From a Front Row Fangirl

As a fangirl working in the music industry, news of the live music industry is just as important to me as tips and tricks on the latest tours, so in this post I will be discussing the lastest information we have on the lawsuit against ticketing monopolies like Ticketmaster and Live Nation.

Dear Fellow Fangirls,

Who here has ever signed up for verified fan presale made to make it easier for real fans to get tickets, instead of the bots only to be denied and get the horrific email from Ticketmaster with the big giant letters at the top “YOU’RE WAITLISTED” because you aren’t actually a real fan? Has anyone ever waited in an online queue on Ticketmaster, or Live Nation’s website for hours only to be let in to buy a ticket with no tickets left to buy? Or what about being let into the queue to buy a ticket during an artist’s presale only to see dynamic pricing by Ticketmaster claiming that a seat in the balcony is worth $500 instead of the face value $50 price because of demand?

If you have ever fallen victim of any of these scenarios this post is for you.

According the Google’s Dictionary, dynamic pricing is “the practice of varying the price for a product or service to relfect changing market confitions, in particular the charging of a higher price at a time of greater demand.”

Dynamic pricing concert tickets is a horrific strategy used by companies like Ticketmaster or Live Nation to justify the price of a concert ticket based on the demand. They decide that because they want more money the fans must pay anywhere for two to six times the face value price of the ticket. This is greedy and takes advantage of so many fans desperate to see their favorite artist live in concert.

I hate to be cliche but I remember going to my very first concert for around $45 for a ticket only a couple rows from the stage, while nowadays most fans are paying anywhere from $80 (for nosebleeds) to $500 (for pit or general admission tickets) face value, so imagine how much more their are paying for “platinum tickets” or better known as dynamic prices. Taking advantage of fans needs to be stopped.

Thankfully there are many artists that don’t stand for dynamic pricing and are helping start a movement and put a stop to this experience for their fans. Some of these artists include but are not limited to, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, The Cure, Oasis, Olivia Rodrigo, Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan.

In an interview with Billboard Music, “The Cure’s Robert Smith Calls Ticketmaster’s Dynamic Pricing Model a ‘Scam’ and ‘Driven by Greed’” Robert Smith from The Cure says,

“I was shocked by how much is made [by ticketing], I thought, we don’t need to make all this money. My fights with the label have all been about how we can price things lower…We didn’t allow dynamic pricing because it’s a scam that would disappear if every artist said, ‘I don’t want that!’ But most artsits hid ebehind management. ‘Oh, we didn’t know,’ they say. They all know. If they say do not, their either f-king stupid or lying. It’s just driven by greed.”

Thanks to the concept of dynamic pricing it’s making it harder and harder for fans to be able to see their favorite artists live in concert because they can’t afford the tickets.

In an interview with The Guardian Australia, “Green Day in Sydney for $500-is dynamic pricing reserving live music for the rich?” Madison Closter, a Green Day fan says,

“It is getting to the point where is it not viable for a lot of people to go to big concerts.”

Later in the article Jarni Blakkarly a consumer rights investigator poses the question,

“Do we really want to make a society where only the mega-rich can afford to go to a concert?”

I think that concerts should be available to anyone and everyone. As a fangirl and lover of live music I think it’s important that everyone see at least one of their favorite artists live in concert. I make it a personal mission to take all of my friends to their first concerts because concerts should be and are for everyone.

The change that Olivia Rodrigo has made to her concert tickets is an inspiring move to see for someone so close to my age. Olivia Rodrigo announced on her socials that she would be offereing a less expensive and more inclusive option to see her live called Silver Star tickets. Silver Star tickets are tickets available in seats scattered throughout venues that will be $20 a piece. An article from UPROXX a news a discussion site share the news.

“…Rodrigo is offering a new option for something called Silver Star tickets that fans can purchase…These can only be purchased in pairs and just two per purchase order…The Silver Star tickets will be seated next to each other. The seat locations will not be revealed until customers pick up the tickets on the day of the show from the box office.”

Olivia launched this idea to help her fans be able to get tickets at an affordable price without being impacted by dynamic pricing.

Thankfully the government has taken note on the pricing of live music events recently and has taken action against Ticketmaster and Live Nation in hopes to put a stop to offering dynamic pricing as a whole.

In an article from Rolling Stone “It Is Time to Break It Up: Inside the DOJ’s Blockbuster Lawsuit Against Live Nation” they discuss the lawsuit in greater detail. They interviewed Jonathon Kanter, the United States Attorney General and he shared his thoughts on the lawsuit. He shares the same sentiment many fans do,

“…people love music, and a monopolist is getting in the way of their ability to access it and making their lives more expensive.”

Rolling Stone continues by explaining that this lawsuit seems to be coming to the aid of thousands of fans experiencing huge amounts of frustration during the concert ticketing experience.

“For the most in-demand shows, seasoned fans know what to expect: Cross your fingers days in advance, hoping to get a Ticketmaster verified fan code that merely gives you the right to wait in a hellish online queue. Assuming technical difficulties from the high traffick don’t kick you out of line or crash the site altogether (condolences if you tried and failed to by Oasis tickets in August), by the time you reach the lobby you have to brace for sticker shock.”

It’s just horrific that fans are having these experiences in every ticket queue through Ticketmaster. This is not okay and needs to be stopped, but unfortunately it doesn’t just stop at taking down Ticketmaster. Because they own the majority of the largest amphitheaters and venues across the world it makes it hard for artists to boycott their venues and try selling tickets through other sites.

Live Nation as a whole is worth about $26 billion dollars, owning a whopping 338 venues globally as well as over 150 event spaces across North America. Among those 338 venues includes 60 (out of 100) of the biggest stadiums, arenas and amphitheaters in the United States. Thanks to these 338 venues across the world they cnontrol more than 80% of ticketing for live music and events.

Zach Bryan is one of the many artists that tried this tactic. He had taken to his socials, sharing with his fans that he hates the pricing battle so many artists are going through right now, and to fight that he sold his tickets through AXS a rival ticketing site to Live Nation for his ‘All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster Tour’. While this worked for his first (and much smaller tour) he had to turn back to Ticketmaster for his most recent tour profusing apologizing to his fans and claiming that he is only one man and that he can’t change the very broken system that is unfair ticket pricing.

In defense of these claims and lawsuits Live Nation has issued mulitple rebuttles claiming that they are not at fault, it’s up to the artists and that they are always putting the fans first. It seems they may be trying to point the finger anywhere but at the root of the problem (themselves).

Unfortunately there is only so much we can do as a fan which is much, but use your platform, spread the word and then sit and wait. We can only hope that the Department of Justice is able to take down the monopoly that is Live Nation and Ticketmaster and that in the process more artists will realize the impact they have on ticket pricing and make a change for the fans, for the better.