By: Harley Salter

Back when Shakespeare was putting on plays at his newly constructed Globe, there were affordable tickets for everyday people, commonly referred to as “groundlings” because the cheapest tickets were for the ground level. Even two thousand years ago, when the Colosseum opened its doors, everyone in Rome, including women, peasants, and enslaved Romans, was invited for free to watch the gladiator battles. Despite the much larger entertainment industry of the modern day, many people cannot afford tickets, if they can even access them. 

On November 15, 2022, Taylor Swift propelled the difficulty and cost of buying tickets into the spotlight when the release of her Eras Tour tickets led to Ticketmaster crashing. The drama did not end there. Scalpers, who had purchased large numbers of tickets, listed them on resale sites for thousands of dollars. According to Business Insider, the average ticket price for a secondary ticket was $3,801, a 1,402% increase from their original listed price of $253.56. Taylor Swift is unique with her massive and adoring fan base, but she is not alone with extreme price increases on secondary tickets. 

Why have prices increased? 

Many factors have contributed to the increase in ticket prices. For example, Ticketmaster has a monopoly on ticket sales, which gives it the power to increase prices. Additionally, ticket brokers have been using exclusive dealing arrangements with venues and artists, which further their ability to raise prices because they have no competition. Finally, it was fewer than twenty years ago that the music industry began shifting to live music as a substantial source of revenue to replace the income lost to streaming. Bots have also played a large role in recent years. For a long time, scalpers, or “ticket sharks,” have bought tickets in bulk to events for cheap and resold them, usually day of and in front of the venue, for a substantial profit. With the emergence of online ticket sales, scalping became easier and more people started participating. Online ticketing benefited consumers, as those who could no longer make it to the show could resell their tickets. Although this smaller scale reselling impacted resale ticket prices, bots completely changed the game. Bots are used by individuals and companies to buy tickets in bulk with more ease and at a faster rate. This drastically changed the scale at which tickets were marked up and resold, thereby driving up the cost of tickets. 

What can be done? 

Companies often try to combat bots with software to block them and formal agreements prohibiting their use. This is not always sufficient; bots are constantly improved upon to go undetected and break past barriers. Although bots can be hard to block, regulations, as well as actions by ticket brokers, could substantially lessen their impact on resale ticket prices.

While a blanket ban on ticket resales could be implemented, it would likely have substantial adverse effects. A more nuanced approach would be more effective. If ticket resales are banned, consumers who bought tickets with the intention of going but were unable to attend would be unable to recoup their losses. This harm to consumers could be mitigated by requiring ticket brokers to accept returns. However, unlike other products, tickets are only sold for a limited time. If ticket brokers were required to accept returns, they would likely sustain large losses because they often wouldn’t have the time to sell the ticket again. This could deter competition and lead to increased prices. 

In Washington State, Representative Kristine Reeves proposed the TSWIFT Consumer Protection Act, which would require professional ticket resellers to obtain a ticket sales license for Washington’s Department of Licensing. The bill would also cap the price at 110% of the original sales price and expand Washington’s current prohibitions on using bots or software to purchase tickets. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott signed a similar bill, “Save our Swifties,” into law that banned the use of bots to purchase concert tickets. Other states have enacted laws that require transparency with ticket prices and fees. 

Halfway around the world, when visitors could no longer access affordable tickets to see the Colosseum, Italy’s culture ministry stepped in. Following the pandemic, many sights in Europe began offering or requiring online ticket sales. Third parties like TripAdvisor began buying up tickets to major attractions as they became available then selling them at extreme markups, resulting in many tourists leaving without being able to get into places they came to see. The ministry took this seriously; it launched an investigation last summer and implemented a new ticket sales system in October. Under this new system, tickets have visitors’ names on them, entry requires a valid ID, and tickets are reserved to be sold in person again. 

What is the issue if people are willing to pay? 

Attending large gatherings may be a privilege, but it is deeply ingrained in our history and an important part of society. Although some are able and willing to pay large sums of money, the current market for tickets does not reflect common notions of supply and demand. Concert-goers no longer compete against each other for the limited supply; rather, scalpers and bots come in and artificially lower the supply, driving up the price. Ticketmaster acts as the initial ticket reseller, buying tickets from venues and performers. It then resells tickets to the public. Unlike the secondary ticket sellers one step further down the chain, the original brokers supply value by making the process easier and more efficient. Secondary ticket sellers however simply resell the exact same product, often on the same platform they bought the tickets from, adding no additional value to consumers. Bots allow them to do this on such a large scale that it artificially drives up prices to sometimes astronomical levels. 

While online sales originally increased access to events, bot-driven scalping has widened the economic gap for access to shows. Bots have transformed ticket resales from a risky business to a game-changing profit maker. Although regulations on bots may be difficult to enforce currently, the people and companies controlling the bots can and should be regulated. Limiting the price of resale tickets and prohibiting the use of bots could drastically curb the soaring price of tickets and give a wider range of consumers access to live entertainment. Public access to entertainment should not price out the average fan. Common sense regulation can swing the pendulum in the other direction, though gladiator battles free to the public are likely not coming back any time soon.