A few weeks ago, I spent $500 on Harry Styles tickets. While I’ve been a fan of Styles for years and can’t wait to make the trip out to New York City to see him perform, this made me think more deeply about artists and their ticket prices. 

While Styles’ comeback to releasing music and touring has been long awaited among fans, the face-value prices of his tickets were shocking to those entering the Ticketmaster queue throughout January and early February. The Hollywood Reporter said fans joining the queue for Madison Square Garden tickets were told that tickets were priced in advance, ranging from $50 to $1,182.40, not including additional costs for VIP packages.

While for some, spending $1,000 on a single ticket is nothing, this is not the case for the majority of people. According to Civic Science, many more Americans today are living paycheck to paycheck, which does not align well with today’s concert ticket prices. Despite having a well-paying job for a 17-year-old and relatively no regular payments to make, the $500 payment was egregious for me. 

Another controversy surrounding Styles’ upcoming “Together, Together” tour is the lack of cities the singer is visiting. BBC reported that despite Styles announcing 67 dates for his upcoming tour, these performances only include seven cities, with his 30 shows at New York City’s Madison Square Garden as the only U.S. performances. While many artists go on residencies – performing for a longer period of time in only one city, often to prioritize their health – Styles marketing his concerts as a world tour had many fans around the globe feeling left out. 

Not only is the rising cost of ticket prices a growing concern for fans around the world, but the physical distance becomes another factor in the inaccessibility of seeing one’s favorite artist. While I am fortunate and can pay not only the $500 for tickets, but also the cost of a plane ticket, a shared hotel with my friend and her mom, food and merch, this is unreasonable for many fans.

The inaccessibility of concert tickets due to their cost also brings to question why certain artists are pricing their tickets so high. For artists like Styles who have had success in their musical careers for over a decade, perhaps $1,000 face-value tickets are unnecessary. Styles’ past “Love on Tour” grossed over $600 million, leaving fans questioning why Styles and his team priced some tickets so highly on this tour.

While artists may choose to go on residencies to prioritize their health and safety – setting an important boundary in the harsh, demanding world of touring – and their teams may find higher ticket prices an incentive to go on tour, this leaves fans around the world unable to see their favorite artists live. If I did not have a solid job and relatively no recurring payments, I would have never even considered seeing Styles, or frankly any other artist live this year. 

When artists are planning tours, they should consider their fans along with their own priorities. Maybe higher ticket prices make the artist a bigger profit, but is that really going to bring us “Together, Together?” After all, Styles did say “we belong together.”

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Mady Kiser at [email protected].