Slow ticketing is the latest trend in the ticketing industry – meaning that the highest-priced tickets are sold first, and as the concert approaches, the prices are slashed. Katy Perry fans are now facing the consequences.
Although Perry originally sold-out shows in New Zealand during her 2010 and 2014 tours, her Witness 2018 World Tour isn’t selling so hot in Aukland. According to TVNZ, tickets fell to a low of $69 this week, which is half the price of the original low-tier ticket. Fans are upset that they paid hundreds of dollars for tickets, just to watch others get last-minute seats for cheap.
“While the slashed tickets might be exciting for those who lived close to Auckland, the rest of the country couldn’t risk waiting to see if they happened,” Wellington man Brad Warrington said. “In hindsight, you could be like, ‘I should have held off’. But if you hold off and you’re from out of town you have to make up the extra cost of airfares and accommodation.”
Another concertgoer, Julie Moyle, said that she was “gutted” to hear about the slashed ticket prices after paying for her two daughters’ tickets.
“We also have to fly up there, accommodation, rental car – the cost for me to go is humungous so to think the prices are now half price really, really annoys me.”
This isn’t the first time slow ticketing has affected fans; Taylor Swift tickets were originally priced extremely high, and when the tour actually came around, tickets were being given out for free just to fill the stadium. Additionally, fans were upset when they showed up to a Shawn Mendes concert a year early, thinking the tickets they bought in May were for a show this August, not in 2019.
Prices were also cut in half for a K-pop event in Singapore this September. Originally, the VIP passes were priced at S$498/day, and now, the prices have been cut in half.
While this method isn’t new, fans still feel the sting each time.
