Global Demand for Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS Era Olivia Rodrigo’s rise to pop stardom has been nothing short of meteoric, but the logistics behind her sold-out world tour have revealed fractures in the live event infrastructure. With millions of fans clamoring for tickets, Ticketmaster’s role in distributing access has come under intense scrutiny. The company’s dominance…
Live Nation: The World’s Largest Ticket Monopoly, Now Playing in 40+ Countries and One Very Guilty Conscience By [REDACTED], Senior Correspondent, currently in the nosebleeds PARIS—On any given night, somewhere between the Seine and the Sumida River, a teenager is discovering that the “convenience fee” on her €85 Billie Eilish ticket costs more than her…
Ticketmaster UK: A Global Parable of Gouging, Glitches, and the Glorious Collapse of Consumer Hope By Our Man in Queue 7B, Somewhere Between London and Existential Despair LONDON—Across the planet, the queue has become the great leveller. From the breadlines of post-Soviet Vilnius to the feverish snake outside a Dubai Apple Store, humanity stands in…
Live Nation: The Global Octopus That Sells You the Same Arena Show Five Continents in a Row By Our Correspondent, Currently Hiding in the Merch Line In the beginning, there were bands, audiences, and the occasional fire-code violation. Now there is Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest live-music conglomerate, a corporate life-form so sprawling that…
