Is Taylor Swift to blame for the sky-high cost of concert tickets?

How Taylor Swift ushered in a new era of ticket pricing

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Eras on the way to Dublin: Taylor Swift in Edinburgh. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA Wire
Eras on the way to Dublin: Taylor Swift in Edinburgh. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

What is “slow ticketing” and do you need a Platinum ticket? If you found yourself over several hyped days last year hitting the refresh button with manic intensity, sweating about the online queue and worrying about being preapproved in a desperate attempt to buy tickets for one of the three Taylor Swift concerts in Dublin, all that anxiety is a memory as you get your glitter on for next week’s extravaganza.

And then there was the price. You also had to steel yourself to fork out north of €200 for the pleasure – with a chunk of that going to Ticketmaster in booking fees.

But why are ticket prices to big gigs so expensive? With the dominance of Ticketmaster is it inevitable that prices will continue to rise?

Last month the US justice department announced plans to sue Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, accusing it of operating an illegal monopoly. Live Nation denies this.

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Irish Times media reporter Laura Slattery explains the background – and why she is such a committed Swiftie.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast