Fans try to buy a ticket to their favorite artist’s concert (at your venue!), only to find yourself in a fierce battle with bots and brokers. The secondary ticket market has turned into a no-holds-barred free-for-all, where ticket resellers with better tech and deeper pockets are outmaneuvering genuine fans left and right. So, what's really going on, and how did we get here?

The Bot Invasion
Fans are hyped about a concert, only to have their excitement crushed by an army of bots that scoop up all the tickets before you even click “refresh.” Bots are programmed to buy tickets in bulk, and the tech-savvy resellers who control them are playing chess while the rest of us are still fumbling with checkers. 

As Stephen Parker, Executive Director of the National Independent Venue Association explains, “Deceptive websites use SEO and paid ads to show up before legitimate box offices, misleading real fans. People think they’re buying directly from the venue, but they’re not, and the damage goes beyond just losing money.”

Even though using bots to buy tickets is technically illegal (thanks, Bots Act of 2016), enforcement has been as rare as a unicorn sighting. Result: Tickets are gone in seconds, and fans are left scrambling.

Speculative Ticketing: The Dark Art of Selling What You Don’t Have
Here’s where it gets even wilder. Speculative ticketing is when scalpers list tickets they don’t actually own, like listing a house for sale before you’ve even built it. It’s risky, confusing, and erodes trust. Venues and promoters are caught in the middle, while fans get burned. When a venue sells out a show but has empty seats because speculative tickets couldn’t be sold, that’s lost revenue—not just in ticket sales but in concessions and merch.

Exorbitant Prices and Fake Guarantees
If fans do manage to snag a ticket, chances are they've paid more than you should have. Scalpers thrive on fans' desperation, inflating prices to nosebleed-inducing levels. And those so-called “guarantees” from resale platforms? They don’t cover lost hotel bookings, gas money, or tears shed when fans find out their ticket is fake. It’s a mess, but here’s the silver lining: Change is possible. We just need a coordinated effort from all corners of the industry—and that’s where we’re heading.

Take a look at our post, “Fighting Back: What Fans, Venues, and Artists Can Do to Clean Up the Ticketing Chaos” for actions you can take.

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