Once again, the cost of concert tickets has raised alarms among the public. With some of the biggest artists going on tour this year, the anticipation can be felt. Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars and Harry Styles are just some of the star-studded names that are making their way across the country. Yet for many fans, that excitement has been tempered by one major issue: the cost.
According to PBS, in 2022, the conversation around ticket prices became more intense. Most notably, it was Taylor Swift’s 2022 Eras Tour that ignited the issue. When tickets went on sale through Ticketmaster, millions of fans flooded the website, causing technical failures, long virtual queues and extreme price surges. Many tickets that were originally listed at a few hundred dollars quickly climbed into the thousands and many fans left the pre-sale empty handed. The backlash was so massive that in 2023, a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee began a hearing to examine Live Nation’s market power and the state of competition in the ticketing industry.
Now, that concern has come back with a raging force. In this past month, fans of Harry Styles had to face exorbitant prices for entry-level seats ranging from $800 to $1.000 per ticket. With such high costs to pay, many people are now wondering if getting to see your favorite artists is an attainable goal.
“When I was getting tickets for Taylor Swift, I just remember how panicked I was,” Lambert senior RIya Daftari explained. “I felt the same when I was getting Ariana Grande tickets, and I saw that with my friends when they tried to get Harry Styles’ tickets. It just…makes concerts less fun cause the struggle for tickets overshadow everything else.”
Part of the reason why prices keep rising is because consumers are more willing to accept higher prices for things such as concerts. This phenomenon is known as ‘funflation’, a term that CNBC states is what economists are using to explain why we are willing to spend more on concerts and live events. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for live experiences skyrocketed, which changed the way tickets are priced and sold. Dynamic pricing, a system in which ticket prices fluctuate based on demand at the exact moment of purchase, has become the new normal. Similar to how airline or hotel tickets work, the prices increase as more people try to buy seats at the same time. Because concert venues have limited seating, this system creates the struggle that ticket buying has now become known for.
However, for many young fans, concerts are like a rite of passage. Some of the best memories and moments for a young teen are at concerts. So, having to struggle just for tickets can often remove the fun. Acknowledging that, many artists have begun to take action.
Artists like Ed Sheeran, Olivia Dean, Ariana Grande and most recently, Tame Impala have all worked to keep their tickets at fair prices. Many artists even released public statements calling out Ticketmaster, dynamic pricing and resellers. In turn, for some tours, Ticketmaster agreed to cap resale prices for the shows and refund fans who had paid excessive markups.
“In 2023, I went to Ed Sheeran’s concert and that cost around 80 [per ticket] which was pretty reasonable,” Daftari said. “This year for Ariana, it cost me about 138 which also wasn’t that bad.”
With so many artists trying to make a change in the industry, fans can only hope that concerts become much more attainable. Increased public pressure and growing government scrutiny can also help to keep companies like Ticketmaster accountable. As anticipation builds for upcoming concerts, we know that live music is here to stay. The challenge now lies in making sure that excitement does not come at a cost too high for fans to afford.
