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This summer, superstar Harry Styles will take the stage at Madison Square Garden in New York City for a 30-show run – his only scheduled stop in the country and a show that has garnered a lot of attention since it was announced.
Despite her best efforts, Shira Elfassy will not be there.
“His tickets were ridiculous,” Elfassy, 29, told CNBC. “It felt like an insult to go in and see, like, I just can’t get in, not only are there no tickets left, but anyway, the basic price is $500 for a nosebleed seat – and this has become the norm.”
Instead, Elfassy said he got tickets to see other artists live, like Florence + the Machine and Olivia Rodrigo, at very low prices. He said feeling like “cheap money” at some concerts is now the norm.
“It’s weirdly fluctuating right now. … Right now, if I have to make a decision between doing more summer programs or hanging out with my friends — or just [to] pay the rent – even if I could go to this concert, it doesn’t make sense,” he said. “But it wasn’t like that yet.”
Elfassy represents a growing group of consumers unwilling to keep up with the rising prices of live music, creating a K-shaped demand curve where high-income consumers spend more — keeping prices up — while low-income consumers pull back.
That shift has played out in discretionary spending categories, such as retail, dining and travel, as Americans grapple with persistent inflation, economic uncertainty and, now, rising gas prices.
In live music, this K-shaped area raises fears that the low end of the market is collapsing completely.
Some call the demanding shifts “blue dot fever,” named after the blue dots on Ticketmaster’s live maps that indicate an unsold ticket. For some singers, it forces them to take a closer look at the way they sing. Post Malone, Zayn and The Pussycat Dolls are just a few examples of artists who have canceled shows or tours in recent months, with the latter group openly admitting that poor ticket sales were to blame.
Last summer, even before the latest price pressure, industry research suggested that higher ticket prices help support the market’s longevity. Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in the 2025 report that the demand for live music is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.2% between 2024 and 2030.
The average concert ticket price for one of the top 100 global tours, the report found, was $136 in 2024, up 50% from an average of $91 in 2019.
How inflation changes concert consumption
Several major ticket companies told CNBC they are not seeing more show cancellations this summer than the average year.
“In every show Long live the Nation on the books this year, less than 1% have been cancelled,” said a spokesperson for parent Ticketmaster. “That’s not ‘blue dot fever’ – a normal tour year; in fact, 2026 is shaping up to be a record for concert ticket sales at 11% per year.”
The spokesperson added that about 70% of the tickets sold on their site are priced under $100.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster have faced scrutiny over the company’s ticketing practices and its impact on the music industry. The company has faced legal challenges over anti-competitive behavior and reached a settlement with the Department of Justice in March. A federal judge found last month that Live Nation had acted in a pro-competitive manner, although the company said in a statement at the time, “The jury’s decision is not the final word on this matter.”
The Live Nation website is edited on a laptop in New York, US, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images
StubHubticket seller, told CNBC that the company is seeing a K-shaped pattern developing in live music, with demand varying rapidly between different events.
While StubHub said overall concert demand is up about 10% year-over-year, it’s not all. The demand for tickets for stadium level events is very high, while the demand for medium and small venues is decreasing.
Events that are struggling to sell out face a “problem of generating scale,” according to Jill Gonzalez, StubHub’s head of consumer communications. The events that attract the most attention of the fans, he said, are visits to the stadiums, residences and tent festivals.
“What our data makes clear is that fan demand for live music has not waned, but it is sharp,” Gonzalez told CNBC. “Fans make deliberate decisions about where they spend, and when they decide a show is worth it, the demand signal is as strong as anything we’ve seen on our platform.”
Ticket platform SeatGeek said that while many artists are announcing tours, the resale market remains healthy.
“If you have a lot of artists flooding the market with tours, you’re going to have a total cancellation rate that’s going to increase year after year, so that’s to be expected,” said Oliver Marvin, the company’s senior director of strategic finance. “But the overall number, the cancellations as a percentage of people leaving the trip, is not much different than what we’ve seen in previous years.”
He added that the company is seeing some shoppers dive in and buy last-minute tickets in the hope that prices will drop for tours that don’t meet immediate demand.
Why stadium tours still attract high demand
Experts say the decline in demand for some shows may be more different than meets the eye.
As prices everywhere rise, and consumers begin to be more intentional about how they spend their money, the blame for unsold tickets may be more appropriately placed on the macroeconomic situation than on the artists themselves, according to Sam Howard-Spink, director of music business at New York University.
“It’s mostly about the economics of live performance and touring right now, which right now, I would say, is very much tied to economic conditions and cost-of-living questions,” Howard-Spink said.
Heavy spending among fans can turn a tour into a disaster, he suggested, such as when an artist schedules dates at venues of the wrong size or in an illegal market. While the nostalgia of old acts may occasionally draw crowds, it struggles to outweigh all other factors.
And while big artists can still sell out stadiums, less popular acts are on the decline.
“Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande — these are acts that say, ‘I won’t have too much trouble,'” he said. “But when you’re talking about us … a band from the early 2000s that might just not be able to draw those crowds, maybe they’re overconfident in the kinds of venues they think they can fill.”
Arthur Debate Time | Getty Images
Howard-Spink added that the music business has long been considered “recession-proof,” and has weathered the pandemic well. But because concert tickets are a scarce commodity, unlike music streaming, prices have been allowed to rise rapidly.
Music spokesman Eric Alper said that musicians would not have seen these major economic factors at play when they booked their tours months in advance. There are more musicians on the tour this year compared to previous years, he said, and they are full on schedule.
As prices soar, fans are looking for more experiences that give them pleasure, he added, as the live music scene sees an increase in live venues, as well as new unique venues like the Sphere in Las Vegas.
“What people want, they want choreography, they want lights, they want high volume, they want to see beautiful things,” said Alper. “They’re not going to sit there and spend $150 to watch a bare-bones team play.”
Still, Alper said, he believes diehard fans are willing to pay.
“If you’re a fan of the artist, I don’t think you care about the high ticket prices as much as people think,” said Alper. “People want an experience, and they want to tell people they were there.”
