ARTISTS STOP LYING, YOU CAN STOP DYNAMIC PRICING

That line about artists having no choice is wearing pretty thin…

Fuck dynamic pricing. I know it’s a pretty fierce way to start an article, but if you’ve sat at your laptop or phone for hours trying to get tickets, only to be hit with triple the price when you finally get to buy, I am sure you won’t feel too offended by it. It ruins everything about going to a gig, you get excited when your favourite band drops tour dates. You wake up early, hammer-refresh the presale, heart racing. Then boom, the price starts climbing right in front of you because of the so-called demand, what a load of shit, honestly. What felt like something special turns into a rich man’s game or a race against the bots.

The worst bit is that so many artists pretend they have no control over it.

They do, Robert Smith from The Cure did not pretend he couldn’t stop it. Back in 2023, when they finally toured North America, he told Ticketmaster straight up no to dynamic pricing, what a legend. The Cure have done many great things throughout their time, and just when you thought you couldn’t love them anymore, they did that, for the fans. They set fixed prices, and that was that. They made tickets, so scalpers could not cash in. Even fought the ridiculous fees. Later, he went off in interviews, calling it a “greedy scam”. He said it would vanish if every artist just said I do not want that, but most of them hide behind their managers, saying, ” Oh, we did not know”. He reckons they are either fucking stupid or lying. He was shocked at how much profit the ticketing companies make and basically said we do not need all that money. Keep prices lower, and fans can afford a few beers and some merch. The show feels better, and they come back next time instead of feeling ripped off. He called it being pig-headed, but it is just common sense if you want a career that lasts.

Music is one of the few things that actually helps people through these dark times, especially when so many working-class folks in the UK are already on their arses, struggling just to get by with the cost of living crisis, kids to look after, and many battling depression, with suicide rates that are heartbreakingly high. It shouldn’t be a crime to want that escape so badly that you end up in debt just to get a ticket. No one should be crucified for that, and its definetley not something artists should be taking the piss out of. Greed is sickening, especially from the mouths that put you there.

Neil Young even gave Smith credit for his own choice. On the Love Earth tour, he ditched dynamic pricing and those platinum rip-off tickets. Said artists can actually do something for their music-loving friends. Iron Maiden did the same for their 2025 tour, no dynamic nonsense at all. Coldplay knocked it back for their UK dates. Taylor Swift reportedly refused it on the Eras Tour, too. Ed Sheeran has spoken out against the touting side of things in general. These are massive acts, and they still sold out without screwing fans over.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation, though. Absolute bastards running the show. Just a couple of days ago, in April 2026, a jury in the US found them guilty of operating as an illegal monopoly. They lock down venues, kill off competition, and help push prices and fees sky high. Fans have been raging for years after the Taylor Swift presale disaster, Bruce Springsteen tickets jumping mid-sale, and those endless service fees that feel like a middle finger. Pearl Jam tried taking them on years ago. The company always says artists decide, but when you own so much of the pipeline, the choice is not really free.

Robert Smith showed you can dig your heels in, demand fixed prices, and still make it work without selling your soul.

The numbers make me even angrier. Ticket prices have gone mental compared to what people actually earn. Back in 2005, in the UK, you could cover an average gig ticket with about three hours on a median wage. Now, for some big shows it takes nearly eight hours. Overall, concert tickets have more than tripled since then, while real wages for normal folks have barely moved. Adding extra dates is another industry magic trick. They let the first show “sell out” under dynamic pricing so the algorithm can jack prices into the stratosphere. Fans panic, pay stupid money, and only after the cash has been squeezed out of the early rush do they announce “Due to demand, we’ve added a second night!” No, the demand was always there, they just hid the extra dates until the surge pricing had done its job. It’s not fan service, it’s revenue optimisation dressed up as generosity.

Streaming pays fuck all, so tours became the big money maker, but that cash is not making it easier for the fans who supported the band back when they were playing tiny venues, and everyone was skint.

This is what really gets me. Artists who remember the old days, the shitty vans, the sticky club floors, the crowds of broke kids turning up anyway, they have a duty not to shut those same people out now that they are big. Music is not some luxury handbag. It is the songs that got you through crap times, community and proper memories. When you let dynamic pricing run or just shrug at the monopoly, you are telling your early fans sorry mate, this is for the new money crowd now. Short-term greed might look nice on paper, but it leaves everyone bitter. Fans notice who actually stood up for them. They keep streaming the old albums, buy the records and turn up when they can scrape the cash together.

Touring costs a fortune, I get that. Crew, production, travel, and venue cuts all of it. Artists should make decent money, especially after years of streaming pennies. But when so much extra goes straight to the middlemen instead of the people on stage or the fans in the crowd, the whole thing feels broken. The answer is not complicated, be stubborn like Smith, cap resale at face value, push back on the fees. Set prices that do not force normal people to pick between paying rent and standing in the pit.

Fans can do their bit too, shout about it when it happens. Back the bands that treat you like a human instead of just a wallet. Sometimes you have to vote with your cash, even if it sucks. Live music should feel like coming home to something real, not like you just got robbed at the door while they smile and say enjoy the show. The artists who understand that are the ones worth following for decades. The others just become another expensive memory you cannot afford, and honestly, who needs that when many of us are on our arses anyway, and music is the last thing we’ve got left?

THE FACTS

• Robert Smith proved artists can refuse dynamic pricing. The Cure banned it on their 2023 US tour and forced Ticketmaster to refund fees after calling them out publicly. Smith said dynamic pricing would vanish “if every artist just said no.”
• Major artists have already rejected it and still sold out. Iron Maiden, Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Neil Young and Ed Sheeran have all refused dynamic or “platinum” pricing on major tours.
• Ticketmaster/Live Nation were found guilty of running an illegal monopoly. A US jury ruled in April 2026 that they illegally dominated the live‑music market, crushed competition, and helped drive prices up.
• Ticket prices have exploded, but wages haven’t. In 2005, a typical UK gig ticket cost about three hours of median‑wage work. Today, some big‑name shows cost eight hours. Ticket prices have more than tripled since 2005.
• Streaming pays almost nothing. Artists rely on touring to survive, but dynamic pricing doesn’t protect fans or artists. It mainly benefits ticketing giants, promoters, and venues.
• “We didn’t know” is not a defence. Artists approve or reject dynamic pricing. Claiming ignorance is either incompetence or dishonesty, as Robert Smith bluntly put it.