On Feb. 2, Noah Kahan announced his upcoming The Great Divide Tour, which features new songs off his new album “The Great Divide.” Immediately, I went to Kahan’s website to sign up for presale in hopes of seeing him live with two of my best friends. When I received the responsibility of purchasing the tickets for our group, I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders.
Buying tickets on sites such as Ticketmaster feels like marching into battle. I knew many people wanted a ticket to Kahan’s concert, but I was confident I would be able to snag a couple of tickets. I was quickly proven very wrong.
This is a consistent problem with many concerts lately. Tickets feel impossible to get, even if you have access to a special presale code.
A girl’s trip to Boston sounded exciting, so I went to buy tickets for the show at Fenway Park. This might have been my first mistake. I quickly realized tickets for this performance were in high demand, and it took me 40 minutes to even enter the website. By the time I did, tickets were completely sold out.
One TikTok user, @julianaboldrin, posted her Ticketmaster presale experience on TikTok. Once she got loaded into the queue, the ticketing website placed 154,214 people ahead of her.
This doesn’t only happen with Kahan’s concerts, either. Harry Styles fans also experienced similar frustrations after his tickets went on presale.
After Styles announced his long-awaited return to music, people flocked to his Together, Together Tour presale sign-up. The issue was the only shows Styles is playing in the U.S. are at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was here that Ticketmaster experienced its largest ticket sign-up in history.
According to Ticketmaster, 11.5 million people signed up for Styles’ Together, Together Tour presale, as reported by “Today.” This was the largest presale Ticketmaster ever had. Those looking to attend didn’t need a presale code to purchase tickets during the artist presale. Instead, anyone who signed up before the deadline was able to get in.
Presales are moving away from being selective. There was once a time when not everyone who signed up for presale was lucky enough to receive a code, making buying tickets much easier for fans. Now, presale is met with stress and anxiety, as people hope to get a good spot in a virtual queue.
Not only are these tickets harder to get, but they are also increasingly more expensive. At times, it feels they are only accessible to fans willing to spend an outrageous amount of money to see their favorite artist live.
Bella Martin, a senior studying performance and communication studies, discussed her experience with some of these outrageous ticket prices.
“My mom really likes Zara Larson,” Martin said. “She was looking at tickets to go see her because she wants to do fun things. She wants to go see performers and live music. And it's $300 for one ticket for a performer we're not even that familiar with.”
Live music was once a place for people to come together. Now, it is only for the wealthy. Styles’ Together, Together Tour tickets ranged from $50 to $1,182.40, according to Ticketmaster. However, the cheaper seats were extremely limited and sold out quickly.
Martin also said ticket pricing is outrageous, preventing fans from experiencing live music.
“I personally wish I could see more of my favorite performers live,” Martin said. “But the reality is you have to have a big chunk of savings set aside for that. You have to plan way ahead … it can't really be spontaneous.”
The issue with these ticket prices is despite the high prices, they still sell out. People spend an astronomical amount of money to see their favorite artist perform live, but some true fans who listen to an artist for years cannot afford high ticket prices. Even if they can, securing those tickets is often a gamble.
Ticketmaster is sucking the fun out of live music, and it’s damaging the concert scene as a whole. Where fans were once encouraged to come together, they now are forced to watch a grainy TikTok livestream to try to get the same high of seeing their favorite artist perform.
Sophia Anness is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Sophia about her column? Email/tweet them at sa425522@ohio.edu /@AnnessSoph0415
