With many big artists such as Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Billie Eilish going on tours these past few years, concert culture has become a large part of the experience.
Concert culture has evolved and changed a lot within the past few years. Fans have begun new traditions, such as dressing up in a similar fashion to their favorite artist. Another notable transition can be seen from The Eras Tour, where fans created and traded friendship bracelets.
Unfortunately for concertgoers, ticket prices have skyrocketed over the past few years. This can be attributed to not only economic inflation but also price-gouging resellers. For example, Carpenter started her Short n’ Sweet Tour this past year, utilizing dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing increases ticket prices based on the product’s demand. Carpenter used this model, which led to extremely expensive tickets for fans. On the other hand, Swift’s The Eras Tour was one of many concerts that had resellers hiking up the price of tickets, with some tickets being over $1,000.
While price is a large issue for concertgoers, obtaining tickets is a whole other issue for fans. Recently, it has become quite difficult for fans to get tickets for concerts. Some people wait hours just to be met with insane prices or no tickets left at all.
In 2022, fans attempting to buy tickets for the first leg of The Eras Tour were unfortunately unable to, due to the platform overselling tickets during the presale. This left little to no tickets available for the general public. This led to one of the main sources to acquire tickets, Ticketmaster, receiving some heat.
Later, Ticketmaster was sued by the Justice Department in May 2024 for monopolizing markets across the live concert industry. The court case stated that the company created a monopolization on the market and unlawfully thwarted other companies in the live entertainment industry.
Fortunately, fans have alternatives to attending the concerts in person. Recently, it has become common for artists with large fan bases to have some people live stream from the concerts. In addition, some artists such as Swift, Beyoncé and Rodrigo have recorded their concerts and released them digitally.
