Disappointment resonates through the Rosalía subreddit as fans share their struggles in securing tickets for her upcoming world tour. Reports indicate that tickets for shows in major cities like London, Barcelona, Toronto, and Mexico City sold out within minutes of the general sale.
One Reddit user in the Rosalía subreddit expressed surprise at how swiftly Toronto tickets sold out, recounting their personal experience of the challenging ticket purchase process. Rosalía’s album LUX achieved instant success, earning accolades from renowned composer Andrew Lloyd Webber as the “album of the decade.” Despite her significant fame, with nearly 30 million Instagram followers, Rosalía still falls short of Taylor Swift’s massive following of 281 million. Notably, even artists like Olivia Dean, with 3.4 million followers, have managed to sell out arena tours.
The struggle of acquiring tickets for high-demand events is a familiar one for many. Face-value tickets are often expensive, if available at all, leading to rapid sell-outs and subsequent resale at inflated prices on secondary markets. Fans have voiced frustration over the opaque allocation of tickets between presales and general sales, making the ticket-buying process arduous and perplexing.
Experts suggest various strategies to address these challenges, as dissatisfaction with the current system grows among both fans and artists. These include implementing better pricing controls and diversifying the market for venues and ticket sellers.
Tens of thousands of Hilary Duff fans are battling it out for tickets to her new tour of intimate venues. McGill University associate professor Vivek Astvansh says the opportunity to go to concerts has declined thanks to a combination of Ticketmaster creating a higher demand and brokers buying tickets in bulk using bots.
Veronica Ing from Toronto shared her dwindling concert attendance due to ticket scarcity and FOMO, highlighting the challenges faced by concertgoers.
Angie Liu recounted her stressful experience and feeling of overpayment when purchasing tickets for Kendrick Lamar and Sza’s Grand National tour. She pointed out the instability caused by dynamic pricing, which fluctuates based on demand.
Vass Bednar, the managing director of the Canadian SHIELD Institute, emphasized the inaccessibility of experiences auctioned to the highest bidder, shedding light on the issues surrounding ticketing practices.
Experts acknowledge the complexity of making events more accessible but suggest policy interventions as potential solutions amidst growing discontent with the current ticketing landscape.