Taylor Swift Can’t Save Us From Ticketmaster. Zach Bryan Can.

When the whole Taylor Swift Ticketmaster debacle went down in November and millions of Swifties were left out in the cold, you almost had to let out a little chuckle at the idea that Taylor Swift would be the one to somehow rise up and become the savior music needed in that moment to hold America’s ticketing monopoly accountable.
The amount of rabid misunderstanding about that moment and many others in the ticketing realm is quite high. You can shake your little balled up fist at Ticketmaster for not allowing you to secure tickets to see your favorite artists all you want. But when you have three times the amount of people wanting tickets than tickets available like with the Taylor Swift tour, you’re going to be left with more disgruntled fans than satisfied ones. This is true for fans of Tyler Childers, the Turnpike Troubadours, and even Zach Bryan for that matter. Monopoly or not, that’s just the law of supply and demand.
It’s also a fact that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, and since these high demand concerts are the perfect environment for resellers to exploit the Ticketmaster system, it adds insult to injury for fans that are already incensed with the company from the exorbitant fees they charge, their terrible customer service record through the years, and for the way they held the money of some fans hostage during the pandemic for a handful of indefinitely delayed events.
So whenever someone gets screwed out of tickets and Ticketmaster is the facilitator, they’re the first to get cursed under breath, and get flamed online. It doesn’t help that the Ticketmaster interface thinks it’s a great idea to immediately shove resell tickets for 3 to 5 times face value in your face as soon as you miss out on the general sale, and expect it to not elicit a negative reaction, and theories that the company is in bed with the scalpers, which they most certainly are to some extent if only since they make fees from the tickets resold through their system too.
But the problem with expecting Taylor Swift to do something about this issue is that she’s just as much a benefactor of the corporate American music kleptocracy as anyone, even if she’s also in large measure a victim of the Ticketmaster monopoly too since just like any major artist, she has no choice but to work with them. In Swift’s statement about the ticketing issue, she spoke about this specifically, and how if it was up to her, she would bring the selling of her tickets in house.
Well. It goes without saying that I’m extremely protective of my fans. We’ve been doing this for decades together and over the years, I’ve brought so many elements of my career in house. I’ve done this SPECIFICALLY to improve the quality of my fans’ experience by doing it myself with my team who care as much about my fans as I do. It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.
There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I’m trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward. 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. 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.
And to those who didn’t get tickets, all I can say is that my hope is to provide more opportunities for us to all get together and sing these songs. Thank you for wanting to be there. You have no idea how much that means.
But despite Taylor Swift’s seemingly sincere concern for fans and her frustration at the situation, she didn’t even say the name “Ticketmaster” once in her statement, even though that’s who everyone was blaming, including now two sets of Taylor Swift fans who’ve taken out class action lawsuits against the company for the ticketing debacle.
Whether Swift has signed specific non-disclosure or non-defamation agreements with Ticketmaster—which very well may be the case—or she just can’t risk pissing off the only company that is capable of selling tickets to the venues an artist of her size requires, Swift is just not the one to stand up to Ticketmaster and make them face the music.
This is where the independent voices and Outlaws of country music have always been the most useful at speaking truth to power, bucking the system, and forging healthier alternatives. Working outside of the mainstream industry and autonomously from entities such as Ticketmaster, they’re free to speak their mind and set up systems outside of the grasp of Ticketmaster and other dubious companies, often setting up their own enterprises that can be used as templates for other artists. They’re the punks of country music.
When Tompall Glaser set up a renegade studio just off of Music Row in Nashville in the 70s, everything changed in country music and the power started flowing back to the artists and away from the companies who wanted to be in control. Similarly, when artists like Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell started finding success signed to Thirty Tigers where they retained creative control over their music, it forced the major labels to loosen their grasp and allow folks like Chris Stapleton more latitude.
At midnight on Christmas Eve/Christmas, Zach Bryan released a live album of his sold-out concert at Red Rocks in Colorado on November 3rd, and titled it All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live from Red Rocks). Recorded on a night when a blizzard was slamming the Denver area and Zach played through a blinding snow storm (see the crazy photos), it was a Red Rocks performance for the ages, even if the weather meant frost bit fingers, and out-of-tune guitars.
The 24-track album adds to the mountain of material Zach Bryan has released in 2022, including his gargantuan 34-song album American Heartbreak that’s been stuck at #2 in country ever since being released in May, as well as his 9-song Summertime Blues released in July.
Whether it’s blowing through all governors on how much music an artist should release in a given year, playing through weather conditions 99% artists would have cancelled for, or not just sending out some pointed late night tweets, but actually naming an album to be a rebuke of American music’s biggest monopoly (Ticketmaster/LiveNation), it proves that Zach Bryan is his own man, and is rewiring what a modern music artist is capable of.
Zach’s statement accompanying the new live album reads:
Seems there is a massive issue with fair ticket prices to live shows lately. I have met kids at my shows who have paid upwards of four-hundred bucks to be there and I’m done with it. I’ve decided to play a limited number of headline shows next year to which I’ve done all I can to make prices as cheap as possible and to prove to people tickets don’t have to cost $450 to see a good and honest show. To clarify, I am playing a few festivals which I have no control over.
I believe working class people should still be able to afford tickets to shows, so please sign up for the laylo link in my bio to be the first to know about tour dates, registration, and the on-sale of tickets. I’ll also be sending merch-drops and unreleased music through this messaging service.
I am so tired of people saying things can’t be done about this massive issue while huge monopolies sit there stealing money from working class people. Also, to any songwriter trying to make “relatable music for the working class man or woman” should pride themself on fighting for the people who listen to the words they’re singing.
A tour announcement is coming soon and I’m sorry it has taken so long. Just did everything I possibly could to make tickets more affordable.
Also, All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live From Red Rocks) is streaming everywhere now.
As great as all this is, we still have to understand that if there are more fans than tickets, people will still be left out in the lurch, especially if the amount of shows Zach Bryan plays in 2023 are “limited,” which will drive out-of-market demand for the shows he does play. So even if he is able to control prices and keep resellers mostly at bay, this doesn’t mean everybody who wants a Zach Bryan ticket will get one.
Ultimately, regardless of who the artist is, the only way to ensure everyone who wants a ticket gets a ticket is to ramp up supply. This is what Garth Brooks did on his 2016 tour to great success, setting up in arenas in certain markets, and then scaling the amount of performances until demand was met, sometimes performing five or six shows, including matinees to make sure everyone got a seat, while production costs actually dropped since they were conducting more shows in less venues, and tickets were kept affordable, and mostly out of resell markets.
Zach Bryan may not solve the ticketing problem for America, but instead of just blaming the Ticketmaster monopoly, he’s looking to do something about it. Whether he’s successful or not still remains to be seen. But this isn’t some small-time artist who has nothing to lose by pissing off Goliath. Zach Bryan’s 2023 tour dates may turn out to be some of the most sought after in 2023 in all of music.
Zach Bryan most certainly will be blackballed from certain venues and festivals for taking this stance. Let’s not forget that Ticketmaster’s parent company LiveNation owns Bonnaroo, ACL Fest, Lollapalloza, scores of other major monogenre festivals, and a controlling 51% stake in tons of local/regional promoters and venues that can lock an artist like Zach Bryan out of entire markets if they choose. This is the reason Taylor Swift and others refuse to tussle with them. It’s also how you know they’re a monopoly.
But Zach Bryan doesn’t care. That’s what makes this situation so great. For years, country radio had a monopoly over who was allowed to prosper in country music, and be heard by the masses. But through artists like Zach Bryan—and Tyler Childers, Cody Jinks, Whiskey Myers, and Sturgill Simpson before him—they rewrote that code by circumventing radio, and still earning Gold, Platinum, and now even Double Platinum singles and albums.
It is a new day in country music, and in live music in general. Tired of the Ticketmaster monopoly? You can continue to shake your little balled up fist in their general direction, or you can get busy building your own networks and infrastructure to circumvent them, and eventually (and hopefully), undermine them, and return the power over music to the artists and fans where it belongs.
December 27, 2022 @ 11:42 am
Hell yeah Zach Bryan. Let’s un-break the live music model. Make big acts accessible to the middle class, and let regional acts earn a middle-class living. It’ll take us all, but it needs to be done.
December 27, 2022 @ 12:07 pm
as someone who was a victim of the taylor debacle, there were more tech issues than simple supply and demand. Half of the codes given out to people invited to the presales did not work when they were trying to check out and had plenty of seats available. And there is no world where I should be logging on to my verified fan presale 30 minutes early and be 24,000th in line when there are 5 other stadium shows in my city, when ticketmaster had complete control over how many presale codes they gave out!!
December 27, 2022 @ 1:38 pm
No doubt there were all sorts of issues with Ticketmaster’s Taylor Swift sale beyond supply and demand, and they deserve whatever hell they have coming to them. I just feel that when reading through articles and takes on this issue, I’m not seeing enough acknowledgement that one of the things driving these frustrations there are just too many fans, and not enough tickets.
When the Turnpike Troubadours reunited and put tickets on sale to multiple venues, chaos ensued too. People were super angry at AXS, not Ticketmaster, since they sell tickets for Red Rocks, which sold out immediately. Then the band crashed the website for Cain’s in Tulsa, Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, Floore’s in San Antonio, Gordy’s HWY 30 Fest in Idaho. Billy Bob’s said it was the biggest demand they had ever experienced for any artist. Ticketmaster had nothing to do with any of this. When you have a feeding frenzy, stuff is going to break.
You would think that a company like Ticketmaster would be big enough to facilitate this stuff, and like Taylor Swift said, she received assurances from them. They may be corrupt, but Ticketmaster didn’t want this negative attention. But ultimately, if you have a massive feeding frenzy and folks refreshing like crazy trying to get tickets, stuff is going to start breaking.
December 27, 2022 @ 2:53 pm
The same parallels are happening with many tourist locations, ranging from Disney World to national parks to even Mt. Everest. Due to the extremely weighty influence of social media, Zoomers and Millennials are being driven to exotic locations like never before, causing extreme overcrowding. “Social media tourism” is also responsible for the ever-growing fanbases of artists like Turnpike or even Taylor Swift. More people than ever before are able to go where they want to see who they want, and the hive mind of FOMO coupled with over two years of no live music has created the perfect storm feeding the Ticketmaster beast.
December 27, 2022 @ 3:46 pm
Unfortunately, Miss Swift has shown herself to be “all talk and no action” as some would say.
December 27, 2022 @ 9:58 pm
That’s not entirely true. Taylor cancelled the general sale of tickets following the presale debacle.
December 27, 2022 @ 10:53 pm
Oh, I didn’t realize this. I can respect that.
December 27, 2022 @ 12:30 pm
The biggest problems with Ticketmaster began when EVERY venue, from your local Saenger Theatres to your gigantic arenas, started using them instead of keeping ticketing in-house. I’m sure the venues enjoy the hands-off approach of letting Ticketmaster handle it all, especially with the backend challenges of running your own ticketing website. However, when those venues signed “exclusive contracts” with Ticketmaster, few would have guessed that “dynamic pricing” was Ticketmaster’s ultimate plan. Even low-demand venues like the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama, were selling tickets to The Judds’ final tour for $600-$800 each for the first five rows (and those were the prices BEFORE Naomi’s death). However, this same venue can sell every seat for Manheim Steamroller at $69.00 each, which shows me that artists have a say in the use of dynamic pricing for their tours.
Zach Bryan’s approach is bold and will hopefully make some waves, but the other half of the equation will be venues getting out from under Ticketmaster’s grip. When both artists and venues unite to find the better way, we will then see actual change.
December 27, 2022 @ 12:39 pm
Exactly. Dynamic pricing is the issue.
December 27, 2022 @ 1:09 pm
Hell yes the artist’s have a say.
Their greed is the driving force.
And, the artist’s will cancel a show in a heartbeat, if the $$$’s are not worth their while.
Give me a venue like Conrad Fisher’s farm, on an amazing evening, with a few well placed tiki lights, and camp chairs.
December 29, 2022 @ 10:37 am
Hey-o! Ticket Master won’t ever find us there!
December 29, 2022 @ 3:25 pm
: D True, that!
And, Thank goodness.
You can not buy with gold, the beauty & serenity, and Peace that was there that evening, with you, Dickey Lee, and your band.
December 27, 2022 @ 1:45 pm
It’s the age old monopolistic practice: Corner the market by bleeding out or acquiring all of your competition, then raise prices, cut your customer satisfaction budget, and reap the rewards. And then when Congress comes to regulate you, lobby the hell out of them and get one Senator to hold up the process, and you’ll be fine.
Pearl Jam was talking to Congress about this 30 years ago. It’s time the fans and artists take this matter into their own hands. Perhaps if artists like Zach Bryan and others can start cutting into Ticketmaster’s market share, at the least, they’ll be forced to reform their practices to compete with actual competition.
December 27, 2022 @ 12:32 pm
Zach Bryan for president.
December 27, 2022 @ 3:44 pm
*Prime Minister. I swore I read somewhere that he is Canadian.
December 27, 2022 @ 4:16 pm
Zach Bryan is very American, was raised in rural Oklahoma, and served in the United States Navy. He was born in Japan though, because his parents also served in the Navy.
December 28, 2022 @ 5:59 pm
For the purposes of being president of the USA, I do believe that being born on an American military base is the same as being born on US soil, even overseas.
December 28, 2022 @ 10:15 pm
: D OR ….. you can be occupying the office of the U.S. President, & be Totally owned by the Chinese!
December 31, 2022 @ 5:51 pm
I served with him he just played covers outside the galley until all the black sailors told
Him to quit being so white sounding so he tried learning the 12 bar blues but the rhythm was Too complex so he just copied that tyler childers album but it didn’t help
December 27, 2022 @ 12:37 pm
My presale code for Taylor worked but the options I was eligible for was confusing. I looked up George Strait/Stapleton tickets for a stadium and got discouraged of $1,000+ nosebleeds.
I think the Garth example has legs. Same with Vince Gill/Amy Grant’s Christmas at the Ryman. I usually have good luck with AXS at the Ryman Auditorium. I’ll just keep paying $15 covers by some up and coming artists.
December 27, 2022 @ 12:38 pm
I meant to say that my presale code for Taylor worked when I refreshed 4+ hours later.
December 27, 2022 @ 1:52 pm
I really don’t understand why we don’t see more of the Garth Brooks model in touring, and acts of all sizes can do this. It lowers production costs for the artist, keeps tickets affordable for the public, allows the artist to sell more tickets, and allows every fan that wants to see you to be able to see you. Sure, it may seem a little weird to go see a performance from 3 to 6 pm on a Sunday afternoon, but that’s better than not seeing them at all. Let’s get creative.
December 27, 2022 @ 4:25 pm
Perfect example, Metallica is playing back-to-back shoes at a number of large market venues on their 2023 tour. With the added bonus of “no repeats” between the two nights.
Although they have had a couple ticket pricing/scalper related scandals this decade.
December 28, 2022 @ 2:46 pm
The older I get, the better a 3pm show sounds.
December 27, 2022 @ 12:40 pm
I appreciate that Garth charged the same price for every seat in the venue. I wish George Strait would do the same.
December 27, 2022 @ 1:48 pm
When you don’t have tiered pricing or “Golden Bowl” as Garth calls it, it helps to undercut the secondary market and steep prices. It also makes the ticket buying process more democratic. What’s more lame than having all the blue bloods right in front of the stage, and all the rowdy fans in the rafters?
December 27, 2022 @ 1:01 pm
From Billboard in 2013…Cost him up to $100,00 a night.
Tickets on Summer Tour
Kid Rock will take a “pay cut” this summer, or at least risk one, by structuring a deal that allows for a $20 ticket price across the board at amphitheaters, and working with promoter Live Nation to…
December 27, 2022 @ 2:42 pm
J Burke,
Kid Rock TRULY did something about it. Strange it wasn’t mentioned or elaborated here.
December 27, 2022 @ 4:13 pm
He also made all venues for that tour offer domestic beer at affordable prices and parking cheap or free. If I remember correctly he said something about how he knows who his fan base is and the working class won’t be priced out of his shows. You can say what you want about kid rock’s music but the guy takes care of his fans and puts on a show. And the cheap tickets and cheap beer made that tour pretty damn enjoyable for the masses.
December 28, 2022 @ 5:58 am
“In addition to the low ticket price, Kid Rock is going beyond the extra mile for his fans. In a first for a Kid Rock tour, participating Walmart locations will offer all-in $20 tickets — no fees, no parking charges, nada. Kid Rock is reserving the first two rows for every show as free upgrades for lucky fans who will be selected at random. Special $4 draught beers, value food packages, cheaper parking (where possible), free samples of Jimmy John’s sandwiches at select venues, free coffee at the end of the show, and $20 tour t shirts will be available as well. As an additional method to combat scalping, Kid Rock will be releasing 1000 tickets from each show directly as Platinum Tickets via LiveNation.com. As some of the best seats in the house, Platinum Tickets are market priced tickets. This removes the money making opportunity from scalpers by pricing these select seats at market value. Tickets will be sold directly to fans so not to run the risk of having to purchase from unauthorized third parties. So, yes. Kid Rock is scalping his own tickets so other people can’t, which also enables him to keep the ticket prices at $20 while putting on an extravagant production.”
Lets see how zach bryans tour compares when that info is released.
December 27, 2022 @ 4:28 pm
I’m not going to run through every example of artists to keep tickets affordable done over the years. Since the discussion here is about supply and demand vs. price and availability, I mentioned the Garth Brooks model of how to do this better. I believe I did mention that Kid Rock tour in the past though, since this was about the time that Hellbound Glory went out on tour with them.
December 28, 2022 @ 6:45 am
I went to see Kid Rock with my daughter a couple years ago. The price was $35 a ticket. There were $25 dollar tickets further back. It has been the only arena level concert I’ve been to in the last 10 years or so that was less than $100 per ticket. Kid has shown there is only one way for artists who say the care about their fans to lower ticket prices, and that’s to take less money themselves.
It was a great show by the way. Love Kid Rock or hate him, he actually does care about his fans, and gives them a top rate show.
December 27, 2022 @ 1:42 pm
Of course, Taylor Swift wasn’t going to take a real stand, Trigger. She is the master of PR. She said enough to placate fans and look like she is the victim alongside them.
December 27, 2022 @ 2:20 pm
I hate AXS the most
December 27, 2022 @ 2:53 pm
I went to one of those Kid Rock shows. With ZZ Top, nonetheless. $20, plus fees. But it was a good night of music.
December 27, 2022 @ 2:56 pm
This used to be standard practice for big acts though, right?
I remember the Eagles playing four straight nights at the Summit in Houston on their Long Run tour. It wasn’t unusual for bands to keep open dates between cities so they could add nights if the first one or two shows sold out quickly.
December 27, 2022 @ 3:41 pm
It makes sense, unfortunately common sense is a rare thing in the modern “live music scene”.
December 27, 2022 @ 2:56 pm
I don’t know how it works, but Tyler Childers teamed up with CashorTrade.org to “release a number of limited quantity of tickets at face value for every show of the 2023 Send in the Hounds Tour.”
December 27, 2022 @ 2:57 pm
I understand why artist don’t want to fight ticketmaster but also I’m kind of like well if you don’t you are complicit in the system screwing your fans. And also fans are complicit and so at this point I’m tired of the complaining either stop working with them or quit whining.
Speaking specifically of arena acts like Swift or Springsteen people say they have no choice, BS, they can just NOT TOUR. Yeah that’s not a great option for fans (or artists). But the fact is as long as people keep working with them… they keep doing what they do. And i don’t see the government stepping.
So I refuse and I got direct to the venue. And if it is a venue not near me I make a day of it and hang out in the area and get dinner. This supports the local community instead of giving money to stupid.
Sorry, that’s 8 years of therapy learning about circle of control rising to surface. It makes me get a little black and white sometimes.
Unrelated: But if any can explain how fees up up as ticket prices go up? I nuderstand taxes as a factor but still it takes no more work to process a front row seat than a nosebleed. And sometimes fees are almost as much as a nosebleed ticket.
I’ll be interested to see how Zach Bryan handles it.
December 27, 2022 @ 3:40 pm
The last thing we need is the government dipping its cock in the honeypot.
December 28, 2022 @ 12:54 am
I think government is already on the take with ticketmaster if I am really pessimistic. And thus nothing will change. Or they will break it up and given it new names but operate no differently being owned by all the same people.
December 27, 2022 @ 3:19 pm
Well of course he doesn’t mind lowering his prices. He’s not as big of an artist and His shows aren’t as big . Taylor also has like 5 other acts going on the show with her and her shows are more elaborate. Ticketmaster fucked up on this one not taylor
December 27, 2022 @ 3:28 pm
It’s going to come out that Zach kicked some handicapped puppies or something and all you guys are going to go crazy LOL. You all act like he’s the savior or something.
December 27, 2022 @ 3:39 pm
I could be wrong, but I have a sinking feeling the only reason you don’t like him is because he’s so popular. It’s okay to like a “mainstream” artist. There’s nothing wrong with that.
December 27, 2022 @ 4:20 pm
I think his music is great.
December 27, 2022 @ 5:01 pm
Zach Bryan has always received criticism, but it’s starting to get even more vocal as people are tired of seeing his name everywhere, and frankly, there is a lot of jealosy coming from fellow artists. But guess what, this guy is driving the narrative right now, doing big newsworthy things, breaking records, and shattering expectations. The dude just called out music’s biggest monopoly in the title of an album released on a major label. That’s newsworthy. And even as much as I have been covering this guy lately, I could have written a dozen more stories about him in 2022 that were worth writing. Think what you want about this guy, he is upsetting the order in country music, and in all of music, and the implications are huge.
December 28, 2022 @ 10:06 pm
Trigger, what fellow artists are making it known they are jealous???
Besides the O’Tool thing which was likely a coat-tail thing.
December 28, 2022 @ 11:22 pm
Of course an artist isn’t going to come out and say they’re jealous of another artist, unless it’s a form of flattery. It’s just a natural tendency to see someone succeed—especially a Johnny come lately who seemed to just luck into his success—and be a little frustrated that here you are working your ass off, and aren’t getting 1/10th of the attention. I’m not going to name any names here, but that certainly is a dynamic in some of the attitude toward Zach Bryan.
And a lot of those artists also probably have a valid point. That’s why I’ve been trying to not obsess over Zach, and make sure I’m spending quality time highlighting other artists also worthy of attention that aren’t getting their fair measure.
December 29, 2022 @ 1:34 pm
Agreed and hear what you’re saying. I thought for a second there I might have missed an article about an artist saying something along those lines.
To expand on the comment above by Pat Sajak “but I have a sinking feeling the only reason you don’t like him is because he’s so popular.” There is truth to that. But there is also truth in saying just because something is popular doesn’t make it great which I sense plays into frustration from artists and music fans who don’t get it.
My take is Zach Bryan is mostly average with a few decent songs. I don’t think his songs particularly justify his ascension but, I’m actually happy that an underdog got his day.
There is always a second coming in music… Sturgill – Childers – and now Zach Bryan and I’m sure a slew of others in-between. We’ll see if Zach Bryans music is sustainable when there’s a new Zach Bryan.
December 29, 2022 @ 7:31 am
Zach deserves props for making a stand; no one should be criticizing him for that. While I haven’t been able to get into his music , or Sierra Ferrell’s for that that matter, Zac should be applauded for using the massive bargaining chip of his popularity to do some good. Not many have the balls to do it because they’re afraid of losing the money.
December 27, 2022 @ 3:38 pm
Sounds like this could make this work a little mor “smoothly”.
December 27, 2022 @ 5:48 pm
Well I hope it works. Probably won’t go to more big shows than the Brandi Carlisle echos in the canyon but the prices of big events are crazy. Lucky for me most of the artists I like play in small clubs and theaters because I really dislike big crowds of any kind, but for those of you who like it I hope it gets cheaper!
December 27, 2022 @ 7:13 pm
While it is a little premature to tag Zach as David confronting Goliath, I am curious to see what solid action he’ll take. Taking a break from touring and giving a vague statement about having “done everything he can” and “doing a few festivals he has no control over” are not exactly revolutionary statements.
December 27, 2022 @ 8:01 pm
I’m going to a few concerts next year, and the tickets for two of them were not handled by TicketMaster. The tickets for Josh Turner’s April 13th show were sold by the venue directly, and the tickets for Pop Evil’s March 26th show were sold through See Tickets.
December 27, 2022 @ 8:54 pm
I write it off as a pitfall of success.
I’ve all but given up seeing any mainstream artist or going to a large venue because of this.
Surge pricing my arse..
Resellers are the ones causing this.
I heard Swift would have to play 900 arena shows to meet that kind of supposed demand…right.
Last half a dozen shows we’ve purchased advance tics in person to all but eliminate the “handling & service fees,”which seem to rising.
Crockett, Nikki Lane, Jamie Wyatt and Mike Zito were less than 3 bucks service fees over the ticket price.
We used to be able to get them at the venue or any ticket or record shop for cost but since 2020 not so much. We try to get tickets the day they go on sale if possible.
December 28, 2022 @ 4:13 am
A statement like Zach Bryan’s is what I would have loved from Bruce Springsteen. He’s old and rich enough to not care either and has built his career on working class music.
December 28, 2022 @ 6:18 am
Bruce is a gigantic hypocrite.
December 28, 2022 @ 8:37 am
Hahahahahahahaha.
Bruce exploits the working class. He doesn’t care about them. Singing about their struggles makes money for him. Fighting Ticketmaster doesn’t.
He, like unions, are the very thing they claim to fight against. At least, robber barons are honest about their intentions.
December 28, 2022 @ 5:14 am
“it was a Red Rocks performance for the ages, even if the weather meant frost bit fingers, and out-of-tune guitars.”
To be fair, Zach Bryan’s guitar is out of tune occasionally on his albums, too.
December 28, 2022 @ 8:54 am
Ticketmaster is the absolute best ticket distribution company on the planet. If you need to mass distribute large amounts of assigned seating tickets in a timely manner they are the ones to do it.
Now the other stuff for sure needs to be fixed. No question about that.
December 28, 2022 @ 9:44 am
I paid $250 each for my two Springsteen tickets. I don’t have an issue with that. Higher prices for in-demand shows comes with the territory. What is wrong is that the service fees on those two tickets came to $86. That is complete bullshit and and shows the issue with Ticketmaster’s hold on the process.
December 28, 2022 @ 10:12 am
Wait! Hold on! Y-you mean Bruce Springsteen doesn’t actually care about the working class and simply exploits them?! Gosh!
December 28, 2022 @ 4:18 pm
It is Ticketmaster I am complaining about. That was pretty clear. “I don’t have an issue with that. Higher prices for in-demand shows comes with the territory.”
“That is complete bullshit and shows the issue with Ticketmaster’s hold on the process.”
December 28, 2022 @ 3:08 pm
Guess I’ll form my own music label in ’23 for my 70th birthday.
December 29, 2022 @ 10:26 am
I’ve usually been able to get tickets to shows that I want to see. However it’s BS to have $20 in additional fees on a 40-50$ ticket
December 29, 2022 @ 3:34 pm
I hate to say it but even the mention of Taylor Swift shouldn’t be on this website. NOT COUNTRY!!!!!!!! Tried country at the beginning a bit…..but wanted monstrous fame and that’s why she left country. Too bad!!!!!! She is not a country artist…and who cares about Ticketmaster….they are shady too. So…..NOOOOOOOOOOOO Taylor Swift and NOOOOOOOOOOOO Ticketmaster!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s all!!!!!!!!