When I was little, I would watch the TV show Sam & Cat almost every day. Before I even knew the name Ariana Grande, I was watching her play Cat Valentine. Soon enough, I discovered “The Way,” “Love Me Harder,” and “Break Free”; my appreciation for a character Grande played quickly bloomed into a love for her music and singing. By the time I was in middle school, I became a die-hard fan, constantly blasting “7 Rings” and “No Tears Left to Cry” while on the bus to school, getting ready, hanging out with friends — pretty much whenever I could. Although I’m no longer the crazy fangirl I was in sixth grade, I still love Grande’s music and was ecstatic when she announced “The Eternal Sunshine Tour” after a five-year hiatus from touring.
However, the promise of “Eternal Sunshine” didn’t quite reach me. I saved up money over the summer and waited in excitement as Grande released tour dates. The day her tickets went on sale, my excitement faded immediately when I found they sold out within minutes. By the time I logged into Ticketmaster, I was too late. I knew that it would be difficult to get tickets, and I’ve heard the horrors about Ticketmaster, but I was shocked to find that nobody else I knew had any luck either.Â
I knew that the next option was to wait for ticket resellers and search for reasonably priced tickets. After weeks of searching, I still haven’t had any luck. Resale tickets range from $500 to thousands of dollars, even for undesirable seating. At first, my failure to find tickets was discouraging, especially after waiting so many years to see her.
Now, I’m not disappointed that I haven’t yet found tickets; I’m more frustrated that it’s become so difficult for the average person to afford and attend concerts for high-demand artists. Concerts shouldn’t be limited to the wealthy, and you shouldn’t have to pay at least $500 to get a somewhat decent seat. There is no reason that a single ticket should cost thousands of dollars for an experience that lasts only a few hours. Why have concert ticket prices gotten so out of hand?
For one thing, concerts have changed over time largely due to the experience economy, which means that economic value has been placed on the staging of experiences. Concerts are a strong source of economic value, and as a result, their production value has been increasing over time. In turn, this has impacted the surge in ticket prices.
Largely, resale markets have caused the greatest shift in ticket prices. Resellers purchase tickets from the primary seller and then resell them, usually at a much higher price — sometimes even reaching tens of thousands of dollars.This resale market has led to the rise of scalpers — people who buy large numbers of tickets, with the intent to resell at a steep price, many of whom use automated programs to purchase tickets illegally. The BOTS Act of 2016 aimed to target the use of these programs to circumvent ticket purchasing limits, but it hasn’t been consistently enforced.
Will scalpers and resellers, in general, continue to keep fans from seeing their favorite artists? Personally, I don’t see this trend dying down any time soon. Concert ticket prices have increased by 27.38% since 2019, and have been increasing rapidly since 2021. Resellers only worsen this price inflation.Â
Given the path ticket prices are moving towards, concerts may become experiences only for the wealthy. I believe venues are too focused on concert production value when they should be on helping fans find and afford tickets to artists they love. As concert production and prices increase, fewer and fewer people will be able to access them. Without consistent restrictions on resellers, the fight to find tickets before relentless scalpers will only worsen.
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