HOUSTON — For anyone trying to get tickets for their favorite artist lately, it's hard to miss just how expensive they have gotten. According to TickPick, an online bidding site for tickets, the lowest price just to get in the door for one of Taylor Swift’s three shows in Houston is $768.
Now that is the resale market, where people charge whatever fans are willing to pay. Thanks to dynamic prices, even the face value of some concert tickets is spiking.
So, what is dynamic pricing? It is a strategy used by industry giant Ticketmaster that adjusts prices based on demand, similar to an Uber ride that gets more expensive during peak hours.
The idea came about because of the insane prices seen on the secondary market. That money goes to the ticket broker, but with dynamic pricing, the money goes to the artist, venues and, of course, Ticketmaster.
So what’s the solution? Some artists like The Cure worked with Ticketmaster to keep ticket prices low for the latest tour, with some going for $20. The group then tried to stop scalpers by making seats non-transferable. Savvy scalpers got around the protections by transferring entire Ticketmaster accounts to buyers according to the New York Times.
Others, like Maggie Rogers, are going old school, selling tickets in person; a blast from the past for anyone who lined up outside a box office in their youth.