Paul Heaton just wants to make sure his “fans can afford” to see him.
The 62-year-old musician – who found fame as the frontman of the Housemartins before going on to form The Beautiful South – charged just £35 a ticket for his recent arena tour, and thinks that others can just be “greedy” when it comes to setting prices.
He told The Sunday Times: “I’ve got a pretty eccentric relationship with money.
“Every time I have a meeting with my accountant, he has his head in his hands. My dad was the same. It’s a self-tax, to give away what I don’t need. That’s why I kept the ticket prices down on the last tour.
“I made a massive profit. There are people out there who are greedy, who want to make sure they make a lot of money. And there are people like me who want to ensure fans can afford tickets in the first place.”
The ‘A Little Time’ hitmaker insisted that it is “doable” for any artist to have lower prices for the fans, if they are willing to turn down the chance to earn huge amounts of money.
He said: “I won’t slag any other artist off because I don’t know their circumstances — but all I can say about lower prices is: if you are prepared to step off the money train, it is doable.”
Meanwhile, Paul will be playing a series of smaller venues across the UK from May and insisted he prefers it that way because he has time to actually meet people and cannot stand the idea of a residency where he would be stuck in some place for a considerable amount of time/
He added: “I’m into my geography and I like small places. People are so friendly. If you play the arenas, you drive straight into the venue and don’t have time to walk about. Playing smaller places, you meet people you wouldn’t normally meet. And I like the idea of going to someone’s town rather than forcing them to travel to the nearest arena. A [residency] would drive me mad.”