x

The latest industry news to your inbox.


I'd like to hear about marketing opportunities

    

I accept IQ Magazine's Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Men charged 150% more for Calvin Harris show

It’s expensive being a male Calvin Harris fan.

Men who want to go and see Harris at the 4,400-capacity Omnia nightclub at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where the Briton is currently the DJ-in-residence, on 13 May can expect to pay 150% more than female fans, with a general admission presale ticket for women costing just US$40, compared to $100 for men.

Similarly, while a VIP package for the show will set back women $115, men pay $175 (52.17% more) for the same ticket through official agent Ticket Driver:

Calvin Harris at Omnia, 13 May, ticket prices, Ticket Driver

An explanation on the Omnia/Ticket Drive site says that “to benefit from our flexible check-in and transfer policy, male and female tickets have to be purchased separately for the same per ticket service fee”, but gives no reason for the massive disparity in price.

Such gender-based price discrimination is illegal in a number of US states, including California, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, but no laws exist in Nevada.

Harris’s partner, Taylor Swift, is a noted feminist who has long campaigned for gender equality in the music industry. (However, statements like “feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace, because it’s just basically another word for equality” don’t exactly fit with different gig prices for men and women.)

Martin Daubney, the ex-editor of lads’ mag Loaded, tells The Telegraph the event is trying the “same tawdry tactic” as many less prestigious nightclubs, which routinely charge women less for entry than men: “charge girls less, then rip off the men who live the forlorn dream they will go to a club full of lithe females.”

He adds: “It takes the [piss] out of everybody: the men for ripping them off and the women for treating them as cheap offerings on a meat rack.”

IQ has contacted the Omnia, Ticket Driver and a representative for Harris for comment.