Music

Gig tickets: When’s the best time to buy on the secondary market?

It depends on what artist you you want to see, but holding out for a price drop can be a risky move

Taylor Swift: just can’t be pigeon-holed. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

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Shilpa Ganatra
Wed Apr 27 2016 - 14:40

Many music fans might dislike secondary ticketing sites such as Seatwave and Viagogo, but their justification is straightforward: don’t hate the player, they shrug, hate the game.

Number-crunching music blog Decibels and Decimals has given ticket buyers a helping hand by processing US ticket-price data to predict the best time to buy on the secondary market.

Analyst Brady Fowler found that unlike cheapest flight prices – which are 54 days before take-off, bargain hunters – the price of tickets varies wildly once concerts “sell out”, and so recommends waiting until the afternoon of the concert to purchase tickets for all but the “must-see” shows. Fowler also noted that, despite no overall trajectory, there are strong trends according to headliner.

One Direction, Ed Sheeran and The Rolling Stones fans can rest easy as ticket prices reduce as showtime approaches. But if Rush decided to step on the tour bus again, rock fans are advised to buy their tickets ASAP as tickets rise sharply close to D-Day. Meanwhile, much like their music, Billy Joel’s ticket prices stay middle of the road, Foo Fighters’ numbers attack and retreat, and Taylor Swift’s just can’t be pigeon-holed.

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U2 stats Pay close attention to the stats on U2: prices remain high until two months before the gig date, then demand continues to rise until the day of the concert, when tickets sell for nearly 50 per cent higher than three months previous.

Granted, the data was handed over by US third-party site SeatGeek to help promote a new DealScore feature (to make fans who’ve just paid $1,200 dollars for an Adele ticket feel like they got a bargain), but the figures remain interesting.

Ultimately, it suggests the acts whose prices peak early have the most loyal following, while those whose prices rise later have fans with more money than passion. It may also illustrate that a tour’s marketing plan can work a treat, or that holding out for a price drop is a risky move. More than anything, it proves that in this game, the house always wins.