I joined more than 30 Ticketmaster queues across a two week period in an attempt to get tickets to Harry Styles’ Madison Square Garden residency set to begin this August.
More often than not, tickets sell out before I even reach the front of the queue. A few times, I was able to get into the sale with a few dozen tickets still available. There was only one problem; a majority of the tickets left cost more than $700 each, which was a price I could not afford, even for my favorite artist.
On one of the last days of presales, I got extremely lucky and found two upper bowl seats listed for $100.50 each. I’m glad to say that I will be attending Styles’ ‘Together, Together tour’ on Oct. 30.
However, hundreds of thousands — maybe even millions — of fans were not as lucky as I was.
The monopoly Ticketmaster currently holds over event ticketing is ruining the live music experience.
Ticketmaster’s dominance over the live music industry is not accidental. After merging with Live Nation in 2010 to form Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., the company gained control over not only ticket sales, but also over concert promotion and venue operations.
Today, Live Nation Entertainment controls ticketing for most major venues and tours in the United States, leaving fans with few viable alternatives. This means for most large concerts and tours, Ticketmaster is not just the preferred option, but the only one.
Ticketmaster is notorious for jacking up ticket prices by implementing something called “dynamic pricing.” Depending on the demand for an event, ticket prices can skyrocket. Prices adjust in real time, sometimes leaving thousands of tickets costing upwards of $1,000.
This pricing strategy feels more like a punishment for being a dedicated fan.
According to information posted by Ticketmaster before presales started, dynamic pricing was supposed to be turned off for this tour. However, fans were greeted with “platinum pricing” for nearly every sale. This meant tickets in the lower bowl were around almost $1,000 each.
Hundreds of thousands of fans joined the queues for every sale, competing for less than 20,000 seats per night in Madison Square Garden.
But, as long as fans continue to buy tickets through Ticketmaster, the company has no incentive to change. Even with all of the commotion around prices, every seat is consistently sold out.
Ticketmaster profits whether fans are angry or not. Complaining about Ticketmaster has simply become part of the concert-going experience. With no competition, the unfortunate reality is that the company will continue to win.
“I am so mad,” said freshman Colette Couillard, who attempted to purchase Harry Styles tickets. “I did every single presale and still didn’t get a ticket.”
Couillard has experience purchasing tickets for multiple different tours and events through Ticketmaster. In the past, she said she has not had many issues getting tickets to events, but it was different this time around.
“I did the whole Eras Tour thing which was crazy, and Olivia Rodrigo presale” she said. “Usually I have good luck but these Harry Styles tickets were INSANE.”
However, Ticketmaster is not the only ticketing platform that has given her trouble. Couillard attempted to sell her Ultra Music Festival tickets using Stub Hub, but they did not want to pay her until she contacted the Better Business Bureau.
“They wouldn’t give me my money until I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and called them for a total of 16 hours.”
Fans are yet again faced with the decision to either purchase verified tickets for ridiculous prices through Ticketmaster, or suffer any potential consequences of trying to buy through a third party like Stub Hub.
According to Serona Elton, Professor and Chair of Music Industry and Interim Vice Dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, there are several reasons that it seems so difficult to buy a concert ticket.
The main reason is that there are simply not enough tickets available to the number of people who want to buy them.
“It is basic supply and demand,” Elton said. “As a society, we place a high value on experiences and don’t want to feel left out. For the most successful artists, like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, and Beyoncé, the demand for tickets is virtually insatiable, and so it is a given that some people will not be able to secure tickets.”
The other big reason why people are increasingly unable to buy tickets is because of bots. Ticket brokers operate bots that are able to get in front of real people trying to buy tickets. Brokers then resell the tickets for much higher prices than the price originally bought for them.
“We could do more to stop them, like passing stronger laws, and better enforcing the laws we do have on the books already to prevent their behavior,” Elton said.
The blame should not fall on fans. Ticketmaster controls access to the artists and experiences that people care about, so opting out is not a realistic choice for many. Fans become trapped in a cycle that prioritizes profit over experience.
The long term health of live music depends on ticket revenue staying within the ecosystem that sustains it. Until meaningful regulation or real competition exists, Ticketmaster will continue to profit. Not because fans are satisfied, but because they have nowhere else to go.
However, there is some hope.
In May of 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice, along with more than 30 state attorneys general, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation-Ticketmaster. The lawsuit alleges that the company unlawfully monopolizes ticketing and other related live entertainment markets.
Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission and seven states sued Ticketmaster and Live Nation in September 2025, alleging that Ticketmaster used deceptive pricing tactics to mislead fans and artists about fees.
If these lawsuits are successful, the company could be forced to loosen or end exclusive venue contracts, face stricter pricing rules or even be broken up to restore competition. While high ticket demand would still be here to stay, a legal victory would weaken Ticketmaster’s control over the industry.
This would put some of the power back into artists’ and fans’ hands.