Metallica manager defends raising ticket prices: ‘There was no audience pushback’

Mensch, who has steered Metallica’s career since 1984 with his management company Q Prime, appeared on the BBC show ‘Hits, Hype & Hustle: An Insider’s Guide to the Music Business’, which tells the story of how live music has become a billion-pound industry.

In a segment in which music promoter and show host John Giddings talks about how record sales made up nearly 80% of a band’s income before the advent of the internet and the “file-sharing sites revolution”, Mensch described the moment he discovered Napster.

“When I first heard about Napster, I was in this office,” Mensch said. “We had to find the one person with a PC computer in our office and she types some stuff in and we saw, I don’t know, 50 versions of ‘Enter Sandman’.

“Was there a sinking feeling that the game was up? Yes. I’d have to say we realised that the handwriting… someone was writing on the wall. Maybe they hadn’t written it clearly yet but they were putting their hand on the wall and writing. So, I’d say yes we knew we were in deep s***.”

With record sales swiftly nose-diving across the music industry, Mensch said the new business model meant that Metallica now had to hit the road to make money.

“We hadn’t made a record in years y’know and this is just what he do; we play in front of our fans, rock bands have always had to bring it to the fans.”

With demand soaring, Mensch said their decision to up ticket prices was met with little friction: “We did some tests the last couple of years, we realised the top price of a Metallica ticket could be much higher than it used to be.

“And we charged it and there was no audience pushback on it. Shows that might have made ‘x’ now make ‘3x’. The ticket price thing has changed everything.” 

Standard ticket prices on the UK leg of Metallica’s WorldWired Tour last October ranged from £57 to £100 plus fees.

You can watch ‘Hits, Hype & Hustle: An Insider’s Guide to the Music Business’ on BBCiPlayer for the next 25 days here.