I am not in any way casting aspersions on what could be the other causes of price increase. I’ve heard people say insurance is a big cost. But one would think with what must be a huge sponsorship from a Big Oil company (Shell), they could keep the costs down, even with the addition of bigger and bigger national pop names over the years.

I know the non-profit half of the operation does many good things for the local music community. And if dollars some dude from Ohio paid to see Jimmy Buffet or Dave Matthews goes to help local musicians keep working, then that’s great.

What’s lost is the locals who used to make up a big part of the festival’s audience. They’re still there, but by all accounts make up for a much smaller portion of the audience, and it’s no longer a possibility for many working class folks to consider going to the fest. It’s just too expensive.

What they need is a locals’ discount policy. If you look at the graph, if the 1971-88 price had increased only due to inflation, tickets would be $18. That should be the locals’ price.

Perhaps replacing year number with ‘YY would make it easier for people remember/understand.

Overall, cool graph.