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Discounted Taylor tix no happy tune for some
With no sold-out shows for her “Reputation” tour — to begin in less than three weeks — will Taylor Swift be able to shake it off ?
Even Ticketmaster, which created “Taylor Swift Tix” expressly for the tour set to kick off on May 8, is signaling concern by offering a three-day break on service fees.
The Beverly Hills ticket seller couched the unusual Tuesday-through-Thursday offer as a picker-upper for those depressed by tax day.
Never mind that few in Swift’s young-skewing demo have ever submitted a Form 1040 — the deal serves to reduce the average “Reputation” ticket price by 19 percent, according to a recent Consumer Reports study on service fees charged by US ticket sellers.
A look at Ticketmaster’s interactive venue charts shows plenty of seats available at all 40 North American tour stops, including the July 20-22 shows at MetLife Stadium.
The lower-demand contrast with Swift’s “1989” tour also is showing up in the secondary market.
A six-stadium analysis by TicketIQ founder Jesse Law- rence has “Reputation” concertgoers shelling out $66 in secondary markets for the cheapest ticket — compared with $102 for the previous tour.
The cheapest seats, the socalled “get-in price,” are the best proxy for consumer concert demand because they cut through VIP seating and other packages that can command wildly different prices from venue to venue, Lawrence said.
Not every fan is happy about the service-fee cut.
One devotee, Amy Beth Outland, tweeted: “I just got the e-mail about no service fees if you purchased tickets today,” she wrote. “But if you’ve already purchased tickets like … I did, can we get the cost of service fees back?”
Swift fan Julie Miller dressed down Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program — rebranded “Taylor Swift Tix” for the “Reputation” tour — which required participants to register weeks before tickets went on presale and to prove they were bona fide fans and not bots looking to buy tickets for scalpers.
“You all should be ashamed and embarrassed over the Verified Fan SCAM you pulled on TS fans for this tour,” she tweeted. “Months after the ‘verified’ presale better tickets at cheaper prices are being released.”
The cheap-seat price may drift even lower, as Lawrence’s analysis also shows the quantity of tickets in the secondary market is 35 percent greater than the quantity leading into “1989.”
“It’s hard to create notions of scarcity when so many tickets are available,” he said.
Ticketmaster said it “regularly” offers similar “fanfriendly promotions.” Swift’s reps did not return a request for comment.