I actually wrote most of this post back in March after the absolute fiasco of trying to buy tickets for the Backstreet Boys’ Sphere residency.
After spending hours in queues, watching prices climb, and ending up with almost nothing left but expensive Platinum seats, I decided not to go.
Not because of the boys because my love will never fade.
Not because I couldn’t afford it.
But because I was tired of fighting for tickets.
Fighting scalpers for tickets. For Ticketmaster to raise prices or play their games.
I shelved this post. I kind of forgot about it. Then this week happened.
AJ McLean’s solo tour went on sale, and it reminded me that nothing has changed.
During the Live Nation presale, Ticketmaster kept glitching because thousands of people were also trying to buy tickets for Ella Langley’s tour. The site froze, seats disappeared, it timed out and gave an error when you tried to pay for seats, and I started doing what every concert fan eventually does: panic-buying.
The best seats I could find for Atlanta were front row of the balcony, so I grabbed them before they disappeared.
About five minutes later… second row popped up. Then front row.
Julia and I eventually ended up with two front row seats and an extra second-row ticket in the middle of all the chaos. Thankfully, my friend Penni bought the second-row seats from us.
Now I’m stuck with the front row balcony tickets because Ticketmaster won’t even let me resell them on their own platform. I had to list them on StubHub instead. (If anyone happens to be looking for two front row balcony seats in Atlanta, let me know.)
Then came Friday’s general onsale.
Around 10 a.m., the website was still glitching, probably due to Ella’s tour also going on general sale, so I checked a few times out of curiosity.
By Friday afternoon, I started getting messages from friends saying there were suddenly tons of front-row seats available.
Not regular-priced seats.
Platinum seats.
About $270 each.
That raises a pretty simple question: Where were those seats during the presale? Or during the public onsale?
Why did they suddenly appear hours later on a Friday afternoon?
It’s hard not to feel like fans are being manipulated by Ticketmaster/Live Nation into buying whatever is available because they’re afraid they’ll miss out.
And that’s become the biggest problem with buying concert tickets today.
Buying tickets used to be exciting. You’d log in, hope for decent seats, and maybe deal with a little stress if the show was popular.
Now it feels like you’re preparing for battle.
It’s become normal to log in and see hundreds of thousands of people ahead of you in the queue.
During the Backstreet Boys’ Sphere presales, there were reportedly more than half a million people waiting in line, many of whom didn’t even have access to that specific presale. Metallica fans experienced similar issues during their recent ticket sales.
Ticketmaster’s Platinum program uses dynamic pricing, meaning ticket prices increase as demand rises. Many of the best seats are placed into this pricing model, causing costs to climb far beyond face value.
That’s how a ticket that should cost a couple hundred dollars suddenly costs several hundred more, somethings a thousand or more.
For many fans, one concert now costs as much as a month’s rent.
One thing that’s important to understand is that artists don’t necessarily control all of this.
Typically, artists or their booking agents make agreements with promoters, who take on the financial risk of putting on the show. The promoter works with the venue, and the venue often has an exclusive agreement with Ticketmaster to handle ticket sales.
Most artists don’t have a direct contract with Ticketmaster at all. Ticketmaster processes ticket sales, while promoters pay the artist based on the terms of their agreement.
That doesn’t mean artists have no say (check out this article for more information).
Some have chosen to fight for fans.
The Cure pushed back against excessive fees and worked to keep ticket prices affordable.
Noah Kahan and Taylor Swift have requested that dynamic pricing be turned off for their tours.
Garth Brooks took an even more aggressive approach during his 2014 comeback tour. He worked with Ticketmaster to have affordable pricing no matter the ticket location in the venue. The credit card used to purchase the tickets became the ticket itself, making it nearly impossible for scalpers to buy large numbers of seats and flip them for huge profits.
There are tools available to reduce reselling. There are ways to limit dynamic pricing.
More artists should use them.
Ticketmaster also deserves far more scrutiny than it receives, even though they currently had legal issues that didn’t amount to much.
The company has become such a dominant force in live entertainment that many fans feel like they have no choice but to accept whatever happens.
Meanwhile, the people paying the price are the fans.
The ones sitting in virtual queues for hours.
The ones refreshing browsers over and over.
The ones saving for months just to see their favorite artist for one night.
The ones who can’t afford a ticket to see their favorite artists, even nosebleeds, because they have to make rent. Thus, making them feel like less of a fan in the eyes of other fans who can afford those things.
Live music should be about the experience.
It shouldn’t feel like winning the lottery just to afford a ticket.