Concert ticket prices are reshaping demand for live music in summer

This summer, mega-artist Harry Styles will take the stage at Madison Square Garden in New York City for an exclusive 30-show residency, his only planned stop in the country and a show that has attracted intense attention since its announcement.

Despite their best efforts, Shira Elfassy won't be there.

“Their fines were absurd,” Elfassy, ​​29, told CNBC. “It felt like an insult to walk in and see that not only can I not get in, not only are there no tickets left, but even then, the most basic price is $500 for a seat with a nosebleed, and this is becoming common.”

Instead, Elfassy said she got tickets to see other artists live, such as Florence + the Machine and Olivia Rodrigo, at much lower prices. She said feeling “undervalued” at some concerts is now common.

“Now it's a strange dynamic… At this point, if I have to make the decision between making more plans for the summer or going out with my friends, or even just [to] “Pay the rent or I can go to this concert, it's a no-brainer,” he said. “But it wasn't like that before.”

Elfassy represents a growing cohort of consumers unwilling to keep up with rising live music prices, creating a K-shaped demand curve in which higher-income consumers spend more (and keep prices inflated) while lower-income consumers retreat.

That dynamic has played out in discretionary spending categories such as retail, restaurants and travel, as Americans struggle with persistent inflation, economic uncertainty and, now, skyrocketing gasoline prices.

In live music, this K-shaped environment is raising fears that the lower end of the market is declining altogether.

Some call the changes in demand “blue dot fever,” named for the blue dots on Ticketmaster seating maps that indicate an unsold ticket. For some artists, it forces them to take a critical look at their performances. Post Malone, Zayn and The Pussycat Dolls are just a few examples of artists who have canceled shows or tours in recent months, with the latter group openly admitting that poor ticket sales were the catalyst.

Last summer, even before the most recent price pressures, industry research suggested that higher ticket prices were helping to shore up the overall health of the market. Goldman Sachs Analysts wrote in a 2025 report that demand for live music was expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.2% between 2024 and 2030.

The average price of a ticket for a concert on one of the top 100 world tours, according to the report, was $136 in 2024, up 50% from an average of $91 in 2019.

Several major ticketing companies told CNBC they won't see more show cancellations this summer than in an average year.

“Of all the shows living nation has on the books this year, less than 1% have been cancelled,” said a spokesperson for Ticketmaster's parent company. “That's not 'blue dot fever,' that's a normal tour year; “In fact, 2026 is shaping up to be a record year, with concert ticket sales up 11% over the year.”

The spokesperson added that approximately 70% of tickets sold on its platform are priced below $100.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster have faced scrutiny over the company's ticketing practices and its dominant influence on the music industry. The company faced legal challenges for alleged anticompetitive behavior and reached a settlement with the Justice Department in March. A federal jury determined last month that Live Nation had an anticompetitive monopoly, although the company said in a statement at the time: “The jury's verdict is not the final word on this matter.”

StubHubA ticket reseller, told CNBC that the company is seeing the K-shaped pattern take shape in live music, with demand rapidly diverging between different events.

While StubHub said overall concert demand is up nearly 10% year over year, it's not across the board. Ticket demand for stadium-scale events has increased significantly, while demand for medium and small venues is decreasing.

Events that are struggling to sell out face a “bid sizing issue,” according to Jill Gonzalez, head of consumer communications at StubHub. The events that draw the most attention from fans, he said, are stadium tours, residencies and marquee festivals.

“What our data makes clear is that fan demand for live music has not softened, but rather intensified,” González told CNBC. “Fans are making deliberate decisions about where to spend, and when they decide a show is worth their time, the demand signal is as strong as anything we've seen on our platform.”

Ticket platform SeatGeek said that while more artists are announcing tours, the resale environment remains healthy.

“If more artists are flooding the market with tours, the gross number of cancellations will increase year over year, so that's to be expected,” said Oliver Marvin, the company's senior director of strategic finance. “But the overall number, cancellations as a percentage of people who are on tour, is not much different than what we've seen in previous years.”

He added that the company is seeing some consumers jump into last-minute ticket purchases in the hopes that prices will drop for tours that aren't generating as much immediate demand.

Experts say the drop in demand for some programs may be more nuanced than it seems.

As prices rise everywhere and consumers begin to be more intentional about how they spend their money, the blame for unsold tickets may more appropriately fall on the macroeconomic environment than on the artists themselves, according to Sam Howard-Spink, director of music business at New York University.

“It's actually mostly to do with the economics of live performances and touring right now, which is also, right now, I would say, very closely tied to economic conditions and cost of living issues,” Howard-Spink said.

Tighter spending among fans can turn a touring misstep into a disaster, he suggested, like if an artist plans dates at an inappropriately sized venue or in a market outside their home base. While nostalgia for older acts may occasionally draw crowds, it is struggling to overcome all other factors.

And while the biggest artists can still sell out a stadium, less popular acts are falling short.

“Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande are 'I'm not really going to have too many problems' acts,” he said. “But if you're talking about… a band from the early 2000s that maybe isn't able to draw those crowds, maybe they're overconfident in the kind of venues they think they can fill.”

Howard-Spink added that the music business has long been considered largely “recession-resistant,” even weathering the pandemic well. But because concert tickets are a scarce resource, unlike streaming music, it has allowed prices to rise rapidly.

Music publicist Eric Alper noted that artists could not have anticipated these macroeconomic factors currently at play by booking their tours months in advance. There are also more artists on tour this year than in previous years, he said, filling the schedule.

With prices vastly higher, fans are also looking for more experiences that give them value for their money, he added, as the live music scene sees an increase in residencies, along with new unique venues like The Sphere in Las Vegas.

“What people want is the choreography, they want the lights, they want superior sound, they want great sight lines,” Alper said. “They're not going to sit there and spend $150 to go see a very basic band play.”

Still, Alper said, he believes die-hard fans are willing to pay.

“If you're a fan of an artist, I don't think you care about high ticket prices as much as people think,” Alper said. “People want to have the experience and they also want to tell you that they were there.”