For many, it is a goal to see one of their favorite artists live before they die. Despite that goal,  many sites, specifically Ticketmaster, make it almost impossible to get close to achieving that dream. 

Ticketmaster is notorious for upping the prices of their tickets on purpose with their sneaky strategies of adding hidden fees. This has recently become a widespread issue, especially with artists like Taylor Swift whose tickets, at minimum, were over $1,000. 

The platform has explained how their reason behind deciding and adjusting their prices is based on the demand of the tickets. Though this explanation does not fully explain the main reason as to why buyers are hit with extensive hidden fees. 

In their frequently asked questions, Ticketmaster didn’t touch on a strategy that they use in order to bump up their prices. Which is known as drip pricing, a way to add on additional fees, taxes, and other hidden charges. Unfortunately, it is basically impossible to avoid the pricing that they use for their tickets.  

Concertgoers will often look at paying about 30% of a ticket’s face value in only the fees, on top of the actual ticket’s base price.  

Though there is no definite solution to the issue that is at hand, an alternative to somehow avoid the horrendous prices is to support smaller artists who are still in the same genre that you already enjoy. 

For those who are into rap and hip hop, there are a few artists that are coming to Denver, and their prices are satisfying and easily attainable. Smino and Mavi are some of the main examples of artists who are criminally underrated and have very reasonable prices, ranging from $18-$49 and up.

With the smaller venues it is also easier to avoid those hidden fees due to other types of ticket platforms being used like AXS. 

When it comes to buying tickets for concerts, Ticketmaster shouldn’t be your first choice unless there are no tickets available anywhere else. Most of my ticket purchases have come from AXS and SeatGeek which are two very trustworthy and reliable sites.

 Of course ticket fees won’t be avoidable but paying more than $200 on a ticket as a teenager should not be the way to go for seeing live music.