Swifties meet K-pop fans: We've all suffered because of Ticketmaster
What the latest breakdown of the ticketing agent teaches fans: The rich will always benefit
(How I picture Jungkook going through ticketing…)
I don’t consider myself a Swiftie, but it was easy to predict that buying tickets for Taylor Swift’s first tour in years was going to be some kind of hellish nightmare.
I was unfortunately right.
People who tried to buy tickets last Tuesday for Swift’s The Eras tour were met by huge delays and error messages that Ticketmaster blamed on bots and an unprecedented demand. The general public sale that was scheduled for Friday was then cancelled on Thursday.
According to reports, Swift opted out of dynamic pricing as no tickets fluctuated to thousands of dollars. Still, I saw people complaining all over social media about high service charges. In the end, bots and resellers still benefitted. A quick look at Stubhub shows her most expensive seats going up to $5,000 and more.
The mess is just one of many instances Ticketmaster’s practices have caused concern. According to the New York Times, the Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into the owner of Ticketmaster. The investigation is focused on whether Live Nation Entertainment has abused its power over the multibillion-dollar live music industry.
The shock and surprise over Swift’s ticketing was wild to me, because this was absolutely not the first time it’s happened. Harry Styles and Bruce Springsteen are recent examples where ticketing was a mess. It even brought back flashbacks to my first time trying to buy BTS tickets. Finally, Swifties understand our pain as K-pop fans!
But if I am being serious, ticketing is ultimately just a rich person’s game.
K-pop fans have long been voicing their concerns with ticketing for a while now. It’s frustrating that it’s taken until now for most people to truly pay attention. Regardless, buying concert tickets shouldn’t be this difficult.
Many K-pop fans will know the best way to access a concert presale is by purchasing a fanclub membership. These are not exactly expensive at around $22 USD each, but they do start to add up the moment you want to see a new group or K-pop artist perform.
Last year, when BTS announced they were playing four shows in Los Angeles, my friend and I immediately purchased ARMY memberships (BTS fan club), just to get a CHANCE for a pre-sale code for concert tickets. That means fans are not guaranteed a code when it’s time to enter the presale. And lo and behold, neither my friend and I got a code because the demand was too high.
We placed our hopes on scoring tickets during the general sale, but later discovered that all tickets were sold due to “overwhelming demand.” Sound familiar?
After that experience, I tried again in April to buy BTS tickets by using my membership, only to get waitlisted once again. When Seventeen announced their North American tour, I went ahead and purchased a Carat membership as well….only to get waitlisted once more. Thankfully, I had a friend who had a code and ended up getting me seats those two times. And then I lucked out on VIP for Seventeen after checking the website numerous times the week before the show.
I now realize that the only way you can truly get tickets is A) strategizing with a group of friends who all have fanclub memberships or B) purchasing multiple memberships on different credit cards or C) having extra time on your hands to check regularly. Not everyone has the luxury!
What happened to the days of stress waiting until 10AM EST with a presale code to buy concert tickets?
Now, it seems that you have to be wealthy to get a good chance at buying tickets at all. This past year of concert-going has been a real lesson in being a newbie K-pop fan. Sigh.
I know it’s easy to protect and defend our favourite artists, but I truly believe they and their management companies should take stronger stances in how ticketing should go. They should speak out against dynamic pricing, or don’t opt into it at all.
BTS chose not to opt in to dynamic pricing, and sold all tickets to fanclub members. It was not a perfect system. And yes, people still scalped tickets. However, it ensured more people had a chance to buy tickets.
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Other artists like Ed Sheeran have taken an even more aggressive stance on ticketing. During his stadium tours, he cancelled more than 10,000 tickets that went up on resale sites. He also imposed strict conditions for fans. That includes printing names on tickets with ID required at the door and setting a maximum of four tickets per customer. This makes me respect him even more.
At the very least Taylor Swift has since responded to what unfolded during her tour presale in a statement posted on Instagram.
"I'm not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could," Swift wrote.
"It's truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them."
She added that she hopes to "provide more opportunities for us to all get together and sing these songs."
Not the most groundbreaking of statements, nor does it change anything of Ticketmaster. But considering the lack of responses from other artists, at least she’s addressed it. For full transparency, here is Ticketmaster’s response about what happened:
Fans, especially K-pop fans, have long known the struggle for years. And yet, buying concert tickets continues to get worse, not better.
I truly hope people pay attention to what happened with Taylor Swift’s tour and takes a harsher stance against unfair ticketing practices. And if artists truly care about their fans, I want them to listen and pay attention when another ticketing disaster strikes again.
Because if it’s this hard already, that’s only further going to drive and push fans away from going to shows.
Further reading…
Go Ahead and Blame Taylor Swift for Ticket Prices - Yes, Ticketmaster takes advantage of its monopoly. But the real problem is dynamic pricing.
I'm an avid concertgoer who's frustrated by Ticketmaster's shady practices. It's time the company is held accountable. - An oldie, but a good piece about the ticketing nightmare that went on for BTS’s four sold-out LA shows.
On a happier note:
One of my best decisions this year was diving into the world of Seventeen. Yes, I’ve listened to their music on and off since 2020. But trying to overcome the overwhelming task of memorizing all 13 members was intimidating for me! I’m glad I eventually got through it. And now, I can watch this puppy interview with Buzzfeed with great enjoyment. I hope I can make others become CARATs too!
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Fact checkers and editors are important, but few and far in between. They also deserve to be paid fairly. At this moment, I am doing this on my own for free. Accountability is important to me, so please address corrections and concerns by sending me an email at bunnipopnewsletter@gmail.com