Live entertainment experiences are becoming inaccessible
By A. Gabriela Garcia, February 17, 2026
The screen refreshes and any hope of scoring a ticket is gone, proof seeing your favorite artist live is no longer about the music but rather the size of your bank account.
What used to be a fun way to experience the music fans’ love has become a money grab for ticketing agencies and artists. Rising ticket prices, added fees and corporate controlled platforms have turned live entertainment into a high-cost industry that is shutting out working-class communities, students and families.
Concerts and live shows are no longer about fans, cultivating connections and shared experiences. They’re about feeding billionaires and filling the pockets of artists, ultimately making a concert a luxury and a symbol of economic inequality.
In recent years, top artists like Morgan Wallen, Taylor Swift and most recently Harry Styles, have received backlash from fans about ticket prices for their world tours.
Growing up in a low-income household, attending concerts was a luxury my family simply couldn’t afford. Once I reached adulthood and started earning my own money, I was finally able to enjoy these experiences without having to choose between a concert or rent. But that reality has changed.
When one of my favorite artists, Harry Styles announced his new album, I expected a tour, but I never imagined a 30-night residency at Madison Square Garden as his only shows.
If an artist expects fans to not only purchase a ticket, which can cost up to $1,667, but also airfare and a hotel stay, that is borderline greedy.
A single-night concert is not worth taking time off from work or spending thousands on tickets, airfare and accommodations.
It is hypocritical for Styles to promote the world tour as the “Together, Together World Tour” when he is pricing out the middle class and making it inaccessible for many fans.
Comparably, I paid $700 for a ticket, including fees and tax, to Coachella, a three-day music festival with more than 130 artists spanning over two weekends, with headliners like Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G all in one weekend.
A concert should be a joyous experience. From the moment tickets are purchased to planning outfits, deciding where to stay, deciding who to go with and what merchandise to splurge on.
Concerts are the one thing I used to look forward to every year. As a teenager with multiple fan accounts, I remember my bios reading “Harry in 344 days” counting down the day I’d get to finally see him live.
Now, that excitement is gone. Whether fans pay the absurd ticket prices, they’re left with a choice: a seat within their budget that’s far from the stage or the best seat in the house with the looming question of whether they can cover rent next week.
Fans took to X to express concerns over ticket prices and offer comfort for fans who put weight on their legitimacy to seeing them live.
“You can still love Harry but be angry about these prices,” one X user said. “We live in a world where people are living wage to wage, in serious debt and living in awful conditions (be)cause they can’t afford otherwise. In fact, you SHOULD be angry about the price of live music.”
Some artists have pushed back against ticketing companies like Ticketmaster, for over-pricing tickets and excessive fees. After the announcement and sale of her tour, singer Olivia Dean challenged Ticketmaster and AXS for their reselling practices.
“The secondary ticket market is an exploitative and unregulated space, and we as an industry have a responsibility to protect people and our community,” Dean said in a statement via her Instagram.
Dean’s pushback led Ticketmaster to refund fans who bought tickets from resellers at prices above the original face value. She also urged Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company to Ticketmaster, to allow all artists to have the option to cap cost of resellers, so fans wouldn’t have to pay more than face-value tickets.
Since then, the United Kingdom’s government announced in November 2025 it would ban resellers from selling tickets at more than face value.
Knowing artists have a say in whether Ticketmaster is allowed to use dynamic pricing, which is pricing tickets based on market demand, or cap the cost of resellers is huge gut-punch to fans like me who wait years for an artist to go on tour just for it to be inaccessible.
Now I’m back in the Ticketmaster queue, credit card in hand, waiting for my turn to get those Noah Kahan tickets. That is if the price doesn’t make me turn away first.
Feature graphic courtesy of Connor Lalea Hampton
