival. Four dollars back in your wallet sounds good right now doesn’t it.
Last year the ticket prices were $17 a $2 spike from the previous years ("Summerfest Boosts Ticket Price $2"). One would think that some people would find something else to do instead of attending the Festival because of the increase in price. Instead they had an increase of 1.4% drawing in 850,000 people ("Summerfest Attendance up despite Cool Weather"). Summer Fest tickets are definitely elastic but increasing the price a couple dollars didn’t seem to affect the thousands of people and I doubt the attendance will decrease this year just because of the two dollars. But who knows maybe the $17 tickets last year were worth it because of the performers and if this year people don’t like who's performing why go. If an increase in attendance were to happen this year you would only think that Summer Fest would raise their price again, why not if people are going to attend either way? People look forward for the event all year and the experience can’t really compare with any other festival around the country.
From the graph above we see that it only shows 2005 – 2013, however we also know 2014’s attendance (850,000). With knowing the attendances of each year we can see that the price of tickets doesn’t really affect the amount of people that attend. It’s more based on how the weather is that year rather than the price to get in. This shows us that Summer Fest is an enjoyable festival that people are attending to have a good time regardless of the price. Ticket sales have been relatively close for the past couple years and with the prices raising it seems to not have an effect on the amount of people. So as of now we can say that the tickets have been inelastic because people will go regardless, however, we would see attendance start to decrease if prices increased too much.
"Summerfest Boosts Ticket Price $2." Summerfest Boosts Ticket Price $1; Beer Prices Stay
the Same. 12 Mar. 2015. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.
"Summerfest Attendance up despite Cool Weather." Summerfest Attendance up despite Cool Weather. 12 Mar. 2015. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.
"Summerfest Reports Attendance Rose at This Year's Festival." Summerfest 2013. 12 Mar. 2015. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.
"Summerfest Reports Attendance Rose at This Year's Festival." Summerfest 2013. 12 Mar. 2015. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.
It will be interesting to see if the price of tickets is elastic or inelastic. Considering how popular of a thing it is to do in summer, and the fact that the performers are always good; I think that the price of the ticket it fairly inelastic. Summerfest basically runs a monopoly on southeastern Wisconsin music festivals, so they can raise the prices a little bit. If the prices were to get jacked up even to $25 per ticket even, I'd probably still go for at least one day. What I think is going to happen with these new ticket prices is that summerfest will still make the same amount of money, but they will make it by the extra $2 and people not coming back as many days as they would have last year.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree and think that summer-fest tickets are an elastic good, even though the attendance has increased when the prices increased, if they raise anymore I think we will be seeing a decrease in attendance. The is of course a luxury item and if people realize that if the prices increase to much the marginal benefit is not worth the cost.
ReplyDeleteThis is a change that will definitely affect many of us as we attend Summerfest in a few months. I would agree that, initially, it would seem like the price of a ticket sale would be pretty elastic because it is not a necessity, but given your data, I can understand why Summerfest may be an exception. Although the price of admission into the grounds has gone up, these tickets are relatively cheap in comparison with main stages at the Marcus Amphitheater, or any other concert for that matter. There are not many adequate substitutes for this ticket price, even if it has gone up. In weighing marginal benefits with marginal costs, the cost of an extra two dollars is worth it to listen to good music, and I think that many of us will absolutely pay that price.
ReplyDeleteSummerfest is such a popular event in the summer that most wouldn’t give second thoughts to the price, nor would most notice differences in price from year to year because of the span of time between each annual music festival. This gives an advantage to the fact that tickets are an inelastic good, as people are generally just so excited to go to Summerfest that they won’t think twice about admission prices. This is true to a certain extent, and my prediction for this would be that tickets would generally start to become more of an elastic good after the price exceeds $20.00. At prices as high as this, people may start to question their attendance, but until then, no one will hesitate partying at the largest summer music festival in the world.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting to see that even with the rise in prices the attendance hasn't changed much. However, if the prices raise by a large amount, summer-fest tickets might become inelastic. There are also other factors that go into the attendance at summer fest, like the weather. So, it is hard to see if the price of the tickets and attendance have a direct correlation.
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ReplyDeleteJordan I really think this post was a great exposure of Summerfest and how their tickets are affected not only by its pricing, but by the weather as well. One of my favorite parts of your post was the graph, which showed that nothing has really changed over the course of Summerfest, only that the amount of people has steadily increased. But overall, great informational post.
Happy Birthday Bud
DeleteAccording to the law of demand, this increase in price should, in theory, cause less people to buy tickets because, like you said, they are an elastic good. However, the popularity of the event seems to only be growing and more tickets are being sold. Do you think it seems more likely that the supplier is raising the price due to increased factor of production cost or just to gain profits?
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ReplyDeleteI think it is crazy that the prices for the summerfest tickets are going up this year. To me it seems like a bad idea just because it could deter people from wanting to go because for some people that extra $2 is actually a lot. So if anything they should keep the price at what it was.
ReplyDeleteJordan, I thought you did a very good job with showing the price of things that include summerfest- bus fair, food, ticket in the door- all add up. These prices for sure have some impact on people but not on whether to go, impact on what to do to save up for the Summerfest cost. Your graph also shows a very good example of how no matter what the prices are, people are going to go regardless. Good job on picking a topic a lot of people can relate to!
ReplyDeleteJordan, this was a very interesting post. Summerfest is a very important aspect of the Wisconsin community. Summerfest is a great provider of short jobs that really helps the community as well as brings in a great amount of revenue to other businesses as well as a huge spike in the number of people that also go and see other tourist spots in the Milwaukee area if not traveling across the remainder of the state. Do you think that if Summerfest parking prices were also increased there would then be a decrease in the number of people attending? Along the same lines, what would be the maximum profit Summerfest could make while still having an increase in the number of people attending?
ReplyDeleteWith Summerfest being most people’s favorite thing here in Pewaukee, you picked an awesome topic. I found myself last year, spent over $300 in the course of Summerfest on buses, food, a fast pass, and more- which makes this an obvious topic on something that would affect the economy. Your graph really gave some good information about how things like these ticket prices has changed the attendance more than we would have thought. However, this is the BIGGEST music festival in the world and I don't think many people will hesitate to have some fun due to a $2 increase in tickets.
ReplyDeleteI feel that they are not raising the price enough to make people not want to go. I actually think it is a good idea that they are raising the price. Summer-fest is the third largest music festival in world, Milwaukee needs to take advantage of this and get as much money as we can from food to music.
ReplyDeleteI’m assuming the prices have risen over the years not only due to Summerfest’s increasing popularity, but more so to pressure attendees to purchase the pass, allowing customers to attend every day of the week for one large payment. Not only that, but more and more famous bands have been performing on the “free stages” over the past couple years; knowing who is going to be performing on a certain day will cause a large fluctuation in attendance.
ReplyDeleteThe topic is great because everyone goes to the Summerfest and everyone will spend a different amount of money, since some people decide to drive themselves and same the money on the buses, while other takes the buses and decide to spend more money over the course of the Summerfest. I went last year and I loved the music, and the two dollar will not make me change my mind about going this year. But sometimes i do think that it can be over the top with the increasing, because there is Youtube, Pandora and other things to listen to.
ReplyDeleteDemand for summerfest tickets is definitely relatively inelastic, because with price increases, the level of revenue increased. Plus, who can blame summerfest for raising ticket prices assuming people are willing to pay the increased amount. It just adds to their profit. In addition, if they bring in big name acts, these artists will probably demand more money to play so if there are more big names in a year the ticket price may raise accordingly.
ReplyDeleteMaybe ticket price increases could be caused by general inflation that affects everything in the economy. If there was more spending and the GDP rose, the country could experience demand-pull inflation, which would raise the price level, and lead to an increase in ticket prices. Since a single dollar is now worth less because prices are higher, maybe a $19 ticket is similar in real price to a $17 ticket the year before.
ReplyDeletePeople will still go to summerfest if they raise the prices. Although you will probably see a drop in visitors coming multiple days unless the music is really good. And if the price is going up shouldn't we see the product get better shouldn't we see summerfest bring in more big names. If I'm going to pay more I want to see a better product and I will be more than satisfied to pay an extra 2 dollars.
ReplyDeleteBy the continuous increase in price many people might not go to Summer Fest multiple times. Many high school and college students go to Summer Fest multiple times to listen to all different types of music but with the increase in prices people might go just one day and the attendance will not be as high. However when is too much money to even go to Summer Fest? Although people continue to go, it is an expensive outing, with buying food and drinks and if you stay the entire day you could easily spend $75. Summer Fest may be taking advantage of the popularity of the music festival and charging too much.
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