A $20 bill doesn't buy much live music nowadays.

It'll get you into places such as Limelight, Rebar and the White Rabbit for local acts and artists you've probably never heard on the radio. But for Madonna, the Rolling Stones, Jon Mayer or whatever other big-name performer you're thinking of, you and your $20 are going to have to settle for a CD.

The average cost of a concert ticket: More than $50. The average cost of downloading your favorite song from that artist on iTunes: 99 cents.

That's probably why I haven't trekked out to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater for a show in so long. There hasn't been anyone I've been willing to pay the price to see.

Concerts have gotten way too expensive.

In the 1980s, the average concert could be seen for about $20, Princeton University researcher Alan Krueger says. By the 1990s, concert ticket prices were growing by leaps and bounds. Between 1996 and 2001, Krueger says concert ticket prices rose 61 percent — faster than admission prices for the movies, theater and sporting events. Why has the price of seeing your favorite act risen so high so fast?

Record companies, the experts say.

Since you and I are downloading tunes and burning one another’s CDs instead of buying them in stores, the pressure has been on to make more money from live performances.

In 2001, the average concert ticket cost between $40 and $60, according to Krueger's research. Sounds cheap compared with some of the ticket prices I've seen in recent years.

When I saw Depeche Mode at the Verizon in Selma several years ago, my $85 ticket snagged me a lovely spot in Row X. When I saw Eminem there a couple of years later, my $80 ticket landed me a spot in the same general area. I really liked both shows, but looking back I have to wonder, was it really worth it?

I remember having a good time at the Depeche Mode show, but from where I was, the band looked like a bunch of small dots playing some very familiar songs. I got to see Eminem's butt with my $80 ticket because he mooned the audience. But from my vantage point, it was all a blur.

In this particular case, though, that probably was a good thing.

There are a lot of things in this world I'm willing to pay the price for. Concert tickets aren't generally at the top of that list, and clearly many of you agree.

As concert prices have risen, audiences have shrunk.

Promoters have turned to gimmicks such as offering free admission to shows with the purchase of an act's latest release. There still are names — among them Barbara Streisand and Paul McCartney — who can easily command three-digit prices, but I can think of few artists I'd be willing to spend $50 or more to see.

I'd rather discover a new local act for a fraction of the cost.