Kaya Roy couldn’t believe her luck. Her favorite singer, Taylor Swift, was going to be performing in a nearby city. The show would be the night before Kaya’s 15th birthday. Kaya’s family planned to give her tickets as a gift. 

    The day tickets went on sale, Kaya was in school. Her mom went online to buy seats. The website kept crashing. Four hours went by. Kaya’s mom still had no tickets. The concert sold out. 

    Later, Kaya searched for tickets on ticket resale sites. The cheapest seats were $800 each. “I just gave up at that point,” she says.

    Kaya is not alone. Many young music fans say getting concert tickets has become almost impossible. Websites crash before you can check out. Tickets to top shows are more expensive than ever. And if cheap seats are available, ticket resellers often scoop them up. Then they resell the tickets, usually at higher prices.

    Who’s to blame for this broken system? And can it be fixed? 

    Kaya Roy was excited. Her favorite singer is Taylor Swift. Swift would soon perform in a nearby city. Kaya’s family planned to give her tickets as a birthday gift.

    Kaya’s mom went online to buy seats. The website kept crashing. Four hours went by. She still had no tickets. The concert sold out. 

    Later, Kaya looked on ticket resale sites. The cheapest seats were $800 each. “I just gave up at that point,” she says.

    Kaya is not alone. Many music fans say concert tickets are very hard to get. Websites crash before you can check out. Tickets to top shows cost more than ever. And ticket resellers often buy up the cheap tickets. Then they resell them, usually at higher prices.

    Who’s to blame for this broken system? And can it be fixed? 

    Kaya Roy couldn’t believe her luck. Her favorite singer, Taylor Swift, was going to be performing in a nearby city the night before Kaya’s 15th birthday. Kaya’s family planned to give her tickets as a gift. 

    Kaya was in school the day tickets went on sale, so her mom went online to buy seats—but the website kept crashing. Four hours went by, and Kaya’s mom still had no tickets. The concert sold out. 

    When Kaya later searched for tickets on ticket resale sites, the cheapest seats were $800 each. “I just gave up at that point,” she says.

    Kaya is not alone. Many young music fans say getting concert tickets has become almost impossible. Websites crash before you can check out. Tickets to top shows are more expensive than ever. If cheap seats are available, ticket resellers often scoop them up. Then they resell the tickets, usually at higher prices.

    Who’s to blame for this broken system? And can it be fixed?  

    Buying concert tickets wasn’t always so tricky. In 1964, the Beatles were the biggest band in the world. Screaming fans followed them everywhere they went. Tickets to their shows usually cost no more than $6. (That’s about $58 in today’s money.) 

    To get tickets, you lined up at the ticket office. Sometimes people camped out overnight to get a good spot. Waiting with other fans was part of the fun. 

    Today the way we buy concert tickets is very different. Most tickets are sold online by a company called Ticketmaster. It’s the country’s biggest ticket seller. 

    Many events have exclusive presales, or early sales. To get into a presale, you might need a certain credit card. Other times you might have to buy the musician’s newest album first. 

    Getting into a presale doesn’t guarantee a seat either. Websites might crash when demand gets high. 

    Plus many tickets are bought by ticket resellers. They use bots—computer programs that can buy hundreds of tickets in seconds. The resellers then sell the tickets again—often at exorbitant prices.  

    It wasn’t always so hard to buy a concert ticket. In 1964, the Beatles were the biggest band in the world. Tickets to their shows usually cost no more than $6. (That’s about $58 in today’s money.) 

    To get tickets, you went to a ticket office. Some people camped overnight. They wanted to be first in line. Fans liked waiting together. 

    Today buying tickets is very different. Most tickets are sold online by Ticketmaster. It’s the biggest ticket seller in the country. 

    Many events have exclusive presales. Those are early sales. To get into one, you might need a certain credit card. Or you might have to buy the musician’s latest album.

    But getting into a presale doesn’t guarantee a seat. Websites might crash when demand is high. 

    Plus, resellers buy many tickets. They use computer programs called bots. Bots can buy hundreds of tickets in seconds. The resellers resell the tickets, often for exorbitant prices.  

    Buying concert tickets wasn’t always so tricky. In 1964, the Beatles were the biggest band in the world. Screaming fans followed them everywhere they went. Tickets to their shows usually cost no more than $6—about $58 in today’s money. 

    To get tickets, you lined up at the ticket office. Sometimes people camped out overnight to get a good spot. Waiting with other fans was part of the fun. 

    Today the way we buy concert tickets is very different. Most tickets are sold online by a company called Ticketmaster, which is the country’s biggest ticket seller. 

    Many events have exclusive presales, or early sales—but to get into a presale, you sometimes need to use a certain credit card. Other times you might have to buy the musician’s latest album first. 

    Getting into a presale doesn’t guarantee a seat either. When demand gets high, websites might crash.

    In addition, many tickets are bought by ticket resellers, who use bots—computer programs that can buy hundreds of tickets in seconds. The resellers then sell the tickets again—often at exorbitant prices.

    Let’s say you did score a Taylor Swift ticket. At checkout, you might have noticed that the final price was higher. Why? For years, ticket companies have added service charges and other fees. These fees could add as much as 32 percent to the final cost. 

    Many fans are angry about ticket prices. They blame Ticketmaster. They say the company doesn’t have enough competition. Fans don’t have much choice about where they buy tickets. So Ticketmaster can charge high fees. 

    Does Ticketmaster have too much power? The U.S. government is looking into that question. Ticketmaster says no. The company says it still faces competition. It blames bots and high ticket demand for fans’ troubles.

    Let’s say you did score a Taylor Swift ticket. At checkout, you might have found that the final price was higher. Why? For years, ticket companies have added service charges and other fees. These fees can add as much as 32 percent to the cost.

    Many fans are angry about ticket prices. They blame Ticketmaster. They say the company doesn’t have enough competition. There aren’t many places to buy tickets. So Ticketmaster can charge high fees. 

    Does Ticketmaster have too much power? The U.S. government is looking into it. But Ticketmaster says no. The company says it does have competition. It blames bots and high ticket demand for fans’ troubles.

    Let’s say you did score a Taylor Swift ticket. At checkout, you might have noticed that the final price is higher. For years, ticket companies have added service charges and other fees, which can increase the final cost by as much as 32 percent. 

    Many fans are angry about ticket prices. They blame Ticketmaster. They say the company doesn’t have enough competition. Fans don’t have much choice about where they buy tickets, so Ticketmaster can charge high fees. 

    The U.S. government is looking into the question of whether Ticketmaster has too much power. Ticketmaster says it still faces competition. The company blames bots and high ticket demand for fans’ troubles.

    Can anything be done to make buying tickets fairer? In June, Ticketmaster said it would start showing a ticket’s total cost from the start. That means no more surprise fees at checkout.

    Eric Budish teaches business at the University of Chicago. He also studies ticket sales. Budish thinks showing a ticket’s full price is a good idea. He says musicians could also ban the resale of their cheapest tickets. Then ticket resellers won’t be able to resell $49 seats for $500.

    But even a perfect ticket sale system might not have helped Kaya. Too many people wanted Taylor Swift tickets. The singer would have had to play more than 900 stadium shows to make every fan happy.

    Sometimes there just aren’t enough tickets to go around. 

    Can anything be done to make buying tickets fairer? 

    In June, Ticketmaster said it would start showing a ticket’s total cost from the start. That means no more surprise fees at checkout.

    Eric Budish teaches business at the University of Chicago. He studies ticket sales too. He thinks showing a ticket’s full price is a good idea. He says musicians can also do something to help. They could ban the resale of their cheapest tickets. That way, resellers wouldn’t be able to resell $49 seats for $500.

    Would these solutions have helped Kaya? Maybe not. Many people wanted Taylor Swift tickets. To make every fan happy, the singer would have had to play more than 900 stadium shows. 

    Sometimes there just aren’t enough tickets to go around.     

    Can anything be done to make buying tickets fairer? In June, Ticketmaster said it would start showing a ticket’s total cost from the start. That means no more surprise fees at checkout.

    Eric Budish, who teaches business at the University of Chicago and studies ticket sales, thinks showing a ticket’s full price is a good idea. He says musicians could also ban the resale of their cheapest tickets, which would prevent ticket resellers from reselling $49 seats for $500.

    But even a perfect ticket sale system might not have helped Kaya. Too many people wanted Taylor Swift tickets. The singer would have had to play more than 900 stadium shows to make every fan happy.

    Sometimes there just aren’t enough tickets.