the Ekhoscenes union sees “without taboo” pricing proportional to demand

“Not addressing it – when other countries already practice it – would even be a mistake,” added Olivier Darbois, president of the Ekhoscenes union (formerly Prodiss), newly re-elected.

Dynamic pricing, which adjusts the cost of concert tickets according to demand at the risk of prices soaring, “should in no case be taboo“, according to the Ekhoscenes union, the voice of private performing arts entrepreneurs.

“Opening a discussion on dynamic pricing should in no case be a taboo: the question deserves to be studied, far from caricatures and sterile controversies“, declared Olivier Darbois, president of Ekhoscenes (ex-Prodiss), after his re-election on Tuesday October 1, 2024 for a third term at the head of this union which has more than 500 member companies.

Generalized in other sectors, such as the purchase of plane tickets, dynamic pricing consists of adjusting the sales price in real time to consumer demand: the stronger this is for a given product, the lower the price. increase. This practice aroused the anger of thousands of fans of the British group Oasis, who announced at the end of August their reformation and a tour: certain tickets initially priced at around 150 pounds (179 euros) were thus offered at more than 350 pounds (419 euros). ).

Left empty-handed after a long wait on sales platforms like Ticketmaster UK, several hundred consumers filed complaints with the British advertising regulator. “We know our territory, the cultural practices of the French, and we are capable of tailor-made products according to our audiences.“, assured Olivier Darbois, convinced that a “accessible culture“is possible without”frame everything“. Like him, the defenders of this price optimization system argue that it makes it possible to fight against the black market.

Furthermore, regarding live entertainment, Olivier Darbois called on his union to “take up the question of censorship, while we see the emergence here and there of censorship from another time and a dangerous and deleterious hatred“, adding that “creative freedom (…) will never be negotiable“.

At the beginning of September, the vice-president (theatre) of Ekhoscenes warned of a trend “programmers guided by their local elected officials who prefer to avoid putting on shows around societal subjects, despite public and critical success“.

A collective of workers from the companies scheduled at the Théâtre de l’Escapade in Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), supported by the CGT spectacle, notably called on September 27 to mobilize for “backup“from this place after”pressures” which the RN (National Rally) town hall defends.