Country artist Zach Bryan is ticked off at Live Nation’s Ticketmaster division.
The “American Heartbreak” singer-songwriter has pledged to stage his summer tour with ticket prices as cheap as possible. The announcement came along with a new album titled, All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live From Red Rocks).
“Seems there is a massive issue with fair ticket prices to live shows lately. I have met kids at my shows who have paid upwards of four-hundred bucks to be there and I’m done with it,” Bryan wrote on Instagram.
“I’ve decided to play a limited number of headline shows next year to which I’ve done all I can to make prices as cheap as possible and to prove to people tickets don’t have to cost $450 to see a good and honest show. To clarify, I am playing a few festivals which I have no control over.”
Bryan’s statement comes in the wake of the latest Ticketmaster scandal. Taylor Swift fans were angered when the public ticket sale was canceled, allegedly because seat inventory had been filled. Many with access codes were denied a promised opportunity when the system wouldn’t work properly, something Swift herself angrily complained about in the aftermath.
For the uninitiated, tickets at shows controlled by Ticketmaster generally have surcharges attached. These can include facility charges, a delivery fee, and a service fee, all of them adding costs to the price of a ticket that approach the base price. These are known as “junk fees” in the mortgage industry. Concert-goers have a more vulgar name for them.
Ticketmaster fees have been a sore subject with fans for at least 40 years. Artists and politicians have ranted against them and/or promised reform over that span. But there has been little change, other than the base price of tickets rising (which artists and their teams determine), thereby dragging fees upward as well.
“I believe working class people should still be able to afford tickets to shows,” Bryan said in his statement. “I am so tired of people saying things can’t be done about this massive issue while huge monopolies sit there stealing money from working class people. Also, to any songwriter trying to make ‘relatable music for the working class man or woman’ should pride themself (sic) on fighting for the people who listen to the words they’re singing.”
Bryan offered a mailing list so those interested in attending can be informed of his tour plans, along with information on “merch-drops and unreleased music.”