COLUMN: The Price Gauge in Concert Tickets

There is such an amazing feeling when you get to attend a concert. You finally get to see your favorite artist live but tickets cost money.  

Nowadays tickets can be pretty pricey, whether you buy last minute or early presale. It also can depend on the website you buy them from as well. Some tickets are sold for up to $1,000 or more. 

The price gauge on tickets is a huge issue. Many things can affect this such as the venue, the website, and even the singers. 

Around where we live there are so many popular venues such as Capital One Arena, The Fillmore, Jiffy Lube live, 9:30 Club and more. Some of these venues have different seating that is tiered, which makes a difference in the price of tickets. While other venues are even standing room only, such as the 9:30 Club and The Fillmore, which depending on the artist might make a cheaper ticket. 

But there can also be a different price depending on when and where you purchase the tickets. Did you buy them during presale or a couple of days prior to the event happening? Do you always buy your tickets from Ticketmaster, or do you buy them from another website? Also, ticket buyers might accidentally go to a third-party seller website when they thought they were purchasing from the venue. 

The prices vary from website to website such as, if want to see George Strait at the Carolina Panther’s field, Seat Geek offers a ticket for $234, Ticketmaster has a ticket for $325, Vividseats has a ticket for $168 and StubHub has a ticket for $175. All these tickets are to see the same person at the same venue, but they are each being sold on a different website, so the prices vary. Ticket scalpers do not help with the issue either.  They buy up tickets and make money off them by selling them for a much higher price than what somebody would have originally spent on a ticket.  

When viewing a website to buy tickets it would be one price that day but then when you look a week from now it is a different price. It also can depend on the venue you attend, such as if you wanted to see Morgan Wallen in nearby Hershey. Pennsylvania, the cheapest ticket is $374, but if you travel an extra hour or so to Philadelphia you could see him for $397 that is an extra $23 dollars just for a different venue.  

I think it is not right to price gauge. When you buy a ticket, it should be set across the board as one price.  The prices should not vary from website to website. Yes, if people are paying for a ticket, they have the money, but people should be able to get the cheapest price available and there should be one price per area and seat at venue. It should not change depending on where you purchase your ticket.  It is crazy to sell the same ticket for a different price depending on where you buy it and the location you buy it for. Small Venue VS bigger venue is understandable for different prices because of the size of the location.  

Photo was taken September 23rd 2023 at Capital One Arena in Washington DC Jonas Brothers The Tour
Photos was taken at the Great Frederick Fair grounds 2023 Jo Dee Messina and Tracy Byrd concert

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