When tickets for Green Day’s 2025 Australian tour went on sale, fans joined a queue—a ritual that has been practiced for decades on footpaths, on phones, and now online.
When tickets for Green Day’s 2025 Australian tour went on sale, fans joined a queue—a ritual that has been practiced for decades on footpaths, on phones, and now online.
But as Green Day fans reached the purchase point, the price varied. For some, a seated ticket rose as high as A$500.
A week earlier, tickets to the Oasis reunion tour in the United Kingdom—arguably the hottest ticket in the world—rose by hundreds of pounds while on sale.
Ticketmaster calls this «In Demand» pricing. It’s an instance of what is more broadly known as dynamic pricing.
Dynamic pricing is well established in tourism and air travel. In these markets, supply is fixed—the number of hotel rooms and plane seats—but demand has peaks and troughs. Prices are adjusted to maximize profit and to shape consumer behavior.
However, there are significant differences when it comes to music concert tickets.
Consumers see accommodation and transport prices up front, before committing to a «queue.» When it comes to the current practice for live music dynamic pricing, costs aren’t seen until they reach the front of the queue. There, consumers are presented with two numbers: a price and a timer counting down.
And unlike accommodation and transport services, each concert by a major touring artist (let alone Oasis) is a much more limited commodity.
In 1964, Australians paid up to $3.70 ($63 in today’s terms) to see the world’s hottest act, The Beatles.
The relative price of concert tickets has changed with the economic and cultural role of live music.
