In recent years, music concerts have grown in popularity. With Taylor Swift’s “The Era’s Tour” which lasted 632 days and included a total of 54,687 concerts and festivals promoted by Live Nation in 2024, it is clear that concerts have come back after the pandemic. But as more and more artists go on tour, many music fans struggle to buy tickets. The extremely high prices make them question if attending these concerts is justifiable. Part of the problem is that Ticketmaster is in control of most of the concert ticket market, and has been accused of misleading buyers, hiking up prices, and scheming with resellers to profit from the fans’ demand.
Chloe Gipps ‘28, a music fan and avid concert-goer, expressed her concerns over inflated ticket prices.
“It’s super expensive; it breaks the bank,” Gipps said. “I’m not a millionaire. I love concerts for the experience, trust me. That’s why I make half of my purchases. But at the end of day, I shouldn’t have to drop my life savings. It’s ridiculous.”
Ticketmaster, a popular entertainment ticket sale company, and its parent company “Live Nation,” have recently been accused of driving up ticket prices. They were sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC, a federal agency which is responsible for enforcing civil antitrust law and consumer protection, accused Ticketmaster and Live Nation of purposefully misleading ticket buyers with false ticket prices and cooperating with ticket brokers to resell them for higher market prices.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation control an estimated 70 to 80% of ticket sales, which means they have a big influence on ticket prices and, ultimately, how many fans can buy. For some fans, this reality is upsetting, but also understandable.
“It’s business, and I respect that,” said Gipps. “Of course, I would like it to be cheaper but at the end of the day, it’s just how it is.”
It isn’t just Ticketmaster though. Resale sites, like SeatGeek and StubHub are also part of the problem. By buying a mass amount of tickets, they sell them for higher market prices which forces concert fans to spend more.
But this controversy hasn’t hurt their popularity.
“I love StubHub. Sure their tickets are still pretty pricey, but I’ve found better deals there. One could argue they’re still overpriced, but just compared to other sites, it makes it seem better, more reasonable,” Gipps said.
As Ticketmaster and Live Nation continue to face lawsuits, fans question how the concert industry will be affected and if anything will change.
