Planning to go to a concert this year? Get ready to pay more for tickets

It’s all part of a strategy aimed at getting more tickets in the hands of fans using something called ‘dynamic pricing.’ Pat Foran reports for Consumer Alert.

With the help of Taylor Swift, 2024 was one of the highest grossing years for concert tours and this year, record ticket prices are expected to continue.

When a music artist comes to town, there are only so many tickets available and fans are now having to deal with dynamic or surge pricing that sees the cost of tickets fluctuate up and down depending on demand.

“I would definitely say that fans are being taken advantage of,” said Nicolina Moscati of Toronto, who recently bought tickets to see The Weeknd for his July 27th concert at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.

“I’m a big fan. I love that he is from Toronto and I enjoy Canadian music and seeing local artists making it big,” said Moscati.

Moscati was part of a fan presale for the show but was shocked when the cheapest two tickets she could find were $852 for the 500 level of the stadium.

“It seemed like the concert was selling out quickly, so if we wanted to go we would need to pay the money to secure the seats,” Moscati told CTV News.

After Moscati bought her tickets, The Weeknd added two more shows and that’s when she saw the same seats were now selling for $500 less.

“The price I paid doesn’t seem right, that they can decide these prices and then change them on a whim based on demand,” said Moscati.

Music industry expert Eric Alper says while more artists are using dynamic or surge pricing, not all of them do, but ultimately it’s up to the performer. He said the strategy makes more profit for the artists and promoters, and helps cut out ticket re-sellers.

“Baseball teams do it, football teams do it and airlines do it on a daily basis,” said Alper. “Based on the popularity of the artists based on the amount of people going after these same tickets, the prices are going to rise and fall based on demand.”

When CTV News Toronto reached out to Ticketmaster, a spokesperson said in a statement, “Tickets for The Weeknd’s tour were priced in advance of the sale, set at the individual seat level, and did not change during the sale. Ticketmaster does not have surge pricing or dynamic algorithms to adjust ticket prices.”

However, according to the Ticketmaster Canada website, it has also “helped teams and artists ‘dynamically’ price tickets to ensure they rightfully receive the benefits of market pricing, instead of their profits going to scalpers or resale ticketing sites.”

In Moscati’s case, Ticketmaster said the tour decided to refund her the $852, allowing her to purchase cheaper tickets to one of the added shows.

“At the tour’s direction, we’ve reached out to the fan to offer them a courtesy refund,” the statement read.

“It’s great to be in this position. I’ll be able to get some seats at a much better price and enjoy the concert,” said Moscati.