[cameronh90]

> There is much more demand for these tickets than there are supply of tickets, so my econ 101 tells me the price should go up until the demand drops to match the supply.

Economically, completely true. Though there's a social argument that when only comparatively rich people can access live entertainment, society suffers. I think that's a bit contrived, but it's worth considering.

Ultimately this falls on the artists to solve. If they don't want their concertgoers to be exclusively trust fund babies, it's on them to distribute their tickets better rather than everyone getting annoyed at TM and scalpers. This could be lottery and strict ID checks (e.g. Glastonbury) or it could be some way of rewarding loyal fans with reduced price tickets.

Maybe ABBA Voyage type shows are the future for improving accessibility of popular bands. Japan has the Hatsune/vocaloid concerts. Or maybe people need to consider supporting their local small bands over fighting each other for Taylor Swift tickets. I've been to plenty of small gigs for less than £20 and it's much more fun than spending £200 to sit half a mile away.

[hardtke]

Prince did it right. His fan club members could buy tickets, with some sort of frequent flyer benefits (better tickets for more loyal fans). The genius was that you did not get the tickets or know where they were in the venue until you were literally walking into the venue. Most of the front row was reserved for fan club members, and the people sitting there didn't know they were going to be there on that night.

[pwinnski]

As the article mentions, Pearl Jam tried to solve this one way, and it did not go well.

Taylor Swift could theoretically do more shows, assuming she's physically capable, but she's already doing 2-3 shows in every venue on this tour[0].

There are weird incentives for artists, especially pop artists. They want young fans to be able to attend the shows, because that makes them fans for life. Conversely, young fans being shut out leads to them losing interest. But it's not feasible to means-test people buying tickets, so no matter what price you set them at, you can't be sure that the trust fund babies and scalpers won't get there first. In fact, you can be guaranteed the scalpers will get there first, this is what they do!

Strict ID checks are frustrating for everyone and still don't always seem to work. Fan club ticket windows are great in theory, and I've taken advantage of that myself to get U2 tickets, but all that's really doing is adding additional expense, as scalpers learn quickly that they must pay $20 to join the fan club for every four tickets they intend to scalp.

It's a tough problem, and perhaps one without a real solution. There's only so much TSwift to go around.

0. https://www.taylorswift.com/events/

[rnk]

Because of the monopoly of ticketmaster, it is literally impossible for artists to sell their own tickets in any sizable venues. They have locked up basically all of the sizeable places in the us.

[angryasian]

This is exactly the problem. You need to gate keep by price or exclusivity.