My grandma has always been a die-hard Bruno Mars fan. From blasting “24K Magic” in her white Lexus to permanently setting her phone wallpaper to his face, I wouldn’t be surprised if she added Mrs. Mars to her email signature.

When Mars announced his new tour for his upcoming album, “Romantic,” her excitement radiated across the family group chat, where she called for an all-hands-on-deck venture to claim the tickets and fulfill her dream of seeing him live. But with the high demand for a Bruno Mars ticket, the prices soared beyond reach, and her opportunity to see her favorite artist fizzled before her eyes. For my grandmother, her physical ability to endure a three-hour concert is becoming increasingly limited, and, with the small likelihood that Bruno Mars will tour again soon, seeing her favorite artist live is a dream that may never be satisfied.

What should have been a joyful experience became a painful reminder of a growing problem in the music industry: Tickets are no longer priced with fans in mind. According to Pollstar, in 1996, the average price for a top-100 tour ticket was about $25.81, or the equivalent of $52 today. As of 2024, the top-100 ticket price has risen drastically to $135.92, even before the hidden fees that creep in after ticket selection.

Despite artists’ attempts to combat rising prices through various presale systems, large ticket corporations like Ticketmaster and SeatGeek continue to prevail.

I saw this inflation firsthand while searching for tickets of my own. I purchased presale tickets to see Ariana Grande on her “Eternal Sunshine” tour—$184 total for two seats in section 307 of the United Center. The competitive nature of presale systems often forces fans to drop everything and wait, like buying Ariana Grande tickets while supposedly working on an essay during English class (sorry, Ms. Cole).

Today, the seats surrounding my $92-per-ticket seats to see Ariana Grande are listed for nearly $1,200 on Ticketmaster. The jump isn’t just steep; it’s staggering. What was once an accessible experience for fans has become a luxury reserved for those able, or willing, to pay the absurd prices.

Junior Bea Bloomer was a firsthand witness to my intense attempt to secure Ariana Grande tickets. “I would say it’s kind of ridiculous how much consumers have to stress about buying concert [tickets] as soon as possible because of the high prices,” Bea said. “Truthfully, I think it reveals the lack of care involved with Ticketmaster’s morals, as they only seem to care about profit and not consumer satisfaction.”

However, after years of following Billie Eilish’s music and waiting for her to tour again, junior Ani Mehta-Shah found herself unable to afford a seat in the arena. “I love Billie Eilish and really wanted to see her, but most tickets sold out immediately, and the remaining [tickets] were extremely expensive, all over $500,” she said. “As much as I love seeing live music, it has become increasingly difficult to enjoy when I know [concerts are] going to cost me a lot each time.”

Ticketmaster, the largest ticket-selling platform globally, has faced fraud allegations despite marketing itself as a resale service, and its use of dynamic pricing, a system that allows prices to fluctuate based on the demand of the event, has transformed concerts into a money-grabbing contest. In September 2025, the Federal Trade Commission sued Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, alleging that they knowingly allowed ticket brokers to resell tickets at massive markups and deceive consumers about actual ticket prices.

Along with these ongoing legal actions, artists have increasingly critiqued ticketing systems. Most recently, British singer-songwriter Olivia Dean took a stand against the absurdity, deeming in a letter shared on social media that Ticketmaster’s resale practices as “exploitative” and “rife with inequality” after tickets for her “The Art of Loving” tour were resold at more than 14 times their original value, exceeding $1,000. After Olivia Dean’s announcement, Ticketmaster agreed to cap resale prices and refund fans for excessive markups.

However, despite all the backlash Ticketmaster and ticketing companies in general receive for their prices, some people find that the experience of attending a concert is worth the money. Junior Naomi Herman, an avid concert lover, said, “Music is something I really love, and it brings me a lot of joy. I think you’re paying for much more than just to hear music live; you’re paying for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Others will still accept the cost of a concert, but only in moderation. Senior Beth Rosenow has found a way to balance seeing more expensive artists and DJs at a reasonable price. “For Tate McRae, I had to get my pit tickets on presale, otherwise they would’ve been over $1,000,” she said. “However, for EDM concerts. I find that non-mainstream DJs end up being under $100, while [for] DJs that have gone viral on TikTok, like John Summit, the tickets can price from $150 to $300.”

Concerts were once spaces where the audience and the artist could share an intimate, personalized experience through music, not money. While some people might settle and overlook the prices, many others, like my grandmother, are left to watch from the sidelines while prices continue to rise.