Photo Credit: Parkwood Entertainment
Tickets for major acts like Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, and Beyoncé are known to go fast, so fans are accustomed to acting accordingly during pre-sales in order to avoid being shut out. But things have been different for Queen Bey’s Cowboy Carter tour, in which many tickets are winding up available for the general on-sale or the resale market—often for a fraction of the pre-sale prices.
That’s a far cry from how things were during Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, where fans didn’t even get a chance at the general on-sale, with tickets long gone by the time the pre-sales dissipated. The whiplash in pricing is frustrating fans who paid top dollar for tickets to see Beyoncé during the Beehive pre-sale, only to find the same seats available for a third of that price after the fact.
“I bought Cowboy Carter pre-sale tickets for $1700 for Sweet Honey Bucket Pit at MetLife on the 22nd,” one fan complained on social media. “The same tickets are now $600. I’m f—ing pissed.”
“F Ticketmaster, the tickets that are right next to me are now $1500 cheaper!!!” lamented another. “Hell, I could go to a different city and see another show for less than that. I’m thankful for getting to see Beyoncé front row, but damn my wallet hurts.”
“I’ve gotten to a point that I’m no longer going to compete in a pre-sale,” said Annie Rodriguez, a concertgoer who paid around $860 for her ticket, after which seats fell as low as $500. “As a fan who is signing up for the pre-sale so that you can guarantee a seat, you’re hoping that the artist will be kind to their true fans.”
In general, fans are quick to blame Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the merger of which has come under additional scrutiny by federal lawmakers. That’s largely thanks to the debacle with Swift’s Eras Tour ticketing two years ago. Last year, the Justice Department sued Live Nation over its monopoly in the live entertainment industry, asking a court to break up the conglomerate.
But the broader resale market is under scrutiny too, and has been for a while now. “The Coalition for Ticket Fairness believes that a transparent and open resale market is essential to restoring balance and fairness in the ticketing ecosystem,” begins a statement from Jason Berger of the Coalition for Ticket Fairness. “When fans are allowed to freely buy, sell, or transfer tickets across platforms, it creates competition, drives prices down, and gives fans the flexibility they deserve.”
“Restricting resale or locking tickets to a single platform only benefits a few dominant players—not the fans. An open and transparent resale market ensures fairness, affordability, and freedom for consumers,” he concludes. “Fans want choice. Choice drives competition, and competition drives fairness.”
Ultimately, so-called superfans who pay top dollar for first dibs on tickets shouldn’t be too surprised when tickets beyond the pre-sale drop in value. The industry has made clear that as long as superfans are willing to pay any price to secure tickets, pre-sales for the hottest shows will continue to cost a pretty penny. Buyer’s remorse in this case isn’t applicable to you since the jacked up prices were the cost for first dibs on tickets rather than attending at all.
Share on:
You must be logged in to post a comment.