Harry Styles fans are voicing their outrage over the high, four-figure ticket prices for the singer’s upcoming Together, Together world tour — opening a broader conversation about the increasingly high prices of stadium-size concert tickets.
Following a four-year hiatus, the English pop star recently returned to the music scene with the upcoming release of his fourth studio album, “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.”
Styles is set to tour the album with a string of residencies across the world, including a 30-date residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City and a record-breaking 12-night run at Wembley Stadium in London — surpassing Coldplay and Taylor Swift as the musician with the most performances in a single year at the venue.
Multinight stops in Amsterdam, Mexico City, São Paulo and Sydney are also on the tour itinerary.
The recently-announced tour was met with overwhelming demand, amassing a staggering 11.5 million registrations for presale tickets, which marks the highest volume ever recorded for an artist presale in the New York market and the largest artist presale registration outcome ever recorded for a residency-style run, Ticketmaster shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
But frustration ran high among Styles’ fan base this week when presale tickets for his New York City, London and Amsterdam tour stops went live, with high prices sparking a flood of complaints.
While waiting in the Ticketmaster queue, fans were alerted that tickets had been priced in advance and ranged between $50 to $1,182.40 and would not change through presale and on-sale. Upset fans shared screenshots showing prices in the lower bowl as high as $1,000 and $1,179.
Many fans claimed the ticket prices signal the end of affordable experiences with live music. The additional cost of traveling to the limited locations where the Grammy winner will perform was an additional challenge fans mentioned.
During Styles’ most recent tour run, the Love on Tour in 2023, he sold more than 5 million tickets and grossed over $600 million — making it the fifth-highest grossing tour ever. The average ticket price for the Love on Tour was $115, per Pollstar.
Styles is part of an expanding group of musicians who have recently faced backlash over high ticket prices. Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen, Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, Bruce Springsteen and Olivia Rodrigo have been pulled to the center of similar conversations about the increasing inaccessibility of live music.
Why are concert tickets so expensive?
Pulling off a stadium-size concert with an engaging production can cost performers a lot.
Final ticket prices largely depend on the cost of the tour — splitting profits between management, booking agents, promoters, band members, etc — and artists could set higher ticket prices for larger personal profits.
“Touring’s gotten pretty expensive, and you want to bring production, you want to do a good show, and you very often figure out you have to make a certain amount of money,” Michael Kaminsky, the founder of music management company KMGMT, told NPR.
He added, “There’s definitely bands and managers and teams who are very conscious and sensitive to what their ultimate ticket price is going to be, and there are some who are much less so.”
Resale prices are also to blame for the high cost of tickets. Olivia Dean, for example, stood against the inflated cost of resale tickets, prompting Ticketmaster to launch the Face Value Exchange, which means resale tickets are capped at the original price paid.
Artists can choose to opt in for the feature, and several have, including Hozier, Billie Eilish and Pearl Jam.
Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing, a system that increases ticket costs as demand for tickets rises, can also drive up prices, as can large online fees.
Last September, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster for using “misleading” and “illegal” ticket resale practices and accused the company of cooperating with ticket scalpers who inflate resale prices.
“It is all too common for fans to get funneled to shady ticket brokers who charge jaw-dropping prices — way beyond what artists ever intended,” Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said at the time of the suit. “Ticketmaster’s game of bait-and-switch, cozying up with unscrupulous scalpers, inflates costs and leaves fans frustrated.”
“Today Utah is stepping up, cracking down on these deceptive tactics, to make sure everyone can get seats to their favorite shows without being victimized.”
Fans react to Harry Styles ticket prices
Styles’ fans expressed frustration over the high cost of tickets to his upcoming Together, Together tour, many of whom pointed to the growing inaccessibility of big-name concerts.