Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board.
I’m sitting at my laptop with my credit card and presale code copied, ready to be pasted. The concert presale for The Backseat Lovers started five minutes ago, and the Ticketmaster war has officially begun. There are over 100 people in front of me in the online cue. All of this work, and still there is no guarantee I will even get tickets or that they will be within my budget.
It hasn’t always been like this. Experiencing live music has dwindled to being accessible to a select few, an elite number of people who are lucky enough to get to the checkout during presale or able to drop triple digits on seats that sell in seconds and are resold for triple the price on third-party markets. Getting a single seat at a big-name concert, like Noah Kahan or Taylor Swift, should only cost $50 but now go for thousands.
Live music used to be something everyone could experience, but that is no longer the case.
Scalping tickets has become a huge issue when it comes to online ticket sales. Ticket scalping is the practice of buying event tickets from official sources, like Ticketmaster or AXS, and reselling them at a much higher price for a profit.
For example, in the 2027 extension of Harry Styles’ Together, Together tour, a maximum of eight tickets could be purchased at one time with a presale code. Ticket scalpers then sign up for multiple presale codes and purchase as many tickets as they can, then turn around and sell them for double, or even triple, the price. Those $300 tickets will now sell for $3,000.
Seeing your favorite artist live shouldn’t be this hard or unattainable. Tickets shouldn’t be only reserved for those who have a certain credit card limit or who have the funds.
Accessibility issues with live music don’t stop at simply getting tickets. While there has been a surge in measures to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act in venues across the country, there is still room for growth to accommodate all types of people’s access to live music.
I recently attended a concert at Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre. Everyone who has been to Red Rocks knows it is notorious for the amount of walking and stairs required to access the venue. There are upward of 380 steps from the lower parking lot to the upper concession level.
Though Red Rocks has done a great job making its magical mountain venue accessible to as many as possible — with buses from the lower lots and ramps across the venue, as well as elevators and inside entrances — because there are only a few ADA-compliant seats available per venue and no seating options are safe from scalpers, extreme ticket costs can be magnified for disabled people.
Labels have begun to crack down on scalpers: Tickets can only be sold for the price they were purchased at on most websites, and only one presale code can be obtained per person. While not permanent fixes, these changes allow more real fans to see their favorite artists live on tour.
Seeing artists live shouldn’t be like enlisting in a war against venue accessibility, scalpers and corrupt ticket sale companies. Music should be available to be appreciated and enjoyed by everyone.
