High ticket prices are a sign of the times and Harry Styles fans are the next victims of dynamic pricing. On Jan. 30, Harry Styles “Together, Together” tour tickets went on pre-sale. Fans were shocked to find that many tickets were priced well over $1,000.
This tour marks Styles’ third solo tour for his fourth album, “Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally.” During his previous tours, he went to multiple cities, usually only playing one or two nights. With his upcoming tour, he is playing in seven venues across the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, the United States and Australia with multiple night residencies.
I thought it was odd that he was only doing residencies, as he is a massive artist and people around the world want to see him. I assumed it was cheaper and easier for him to stay in one city for a while. However, it was not cheaper for fans.
The residency that received the most pushback from fans was his 30-night stay at Madison Square Garden in New York City. With Styles staying in one place in the United States, naturally, many American fans were not pleased.
High ticket prices and 200,000-person queues were not what fans were expecting to see when they logged into their Ticketmaster apps in late January. When I joined the queue for his MSG show, I saw 189,000 people waiting ahead of me. I immediately closed my laptop.
I wondered if it was cheaper to attend one of his London shows after I saw the prices of his MSG shows. Turns out, many on TikTok had a similar idea. After looking into it, it is cheaper to fly to London, stay three nights in a hotel and attend his concert. In no world should this be the case.
Dynamic pricing is to blame.
Dynamic pricing is when ticket costs change based on the supply and demand for the show. Some artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Blackpink and Coldplay have used dynamic pricing in the past. However, artists can choose to turn this off. Billie Eilish, Olivia Dean and Pearl Jam do not use dynamic pricing, as it is up to the artist whether they wish to use it or not.
This left many fans outraged at Styles. People online argued that spending a whole month’s rent on a concert ticket for one night was absolutely ridiculous. This does not include travel expenses, hotel fees or food.
Don’t get me wrong–I love Harry Styles, but the greed is insane. If he sold every seat in MSG at $99 for one show, he would make almost $2 million. He would make $60 million alone at MSG.
With his fan base generally composed of younger adults, there is no way most of them can afford four-figure tickets in this economy; I know I can’t.
Music should be accessible to anyone. If I want to go to a Harry Styles concert, I should not worry about paying my rent next month. The industry needs to change, artists need to advocate for their fans and take a stand against this type of pricing.
Styles has always branded himself as inclusive and has said many times that anyone is welcome at his shows. Even the name of his tours implies that he is all-inclusive. I’m now having second thoughts on these statements.
It leaves me to ask the question: Does Harry Styles really want us to be together if we can’t even afford the tickets to be there?
