Couldn’t get Eras Tour tickets? Industry practices, lack of competition could be to blame

“We advise artists that they should not change prices at the beginning (of an on-sale period), that fans don’t like that, that fans misinterpret that, that fans will push back on that, but it’s their decision,” he said.

When prices are changed, he said most of the time it’s because artists and promoters were “too optimistic and demand isn’t what they expected, so they reduce prices.” 

“But some other ones, they figure out right away that they underpriced it,” he said.

When they act on that realization, fans are often left confused and blame platforms, Wall said.

Their outcry then often doesn’t amount to much change because governments have many other issues requiring their attention, Moore said.

“For a politician, they’re thinking, ‘Do I focus on housing? Do I focus on keeping the garbage collected and the streets clean or do I spend my political capital trying to sort out a big money business?’” she said.

And even if they want to tackle the live events industry, that task means facing the music: for many shows, there will never be enough tickets to meet demand.

Ticketmaster, for example, has said Taylor Swift would have to play more than 900 stadium shows—almost 20 times the number of concerts she is putting on for her Eras tour—just to satisfy all the fans that want to see her.