Tom Grennan hits out at artists with high ticket sales high during cost of living crisis

Tom Grennan has said he thinks artists keeping their ticket sales high during the cost of living crisis are ‘out of order’.

The Little Bit Of Love singer, 27, has kept his prices at an affordable rate for his 2022-2023 Concert Tour, with tickets costing £30 on Ticketmaster.

Speaking to MailOnline at Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard in London’s O2 Arena, Tom said he deliberately lowered his prices to let more people come to his shows.

Interview: Tom Grennan has said he thinks artists keeping their ticket sales high during the cost of living crisis is ‘out of order’

He said: ‘We all know we are living in a crisis, people need to heat their homes and feed their kids and I’ve just put on a tour when it’s a hard time for a lot of people. 

‘It was the right thing to do to bring the tickets down as much as I can because I want people to have fun, to come to the show and leave their worries behind.’

The hitmaker added: ‘I saw a lot of artists put their tickets crazy high and I think it’s out of order.’

Tom put on a revealing display at the event as he stripped down to his boxers while playing strip poker with Capital FM’s Roman Kemp and Sonny Jay. 

High prices:Fans of Taylor Swift and other well-known artists were left disappointed after being faced with Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system

It comes after fans of Taylor Swift and other well-known artists were left disappointed after being faced with Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system.

The site has under fire following their botched handling of the Taylor Swift The Eras tour, which saw the site crash repeatedly and fans unable to purchase seats using a special verification code – with Ticketmaster blaming ‘bot attacks’ for the disaster.

In recent years, fans of everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Drake have been finding themselves struggling with the ticket selling site and unable to purchase performers’ big-ticket events when using the company’s various systems including dynamic pricing.

In 2017, the company denied suffering from technical glitches when fans attempted to purchase seats for Harry Styles’ world tour.

He said: ‘We all know we are living in a crisis, people need to heat their homes and feed their kids and I’ve just put on a tour when it’s a hard time for a lot of people’

A spokesperson for Ticketmaster said at the time: ‘There was, as would be expected, phenomenal demand and the presale tickets did sell very quickly but there were no technical issues.’

However, the issue arose again when BTS fans struggle to purchase tickets in 2021 as the ticket seller failed to cope with the demand. The same happened for fans of Olivia Rodrigo that same year as ‘technical difficulties’ also caused fans to lost out on tickets.

For those who did manage to buy tickets, they have been faced with eye-watering prices thanks to the company’s dynamic pricing system.

Ticketmaster claims the system give fans ‘fair and safe access’ to in-demand tickets with its FAQ page explaining: ‘The prices are adjusted according to supply and demand, similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold.

Game: Tom put on a revealing display at the event as he stripped down to his boxers while playing strip poker with Capital FM’s Roman Kemp and Sonny Jay

‘The goal is to give the most passionate fans fair and safe access to the most in-demand tickets while allowing the artists and everyone involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their fair value.’

However, ‘dynamic pricing’ seems to have caused nothing but headaches for the fans of music’s most popular acts like Bruce Springsteen, My Chemical Romance and Drake, with their tour prices surging by hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in recent years.

The latest situation with Swift’s tour has launched an investigation into Ticketmaster from the the Justice Department, according to the New York Times.

‘The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into the owner of Ticketmaster, whose sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets descended into chaos this week, said two people with knowledge of the matter,’ the outlet reported.

Tom also said: ‘I saw a lot of artists put their tickets crazy high and I think it’s out of order’ 

‘The investigation is focused on whether Live Nation Entertainment has abused its power over the multibillion-dollar live music industry.’

The new investigation is only the latest scrutiny of Live Nation Entertainment, which is the product of a 2010 Justice Department-approved merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster. That merger created a mega-corporation that has dominated the ticket sales industry unlike any other.

On November 1, Taylor Swift announced a 27-date tour across 20 U.S. cities, running from March to August next year – sparking fan chaos.

Pre-sale for the highly anticipated tour kicked off earlier on Tuesday – but it ended in disaster for many. 

Afterwards, the ticket selling website sparked even more fury when it announced that the public sale, which was set to take place at 10am Friday, was canceled due to ‘insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet demand’.

Sky-high: The cost of ticket sales for major artists’ concerts have sky-rocketed of late – with the cost of entrance to many big stars’ gigs going up by more than 1,000 per cent

Pre-sale for Swift’s highly anticipated upcoming Eras Tour ended in disaster for many, who were unable to secure any tickets after waiting hours in a queue on Ticketmaster, only for the site to crash repeatedly during the checkout process.

Despite prices for the tour being advertised to start from $49, many fans struggled to find anything under $99 when they went to purchase pre-sale options – with many dropping hundreds of dollars for their tickets.

This lead desperate fans to turn to reselling sites who are touting tickets for nearly $4,000 a pop. 

Meanwhile, excitement for Bruce Springsteen’s 2023 US arena tour quickly turned to frustration after tickets for the first six dates went made available for purchase on July 20.

Within the first four days, mid-floor tickets for the Boss, 72, were going for $4,000 to $5,000 each on Ticketmaster. Meanwhile, less desirable seats still fetching high prices at more than $1,000. 

Ticketmaster has since blamed a ‘staggering number of bot attacks’ for causing a tidal wave of problems for Swift fans seeking to purchase tickets for the 32-year-old’s tour while using the company’s Verified Fan program.

Big cost: Fans of Bruce Springsteen were furious when they learned that tickets to his 2023 tour were going for as high as $5,000 due to Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system

Tom Grennan hits out at artists with high ticket sales high during cost of living crisis
Source: Viral Buzz Philippines