By Reese Albany | Guest Contributor
As a frequent concertgoer, I have personal experience with resellers buying tickets from Ticketmaster and the outrageous prices they charge.
“Ticketmaster is the world’s largest ticket seller, processing 500 million tickets each year in more than 30 countries,” and “around 70% of tickets for major concert venues in the U.S. are sold through Ticketmaster,” according to Fox News.
Ticketmaster has been under scrutiny since Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour tickets went on sale in 2022, leaving thousands of fans devastated after waiting hours in the virtual queue and not being able to secure tickets to the tour.
“Ms. Swift’s popular Eras Tour, which grossed a record $2 billion, an average ticket price of $1,088 in 2023,” according to a New York Times article.
These prices are not affordable for everyone, which causes many fans to miss out on their favorite artists’ live entertainment.
Following the Eras Tour, the Federal Trade Commission, alongside seven states, sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster for tacitly coordinating with brokers and allowing them to harvest millions of dollars worth of tickets in the primary market.
“Live Nation and Ticketmaster then sell the illegally harvested tickets at a substantial markup in the secondary market, causing consumers to pay significantly more than the face value of the ticket,” The FTC explained.
Not only are resellers a problem, but most sales on Ticketmaster use dynamic pricing, which Consumer News and Business Channel defined as “the charging of a higher price at a time of greater demand.”
I have had many experiences with dynamic pricing, including during my attempt to buy Morgan Wallen tickets. Once I finally made it to the top of the virtual queue, the upper, “nosebleed” levels of Lincoln Financial Field were already up to $300 apiece, which contradicted Ticketmaster’s original starting price of $89.
Due to high demand and the speed at which tickets for Wallen’s tour were selling, many fans were left disappointed, including me. The cheapest ticket for that concert is now more than $400.
Although Ticketmaster is the biggest culprit of price gouging, they are not the only problem when it comes to the pricey tickets..
According to Northeastern Global News, artists have the option to “opt in or out of dynamic pricing when negotiating with Ticketmaster and can even negotiate the terms of how it works. How many tickets will be sold at face value before dynamic pricing kicks in? Is there a ceiling for how high ticket prices can go? All of that is determined by artists, their management, and Ticketmaster.”
However, artists like Swift and Oasis have publicly stated they refuse dynamic pricing for their tours, which ultimately points the finger back at Ticketmaster.
There needs to be major changes in how tickets for live events are sold, especially on sites like Ticketmaster.
