Suggestions on how to secure reasonable US Taylor Swift - Eras Tour tickets?
Hi everyone, I haven't seen a post like this before, but figured I would give it a shot (since it doesn't look like the rules/Code of Contact prohibit it)
My fiancée is a huge fan of Taylor Swift, and although I'm mostly indifferent, seeing this concert is a big deal to her, but with the way US ticket sales are through Ticketmaster scalpers are off the charts, charging like $2000/ticket which is ridiculous
I was wondering if any other users here in the US (or North America) might have suggestions on where I could go, or what I could do to find tickets for us that might be more affordable. Most of the shows I go to now use DICE, which prevents scalping but clearly that's not the case with this show
I understand that her music may not be everyone here's forte (it's really not mine) but this would mean the world to her (fiancée) so I'm eager to find a way to make it happen
Thank you!
I want to elaborate on the comment @cfabbro made (and the article linked).
First, to recap the article, Ticketmaster uses dynamic pricing for many tickets. When attempting to buy tickets for the a stop on the very high demand My Chemical Romance reunion tour, I would select seats and try to go to checkout, only to be told they were no longer available, but then they showed up on the map again with a higher price.
Second, (also an article recap, with something that wasn't highlighted completely) Ticketmaster has their own resale program, which just allows them to make more on fees. When you buy a ticket (non-resale), you pay fees. When you sell a ticket, you pay fees. When you buy a resale ticket, you pay fees. They're triple charging and it's a huge racket.
Third, scalping bots exist in a more scummy way than you might be imagining, and Ticketmaster happily allows it because it bumps up their return on these multiple fees with resale. Sure, they'll tell you they limit to 8 tickets per event or whatever, but that doesn't stop scalping. There are sites that sell their own scalping software and charge a lot for it. I can't find one again with a quick search, but they'll charge like $8000/mo for the ability to scalp many hundreds (or even thousands) of tickets. Ticketmaster could target these tools, not even from a technology standpoint, but a legal takedown method, but they don't.
Finally, Ticketmaster has a monopoly on most venues. Customers can't do much about it. Venues get to choose if they want to be a Ticketmaster/live nation venue. That means they can only sell tickets through Ticketmaster. Artists with most labels are required to use Ticketmaster for shows. If an artist doesn't, they can't go to any venues that are affiliated with Ticketmaster. If you're an artist with a big enough following to fill a stadium, etc, you'll never get access to one without Ticketmaster.
I would argue Ticketmaster is one of the most used anti-consumer platforms of the modern era. The only way it could change is if the majority of the world decided to never go to another (large) concert again for 2 years or so, as it'd probably take that long for Ticketmaster to feel the hurt. So yeah, it'll never happen.
Or go for the open air "lets build a stage in this field" venue style, but that won't work for the really big names, plus you gotta deal with all the regulation stuff
Theoretically anyone could pop up a venue of whatever size they want, assuming they have the funds to do so.
But that doesn't change the fact that Ticketmaster affiliated artists have to stick to Ticketmaster venues. So a big venue that isn't working with Ticketmaster would likely never see an act there big enough to fill it.
Wait, the artists are bound to Ticketmaster? I read the post above as the venues being Ticketmaster affiliated. Ugh
Probably both are true — I’ve certainly heard that particular venues are locked in, and I absolutely wouldn’t be surprised if a bunch of larger record labels would do the same
I'm a Taylor Swift fan that went to the NJ show, I'll tell you it's probably impossible to find tickets unless you know someone who's selling lol. Might have to just check a couple of resellers at a reasonable price closer to the dates.
I've heard that sometimes if you go to the actual venue on the day of and ask if there are single seats available, you could probably try that, but it feels really unlikely at least in the US.
In general concert tickets for hyped concerts are soooo difficult right now, especially because of ticketmaster's incompetence. It's even worse than sneakers in it's heyday, imo, as someone who used to grab highly hyped sneakers at retail for my own personal collection.
It's not incompetence. Their "Ticketmaster verified", "fan-to-fan resale" service is them now openly profiting off scalpers reselling tickets. So they have absolutely no incentive to make sure fans who actually intend to attend the concerts are the ones buying the tickets when they initially go on offer. They want scalpers and their bots to scoop them all up as soon as they go on sale, so when those same tickets get resold again on their site, Ticketmaster gets to double dip on the sales fees.
See: This CBC/Toronto Star investigation of Ticketmaster from a few years ago.
ah yeah I feel like incompetence is too soft of a word lol. if only our government(s) had some teeth :')
I believe you mean ticketmaster's malevolence.
They refuse to do anything about scalpers because doing so would hurt their bottom line.
Damn, I'm sad to hear that (even though I kind of knew it was a thing)
I absolutely HATE the thought of buying from a reseller :(
Have you taken her to see the Eras Tour movie? I have some friends who got their fix that way without breaking the bank. Everyone else I know paid out the ass for a ticket. Obviously, nothing can truly replace going to an actual concert, but to me, Ticketmaster is so usurious that I basically never go to anything but small venue/local shows nowadays.
The only other recommendation I have is to follow your city's subreddit new queue like a hawk around show day for last minute tickets. I subscribe to various major city subreddits near my small hometown, and I remember a few instances just from this tour of people looking to sell their tickets at face value or give them away for free last minute. And I just stumbled upon those not really looking for them.
I have actually! It was a good production, but I can tell for her it would mean a great deal more to actually be there
Thanks for the suggestion about checking subreddits. I haven’t really been back to Reddit since the great debacle occurred, but this is important enough to her to warrant me creating a new account for such a purpose 😅
Be careful though, there's a lot of fake scam tickets going around on facebook and other social media. I'd be hesitant to buy from or sell to a new account anywhere.
From what I've heard, the key seems to be buying as early as possible. Swell Entertainment made a video last year about applying for Ticketmaster's Verified Fan Presale program. She suspects that the program doesn't do anything, but it's a shot at getting your tickets early. She targeted Las Vegas instead of the venue closer to her, knowing the former would be easier for her to get a seat. Her ticket was in the ballpark of $600. Apparently, she was somehow charged the same price as VIP without getting VIP status. Ticketmaster was also buggy and didn't let her purchase 2 tickets, so you and your fiancee might need to apply individually and hope to get seats next to each other. Capital One cardholders were also able to sign up for the Verified Fan Presale in 2023, but I don't see any news that it applies to this year.
This Billboard article from Jan 2024 might be of interest. It lists a few third party resellers; if you have to go that route, then I suppose you should stick to the most reputable ones. And pay with credit card if possible, so you can issue a chargeback if you don't get tickets transferred quickly to your account. Good luck!
probably easier to get a job working for the stadium and then paying someone to trade shifts with the two of you.
i am only half joking about this approach.