Taylor Swift Ticket Prices: Why Some Tickets are Listed at $22,000

Last updated on March 8th, 2023 at 12:33 am

Let’s talk about the Taylor Swift ticket prices fiasco. Fans of Taylor Swift songs were ecstatic when the famous singer announced her Eras tour for 2023. Many were crushed, however, when they saw the prices on the day the tickets were released.

As it turns out, Taylor Swift didn’t set these prices herself, but rather there is something much more malicious at play. Read on to learn why Taylor Swift tour tickets are so expensive.

Update 3/8/23: Prices may have changed since the writing of this article. Check Ticketmaster’s website for current costs. It’s also good idea to compare Taylor Swift ticket prices on Vivid Seats.

How Much Are Taylor Swift Tickets?

Taylor Swift doesn’t set the prices for her tour, but rather her management company does. They state when they released the tickets to Ticketmaster, the tickets ranged from $49 to $449 depending on where the fan wanted to sit.

I suppose this is the result of being one of the biggest stars in music.

But when many Swifties went in to buy tickets, they found the cheapest ones were $12,000, with some going as high as $22,000 on StubHub. So, what happened?

Turns out, Ticketmaster is allowing some shady practices to take place.

Why Are Taylor Swift Tickets So Expensive?

First and foremost, concertgoers need to realize that Ticketmaster is a bit of a monopoly. A few years ago, the company purchased LiveNation, making them the largest (and pretty much only) direct ticket seller in the United States.

Around that same time, the company also adopted dynamic pricing, meaning the prices of tickets would go up based on demand, and a portion of this additional cost would be kept by the platform and the artist.

Due to astronomical demand, the Taylor Swift ticket prices went way up.

Ticketmaster does allow artists to opt out of the dynamic pricing, but many choose not to as it also helps ticket sales to go faster, as fans are afraid tickets will sell out at the price they want to pay.

While this dynamic pricing is part of the reason Swift tickets were so expensive, it’s not the only reason.

As it turns out, as fans got in line to purchase Taylor Swift tickets, so too did several bots owned by ticket scalpers.

While some fans waited 8 hours in a virtual line to purchase tickets, these bots purchased many of the tickets themselves.

Then, these bot-purchase tickets were reposted on other sites like StubHub at a steep increase from what the tickets were purchased at.

Not to mention that the Ticketmaster site crashed repeatedly during the presale, and many fans put in credit card information only not to receive a ticket.

If this makes you outraged, you aren’t alone, as Taylor Swift had a few strong words for the platform herself.

As a result of what happened with the sale of tickets to the Taylor Swift concert, the Department of Justice is beginning to investigate Ticketmaster in regard to them and Live Nation violating anti-trust laws. This is an ongoing investigation.

Will There Be More Taylor Swift Tickets?

Taylor Swift is one of the most popular artists in the world. Unfortunately, the demand for her tickets will always out weight the supply, meaning some fans will be left empty-handed.

That being said, Ticketmaster has announced they canceled their November 18^th general sale of the Taylor Swift tickets, and it is believed that the tickets will again be available at a later date.

It is unclear if bots will be prevented from purchasing them and how Ticketmaster plans to manage dynamic pricing going forward.

So, if you are a Taylor Swift fan, don’t give up yet, as you may still be able to get a ticket to her 2023 tour without needing to pay the price of a car to attend.