Is it Wise for Artists to Discount Tickets on Groupon, et al?

It’s becoming an ever increasing trend to see concert tickets on discount web sites such as Groupon and Living Social. While it may be good for fans to get tickets to see their favorite artists at a more affordable price, I can’t help but wonder if this it leading down a dangerous path.
Remember many years ago when artists and record labels gave away the occasional free MP3 for promotion or incentive? Do you remember when Radiohead released In Rainbows under the oft cited ‘pay what you like’ scheme? Do you remember when Napster was launched and was merely the first of many illegal file sharing sites that allowed music fans to download essentially any song ever recorded without the knowledge or consent of the songwriter, performer, publisher, label, or anyone else involved in the creative process? Do you remember the much heated debate that’s still raging over streaming and if it’s helpful, hurtful, or something in between?
Well, MP3s are still given away as promotion by labels and artists alike and it can be a great way to generate interest in an artist and thank fans for sticking around. Radiohead chose the pay what you like model as a way of releasing their album on their terms, changing things up a bit, and proving to themselves, their fans, and hopefully the world that music still had value. Napster and their ilk were just plain thieving, and the debate on streaming continues.
All of these things have something in common, however, in that they’re all cited as factors leading to the devaluation of music. This brings us to Groupon.
If people argue that giving fans a free song on occasion or an established artist allowing their fans to pay an amount of their choosing for a record has led to an industry in which music is worthless to consumers, doesn’t it stand to reason that artists, or promoters, who are selling heavily discounted tickets on Groupon are laying the foundation for that to become the expectation? Free music is now largely the expectation of the masses making it more difficult to earn money through album and download sales. Radio is virtually non-existent in most markets unless you’re Maroon 5 or Rihanna and, while streaming is a platform that is capable of picking up that slack, an equitable payment scheme has yet to be worked out. This leaves sync, merch, and touring. If well established, big name artists are making the norm heavily discounting tickets, how are others going to compete with that? Artists like Depeche Mode can afford to take a loss on some of their tickets if they offer a discount on Groupon because they have thirty years of royalties and sales in their bank accounts to sustain them during these uncertain times. New artists don’t have that luxury but their fans will still be asking “Why don’t you have a 30% off Groupon for your tickets; *insert name of artist here* does?” For reasons I don’t entirely understand, most consumers are unable to delineate between major, established artists and new acts. Often the public expects the same from both, which is not only unrealistic, it’s incredibly unfair.
Just this morning there are offers for Billy Joel, Blake Shelton, Rock & Rave Memorial Day EDM Weekend DJ Dance Party, a jazz fundraiser, and Aaron Watson with William Clark Green & The Rankin Twins, and that’s only what’s on offer in Chicago.
While it’s important for artists to sell tickets to gigs, it’s also important to sustain the value of those tickets. Just as we now find ourselves in an environment where teenagers have never purchased music, I can’t help but wonder if we’re laying the framework for the concert goers of the future to grow to expect a free, or at the very least a heavily discounted live experience as well. There’s no arguing that concert-going can be a costly affair, but it’s also worth noting the amount of work, personnel, and showmanship that goes into high price tours. Continuing to drive down the value of those tickets is bound to result in backlash at some point.