Since the Covid-19 mandates were lifted in early 2023, there has been a significant rise in concert attendance. Some of the biggest artists in the world, such as Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Tate McRae, and many others, have held the highest attended and selling concerts over the past few years.
However, just because these stadiums and arenas are sold out doesn’t mean that every single person there is a die-hard fan of the artist. Some people attend concerts simply for fun or for the experience. Others might not know the artist very well but still want to go because the artist is popular.
Real fans of these artists often find this extremely frustrating. As someone whose parents were in the presale queues for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour and Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Tour, I know firsthand how disappointing it is to see people who don’t truly listen to the artist—or listen nearly as much as I do—manage to get tickets through Ticketmaster and a presale code. This is why I’d like to propose an idea for improving the presale ticket process.
My idea would still allow people who aren’t as big of fans to have a chance to attend, but it would give die-hard fans a better opportunity to secure tickets. For example, during the presale for Ariana Grande’s New York City Eternal Sunshine Tour dates, there were about 300,000 people in the queue for the Barclays Center that only holds around 19,000 people. Clearly, there were far more people than available tickets.
During Swift’s The Eras Tour, Ticketmaster created a Verified Fan presale that buyers could register for. Ticketmaster would use that information to verify that a buyer was not a bot or a reseller. I think that ticket sellers should go even further.
I believe if the presale process included a “fan test” before receiving a presale code, it could help ensure that true fans have a better chance at getting tickets while still leaving room for others during the main ticket sale. This test might include questions about song lyrics, album release dates, and other common trivia that could sort out fans from non-fans, ticket resellers and bots. This test could take part right before you request a presale code from the artist’s website. This idea could also discourage bulk ticket buyers and resellers from purchasing large quantities of tickets at once, as well as make casual buyers think twice before taking the opportunity away from genuine fans.
