EFFIE BATEMAN | Lifestyle | Contact
Australia is now yet another lucky country to experience Ticketmaster dynamic pricing, as fans hoping to see punk rock band Green Day report tickets reaching ridiculous prices.
General admission tickets for the March 2025 tour went on sale for $200, however, for those wanting a seated ticket, that price point has soared to a staggering $500.
Much like Uber surge pricing, which increases prices when there’s a higher demand for rides, ‘dynamic pricing’ means that Ticketmaster can change the price of tickets at any time.
This has been a frequent occurrence for Taylor Swift concerts in the US, and most recently with the Oasis reunion, as UK fans complained of tickets surging from £135 ticket to £355 – after they’d been waiting in queue for hours.
Fans of Bruce Springsteen were also sent into an uproar during his 2022 US tour, as Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model saw tickets soar to over $5000.
So prolific is this price gouging, that Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, are currently being sued by the US government over claims it is running an illegal live event “monopoly” which is driving prices up for fans and pushing out smaller competition.
Despite multiple Australian states having comprehensive ticket scalping laws that make it illegal for everyday people to resell tickets on official resale platforms at more than 10% more of their value, it appears that Ticketmaster has free reign to do as much ticket scalping as it pleases – prompting many people to re-embrace the art of ticket scalping the old fashioned way.
“Fuck Ticketmaster, and fuck the artists who agree to this”, says one bloke, who’d been hoping to see the Saviors Tour live, “a packet of chips costs $7, a pint costs $14, and I’ll never own a house.”
“Now they’ve pumped up concert prices too.”
“Honestly fuck this fucking world we live in.”
More to come.
