Bad Bunny has severely upset fans with his concert ticket prices

Concert ticket prices were already out of control, but Bad Bunny took it to a whole new level of ridiculousness.

Not long after the preview for the artist’s 2024 “Most Wanted” tour began on Wednesday, fans were criticizing the high ticket prices on social media. Nosebleed seat prices ranged between $150 and $250 on Ticketmaster, depending on the city and before fees, according to people who shared their experience on TikTok. In Miami, a level 100 ticket was $750. Floor seat prices were even higher, with some reporting $1,000 per ticket. One screenshot from a fan showed tickets starting at $1,482 for floor seats at Barclays Center in New York City. Fans purchasing tickets in pre-sale were also required to purchase a minimum of four tickets.

The fiasco follows a trend of rising ticket prices since the pandemic, with post-quarantine demand increasing alongside inflation. Taylor Swift concert ticket prices weren’t terrible until ticket sellers started inflating their resale prices. Ticket prices for both Beyoncé and Drake were announced at one price and then skyrocketed due to “Ticketmaster.”Dynamic pricing“, which inflates prices based on demand.

This cannot become the new normal. We desperately need a music revolution and a stand up to corporate greed. Fans should band together and stop buying tickets when they are so overpriced. And many Bad Bunny fans did just that.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” says Lucy Ana Vergara. Tik Tok user Who decided not to get tickets after seeing the prices. “I think he was overestimating how much his fans would be willing to pay, which me and my friends didn’t get — no one got tickets. They left the set immediately, too.”

She pointed out In another TikTok A video shows that a lot of tickets at pre-sale prices are still available long after the sale goes live — in contrast to pre-sales for Swift, Beyoncé or Drake, which sold out quickly. The more affordable tickets at the higher levels have disappeared, but floor and level 100 tickets are still available, which may indicate that even scalpers were not buying them due to the high prices. She says when she checked back Thursday morning, prices had not dropped and the same number of tickets were available, which led her to believe dynamic pricing wasn’t the issue here.

“I usually blame Ticketmaster, but I think it goes beyond that. This is before fees and everything,” Vergara said. “They do dynamic pricing where the price goes up as people join the waitlist, but people get those prices as soon as they join.” So it looks like Bad Bunny’s team is at fault here.”

A representative for Bad Bunny did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Ticketmaster representative responded to our inquiry about Bad Bunny ticket prices, directing HuffPost to its site’s explanation of “Ticket factsIn response to a question about who sets the ticket price, Ticketmaster says, “The artist team sets ticket prices at face value.”

Is this what concertgoers should look forward to? Will every major artist on tour continue to increase ticket prices so the average person can’t attend? Will concerts become events only for the rich and privileged?

Some fans have already begun to push back against the trend. Attorney Jennifer Kinder He filed a lawsuit v. Ticketmaster owner Live Nation in December on behalf of 350 Taylor Swift fans who claimed they were misled by the company’s price-fixing policies. She says Ticketmaster is likely to blame, not the artist.

“Let’s say this is Bad Bunny negotiating these prices. “That’s still a problem with Ticketmaster that they’re allowing the artist to exploit the people who are making their careers, and that’s the worst part of the company and the monopoly,” Kinder told HuffPost. “The consumer is being exploited and what happens “The bottom line is that the only people who can experience art in the United States are the rich, because they keep the art from you and me.”

Ticketmaster has been in hot water since the debacle surrounding Swift’s Eras Tour. Most notably, in January, lawmakers grilled Live Nation President Joe Berchtold, after An antitrust investigation led by the Department of Justice was opened In the company last year.

Kinder says the real problem is the lack of transparency of tickets from Ticketmaster.

“You really don’t know who you’re buying the ticket from. “You don’t know if you’re buying an original pre-sale ticket or if it’s on the resale market because it’s Ticketmaster, and you’ll never know unless you see Bad Bunny’s contract… or it’s out And he said something,” Kinder said.

“That’s the way Ticketmaster wants it to be; they want you to blame the artist, and in reality, the artist usually has very little power,” she said. “They negotiate prices, but what they sell for is set by Ticketmaster.”

Swiftie’s lawsuit is currently on hold. Ticketmaster’s terms of use include an “arbitration clause” that essentially prevents ticket buyers from suing the company directly. However, this requirement has been challenged in court, With the ruling by U.S. District Judge George Wu v. Live Nation, which pushed the plaintiffs into private arbitration. The company has appealed this ruling.

Fans view Ticketmaster as a necessary evil when they want to see their favorite artists perform; It is the largest ticket provider in the world. But let’s not forget that artists have a say in what they want to collect. Artists have the option to opt out of dynamic ticket pricing, but they rarely do. Swift apparently did, for example, but only after it flopped in pre-sale, and she only spoke out against Ticketmaster after receiving backlash. Artists ultimately benefit from higher ticket prices. On the other hand, some musicians Talk about the high cost of tourismwhere venues and companies take discounts on merchandise and ticket sales.

Robert Smith of The Cure is one of the few artists to do this He went after it publicly Ticketmaster due to its excessive fees, had the company refund fans earlier this year. Country singer Zach Bryan too The ticket manager interruptedBut he had to return to use it on his tour. “One person cannot change the entire system,” he said of the decision.

Most artists seem to be good at sticking to the current system and abandoning the fans that got them where they are today.

Bad Bunny’s tour poster had one line that actually stuck before ticket sales: “If you’re not a real fan, don’t come.”

But the reality is that Bad Bunny and Ticketmaster make it nearly impossible for his true fans to be able to attend at all.