$25 was once unthinkably cheap for a Taylor Swift show. Now, it could be the norm for the singer’s upcoming ‘Reputation Stadium Tour’.
Taylor Swift’s upcoming ‘Reputation’ tour is selling out in Australia. But back in the U.S., the tour has yet to produce a sellout, and prices are starting to sink.
The ‘Reputation Tour,’ which also features Camila Cabello and Charlie XCX, starts in less than 5 days.
In many venues, thousands of seats remain available, yet many of the unsold seats carry ticket prices north of $100. That may be causing fans to pass, suggesting slower-than-expected demand.
+ Thousands of Taylor Swift Tickets Remain Unsold — Just Days Before Showtime
In earlier tours, Swift has enjoyed splashy sellouts and $1,000+ ticket prices for premium seats. In fact, it was sometimes impossible to get a ticket — even with hundreds of dollars in hand.
This time, things are starkly different. But throughout, Taylor Swift’s team has insisted that the lack of sellouts on the Reputation Tour is intentional. Instead of selling out and giving the upside to scalpers, the new strategy involves higher pricing and a ‘slower-selling’ strategy.
Sounds logical enough, though it’s unclear exactly how that strategy is panning out.
Just days before an opening date in Phoenix, hundreds of seats — if not more than a thousand — remain unfilled. But even crappy seats are priced at more than $100, suggesting that fans are either passing or waiting for a last-minute discount.
Others maybe flat-out balking at the high ask.
Swift’s show in Miami isn’t slated to happen until August, suggesting even cheaper prices ahead.
Amazingly, fans can’t purchase a ticket to the Miami date on ticketmaster.com for less than $49, suggesting a dump-off on sites like Stubhub. Though not the exact same seat, the differential of $24 is alarming, especially since prices usually go up in the secondary market. And that’s certainly not the only ticket on StubHub falling below Ticketmaster’s lowest available price.
Meanwhile, Billboard is now reporting that Taylor Swift’s team is actively lowering prices to fill seats. Accordingly, Ticketmaster is “reducing prices in many markets as part of an effort to sell remaining inventory,” a move that has predictably led to a “significant lift in primary ticket sales”.
A quick look at some other dates reaffirms that reporting. For example, ticket prices for a September date in Kansas City have slumped to $39, while shows in both St. Louis and New Orleans both feature $34 bargains. Of course, those prices are likely to sink in the coming months — and for proof of that, look no further than the presence of a $39 ticket for a June 30th show in Louisville, KY.
The continued price-drops could be courting disaster, with fans waiting until the absolutely last-minute to scoop bargains.
That is, if they haven’t been permanently alienated by $100+ prices. Sellers on secondary sites like StubHub, sensing that dynamic, may feature heavily-discounted tickets simply to cut losses.
That vicious cycle seems to have impacted Jay-Z, whose recent ‘4:44’ tour was marred by sub-$10 ticket prices in multiple markets. When Digital Music News highlighted a $6 ticket in Anaheim and a flat-out cancellation in Fresno, CA, Jay-Z’s attorney threatened to sue if we didn’t change the tone of our coverage (we refused, and they never followed through on the threat).
Now, another glare is shifting towards Jay-Z’s combined tour with Beyonce, an outing that may experience similar pressures filling seats. Now, the broader question is whether single-act tours are as viable a machine as before, especially with festivals commanding such high prices and interest. Indeed, Coachella’s recent $300+ double-weekend festival sold out in minutes, which of course leaves tens of thousands of concertgoers with $300 less to spend on the next show.
Another pathetic article by “journalist” Paul Resnikoff who still fails to understand how slow-ticketing works, I see.
…says the Taylor Swift representative
It really doesn’t matter what one has to say! Whether in favour or opposition, cause she’s making money, doing business, just like any human.
25 dollar tickets… on Stubhub? That’s a resale site… in other words, those 25 dollar tickets were already purchased from Ticketmaster by someone and they are now reselling those tickets for 25 dollars. The only one losing money is the person reselling those tickets because none of the ticket prices for the Miami date are 25 dollars. This article is embarrassing.
…says the Taylor Swift representative
Says the moron. You obviously are a criminal ticket scalper who can no longer rip off Taylor Swift’s fans for hundreds of dollars. Get a life prick.
Pre-order tickets for ‘verified fans’ were priced $25, so that’s not actually someone losing money, it’s just someone selling for the price they bought it (anyone can sell on stubhub).
That is decidedly not true. Top row of the upper deck for the presale was $80 after fees.
Love how you guys troll DMN. Sad fact = Taylor’s tour is going down the toilet.
The price in StubHub is going DOWN!
Means some scalper is DUMPING a supposedly valuable commodity.
So that’s the “slow-ticketing” strategy?
How is it going down the toilet when her tour has already grossed the same amount as her 1989 World Tour! I think you are the troll along with this website who are not capable of dealing with the real truth!
…says the Taylor Swift representative
According to A&G (tour promoter) her tour is already grossing $350 million+, that’s the second highest female tour grossing of all time, only behind Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet. Ahead of Madonna’s MDNA, her own 1989 tour and Beyoncé’s Formation Tour. And she still has the Asian leg (confirmed via tour merch) to announce, so there’s a possibility she’s gonna surpass Madonna and have the highest all time grossing female tour. I see a lot of meltdowns happening when those box office numbers get released.
By the way, in the last article of this guy he talked about low sales for the first show (Glendale) and that Taylor’s team would probably lower ticket prices. After that article though, Taylor opened two more sectors that were never before used for concerts at that stadium (University of Phoenix Stadium) and increased ticket prices, suggesting the contrary of that article. Her team made it pretty clear that the ideal scenario would be to sell the last ticket for each show at the day of the show so I guess everything is going according to plans. *Those $25 tickets were priced 25 on the pre-order but were then increased to 50+ on the general sale, and those people selling for 25 at stubhub probably bought for this price.
And again it’s pretty biased that her tour keep having these articles while a lot of other tours (especially Beyoncé’s On the Run II) are selling worse and are still being reported everywhere as succesful.
AEG. Not A&G
But the thing here is Taylor Swift will perform in all Stadium not arena. Madonna’s MDNA tour and Sticky and Sweet Tour was designed for Stadium and Arena. This article is discussing the per ticket percentage surge depending on its demand. The execs based this in historical data of her latest album and past tour 1989. So, they projected that her Reputation – an all-stadium tour ticket prices will not decrease.
But the thing here is Taylor Swift will perform in all Stadium not arena. Madonna’s MDNA tour and Sticky and Sweet Tour was designed for Stadium and Arena. This article is discussing the per ticket percentage surge depending on its demand. The execs based this in historical data of her latest album and past tour 1989. So, they projected that her Reputation – an all-stadium tour ticket prices will not decrease.
…we’ll just have to wait and see ….. I’ll get back to you when the tour wraps up in months or so … LOL
You’re such a loser. So far all of her shows have sold out. I don’t see any tickets for $25. And nobody should buy off of Stub Hub. IF they do they’ll find out their ticket is fake. That’s why she did this. Her last tour a lot of people ended up buying fake tickets. The idiot who wrote this article obviously is a ticket scalper who now can’t make a fortune buying tickets and selling them for ten times more. Boo Hoo.
Every show sold out, 8 million dollar grosses per show, a total success beyond her wildest dreams.
Beyoncé’s ticket sales started at $20. I can’t wait to see the article unbiased “journalist” Paul Resnikoff will write about that!
…says the Taylor Swift representative
How does one person reselling two tickets at $25 pass as news today, I mean seriously…
…says the Taylor Swift representative
Do you have autism?
I think it’s just a moron. Or the idiot who wrote the article. Which is both.
Sounds like you are playing the lets crap on someone game. You know Swift’s tour will earn at least 300 million dollars! Are some of the scalpers who lost out paying you to crap on Taylor!
One thing worth (further) clarifying is that the $25 ticket is just one example of an secondary ticket price sinking below Ticketmaster’s lowest list. So that’s merely used to represent the trend.
The core question is why that dynamic is emerging.
Thanks for keeping it constructive!
Have you checked her pre-order prices (via ticketmaster’s verified fan)? The prices on the pre-order were pretty much similar to the 1989 tour, where upper seats were priced at 25, so that’s why you have a few tickets selling for less at stubhub. General sales were priced higher to keep scalpers away and do as much profit on the primary market as possible. Some shows according to Billboard are already grossing $9 million+, that’s more than Madonna, Beyoncé and even U2 grossed at the same stadiums.
But anyway keep doing your “terrible sales” articles because this way when the boxscores gets released it will be even more satisfying to see her breaking records lol
Now that’s a stretch. Because die-hard fans always jump through hoops just to dump the tickets later at $0 profit.
Diehard fans don’t sell their tickets. The scalpers used to buy up a lot of the tickets and rip everyone off. This new system is to kill the scalpers. And it’s working.
I love how Taylor employs people just to comment on new sites.
The fact is she released a mediocre album and people didn’t think the concert was worth the asking price. Plus, no one bought the argument that the only way to keep tickets out of the hands of scalpers was to significantly increase the ticket prices. It was pure greed on her part which has been more and more on display since she transitioned into pop.
Are you an idiot or a moron?
when you’re not constructive. poor journalism
Paul is so into Taylor’s ticket sales … why?
I wouldn’t use Australia as a comparison. There are far fewer dates here than the last few concerts she had. The ticket prices were just too expensive – $800 for pit tickets is just plain wrong.
I agree. I wish there were tickets anywhere near $25 available in Australia.
wow i am late but fuck that
first off you all look dumb now
reason.1/ she sold out the first show the second and probably the third
2/ she broke the attendance record for the 1st show with 59k in attendance
and if you looked at the pics it looks like there is a sea of swifties
3/after the first show her tickets are going super strong
4/ she also added new sectors to pretty much every show
5/ and if i look at the maps now i get a little bit scared because look at maps a month a go and now
and i have more to add to this list but you probably now that already
she is selling out every show hours before the show
and you all need to stop attacking jay z and Beyonce because is pretty much the same system.
ps. you would get more readers if you written the trough/a positive article
cause i think you´ve
Repuketaytion tour. Who want this?
At least learn how to spell 1st!
Hi, when will you report that the tour already grossed 54m in just 5 cities or 8 shows? It’s kind of weird you’re not talking about that.
This did not age well
This aged horribly