Hey everyone,

Fans want ways to connect with their favorite artists and seeing them live is still the best way to do that. I’ve had many chats about this with people in the industry, especially as concerts remain the main source of revenue for artists. But if you’ve tried buying tickets lately, you’ve probably noticed: the prices just keep climbing.

Last week, among a wave of political headlines, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at tackling high ticket prices in the US. The real question is whether any of this will actually change how tickets are bought and sold.

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🎫 The reasons behind expensive concert tickets

Soaring ticket prices

Concert tickets have gone from $25 in the mid-90s to around $135 today for major tours, according to Pollstar. For huge acts such as Taylor Swift during the Eras tour, some were even sold for tens of thousands of dollar.

The main goal of the new regulation are limiting the influence of bots and scalpers, a term used to define someone who resells tickets at a large or quick profit, who currently buy many high-demand tickets and then resell them on reselling platforms such as Viagogo.

Limiting scalpers

Ticket platforms like Ticketmaster, owned by Live Nation, use systems like Verified Fan to try to stop scalpers from buying all the good seats. Fans have to sign up ahead of time, and Ticketmaster uses data and algorithms to decide who’s a real person and who might be a bot or reseller. Even then, fans aren’t guaranteed tickets as many end up on a waitlist while others are randomly picked to buy. Things like having an older account or living near the concert venue can help your chances.

But big resellers have ways to beat the system. They use fake or bought accounts along with bots and special tools to grab tickets fast. It’s become a full-time business. Regular fans just can’t keep up. And when demand for big artists like Taylor Swift is super high, even everyday people have started reselling their tickets for huge profits. So while the rules are meant to help fans, they’ve mostly made buying tickets harder for everyone.

So far, experts don’t expect Trump’s Executive Order to change much, as it lacks concrete actions or enforceable solutions. But at the very least, it shows that even at the highest level, there is awareness that something isn’t working in the live music space. Obama and Biden administrations had also pointed to similar concerns in the past.

Live Nation & dynamic pricing

Beyond scalpers, the companies selling tickets have played a big role. Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster and the ultimate leader in live music, introduced the concept of dynamic pricing to some of their shows, where ticket prices shift based on demand. The idea is to capture more revenue upfront rather than leave it all to resellers.

But fans have pushed back hard. In the UK, Oasis announced their comeback with a tour in the summer, but they had to cancel the dynamic pricing after backlash. However, it didn‘t stop Live Nation to continue testing this concept, which even became common now in Australia.

The biggest frustration for concertgoers is the lack of transparency. Fans often wait in long online queues without knowing how much tickets will actually cost. Even when a price is shown at first, it often jumps significantly at checkout due to dynamic pricing and added fees. Live Nation and Ticketmaster are widely criticised for squeezing both artists and fans by hiding fees until the last minute and offering unpredictable, fluctuating ticket prices that make the buying process confusing and frustrating.

Live Nation has come under growing criticism for its control over the live music industry. As promoter, venue owner, and operator of Ticketmaster, it sits in a very powerful position between artists and fans. Critics argue that this setup leaves little room for competition, drives up prices, and reduces transparency.

Pre-sales and shrinking availability

Another major factor for the scarcity of these tickets is access. Vox estimated that the share of tickets sold through pre-sales could jump to nearly 65% for big artists in large venues through credit card deals, fan clubs, media partners, and VIP packages. That leaves only a small slice for the general public.

Ticketing platforms rarely share how many tickets are available, and that uncertainty creates demand. At the end of the day, fans want to access to the artist’s time, and it’s limited, with only a few dates scheduled in the fans’ city. One way to make sure scalpers wouldn’t be able to make such a profit would be to raise prices, or to find ways to reach real fans.

Reaching real fans is hard: is it someone who already came to see the artist? Is is someone who streams the artist? Buys all your merch? Or just someone who’s online at 10 am on a Tuesday and can wait 45 minutes in a waitlist to buy a ticket?

Raising prices could reduce scalping, but many artists don’t want to appear greedy, especially when fans are already paying for vinyl, tee-shirts or tickets that already cost 130€ .

As long as people are ready to pay hundreds, or even thousands of euros, to see their favorite artists, demand isn’t slowing down. Fans see these events as once in a lifetime experiences, like the Olympics or Champions League, and are ready to pay for it. Until that changes, high prices are likely to stay.

Beyond the stadiums

Despite all this, it’s not all bad news for live music. While prices for major tours continue to rise, it’s a different story elsewhere. Smaller venues, mid-tier artists, and festivals still offer great live experiences, with reasonable prices and availability.

There’s also a growing curiosity in the industry around better ways to connect tickets with real fans. Spotify pre-sales based on listening history, or early access offers to fans returning to see the same artist, are small experiments that could lead somewhere more interesting. More and more startups are working with artists to directly target fans. The system isn’t perfect but not everything is broken either.

It’s easy to feel discouraged watching tickets sold out in 5 minutes, seeing bots wining the race in the waitlist or seeing tickets on reselling platforms at 500€. But there’s a whole live music ecosystem trying, testing and adapting with new tools. Maybe it’s just not happening where the spotlight is brightest.

Have a great weekend and see you next time 😉 

PS: The playlist is updated with new tracks from Rema, Daniel Caesar or Q. and some other favorites too. Have a listen if you want to hear my favourite releases lately.