Taylor Swift tickets

[WonderWoman17]

I realise this will be frowned upon by a lot of people but hear me out. I'm lucky enough to have been able to buy 4 very decent tickets to see Taylor Swift in August this year in London. I'm a big fan, the plan was to go with family, although the 'kids' are grown they enjoy her music and are happy to come along for the experience more than being fans.

The dilemma I have is that tickets are so rare and the tour seems to be such a phenomenon that people are willing to pay an extortionate amount for them. As a family that are struggling with cost of living and have a bit of debt, I find myself in the position on considering whether to advertise these tickets for way above what I paid for them (£190 a ticket). I have seen them advertised for as much as over £2k a ticket, and I find myself thinking if there is a parent out there that has the funds/means and motivation to want to pay £8k for these tickets, would I be an idiot for not selling them?

I haven't insulted anyone who likes TS though, you are the first person who used those words.
Liking a product because it's well marketed and brings you pleasure isn't anything to be ashamed of. If I liked her music I would listen to it, me pointing out how well marketed she is isn't why I don't enjoy her sound.

So are you saying that the only music worth listening to is that where the creator is inseperable from the creation? Where there is no gap at all between public and private? Otherwise it is - to quote you - 'manufactured rubbish' or 'a marketing project'?

Which artists would you place into this category, out of interest?

And, a follow-up question, can I assume you have never heard much TS output beyond Shake It Off / Cruel Summer etc? 😂

These are genuine questions, I'm not trying to be snide! I realise ive been snippy in previous posts but I do just think it is so fascinating (and frustrating) how she comes in for this criticism.

You are starting to sound like a try-hard sixth-former attempting to look ‘cool’!

The power of the Swift supernova is such that her own economic gains also positively affect cities and livelihoods of other people (besides ticket resellers). The inflow of visitors means that they will be spending on hotels, restaurants, taxis, Uber/Lyft rides, hotdog vendors and other businesses.

One study estimated that two Swift’s performances in July could boost Colorado’s GDP with $140 million in consumer spending. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia stated that Swift’s tour helped stimulate travel and tourism in the region, making May the strongest month for hotel revenue in the city since the onset of the pandemic.

https://news.northeastern.edu/2023/08/11/taylor-swift-economy-impact/

TBH I feel have explained as much as I can explain regarding the TS 'product'.
If you like the brand then so be it, enjoy it, I just cannot get away from the apparent falseness of it all. I don't 'hate' her because she's a successful female, as some pp have tried to suggest, in fact I don't 'hate' her at all, but equally there is just something about her/the product/the marketing that doesn't sit right with me. I have listened to a fair bit of her music, some accidentally, some even initially not realising who it was, but none of it does anything for me at all!
I do have mixed tastes though, as my spotify playlists will reveal (yes, I use spotify!), and am certainly not a music snob/puritan/other random insult somebody might throw.
In future I will keep my feelings to TS to myself.....well I will try.

Yep, a well marketed product, and?

OK.

You laughed at my comment that TS benefits the economy and I showed you the proof, now you're back to the 'product' attack. God forbid that a woman be responsible for positively affecting livelihoods right with her music right?

In future I will keep my feelings to TS to myself.....well I will try.

👋wasbe

I found it laughable that you felt you had to tell me this.
Of course a well marketed product would potentially be an asset to the economy.
I also didn't make any suggestion that women don't/can't positively affect the economy - lots of them do!

No male artist is ever referred to as 'the product'. Ever.

'They wouldn't shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve', indeed...

Of course there's a male equivalent of Taylor Swift; his name is Harry Styles. Nobody calls him a product despite being literally selected via a Simon Cowell talent show. Funny, that.

This makes me sad, as a genuine fan who has been checking and checking resale sites for any reasonably priced tickets, it's just never gonna happen is it.

Of course there are manufactured male pop stars! Thirty years ago we had drippy, pishy boy bands like Boyzone, Wetshite Westlife etc. And so it continues.

I don't know why this thread has turned into a TS pile on. I have no opinion on the woman, I just despise ticket touts. I've been lucky - and grateful - to be on the guest list for artists I love, not once did I ever think of selling the tickets I'd bought for any more than face value. It's just not what true fans or decent people do. Not that anyone would offer £8000 for tickets for the people I love! 😅 But it's the principle that matters here.

Do it! But why do you need validation?

You bought these tickets fair and square. They are yours to do whatever you please with. You're not forcing anyone to pay crazy amounts of money for them. If there are people stupid enough or rich enough (or both) to pay something like 8k to see some mediocre woman with a very mediocre voice strutting on a stage for a couple of hours, I don't see any problems. I'd sell them in a heartbeat. But I don't care what people think of me and don't need validation.

"But I don't care what people think of me and don't need validation."

I don't care what anyone thinks of me either, I just have a conscience and moral compass when it comes to this matter, which affects me, and only me. I don't care if that makes me sound pompous; I'm the one who has to face myself in the mirror each day. 🤷‍♀️

Just be careful if you do sell them as if you do it the wrong way then you may find they are get cancelled and there are no tickets and you are down the original £800. None of the tickets were cheap and if it’s going to make a big difference to your life and you can do it safely then do it. If you had bought a Pandora charm for £800 which suddenly because very collectible (say because Taylor Swift was seen wearing it) and you could sell it for £8000, would people be telling you that was wrong? I don’t see the difference here.

DD1 is going with her friend and DD2 would love to go having become a big Swiftie more recently. I considered getting £660 tickets for DD2 as a once in a lifetime experience but I didn’t because I’d been aware of how to get a presale code etc but I didn’t act on it as DD1 was the Swiftie at the time and I knew her friend (who was pre-ordering the CD) was going to get her a ticket. I couldn’t justify paying over £1,200 for two tickets when I’d been a position to make sure I got a pre-sale code and everyone I know who had one of those managed to get a cheaper ticket - and ultimately I need the money in my bank account more than Taylor Swift needs it from me. I didn’t know about the option to not buy the CD until I read it on here though and that was really useful as I got a pre-sale code for Bleachers by just registering on the website so thank you Mumsnet!

Poor old Taylor, I hope she doesn’t start getting a kicking. She’s the 34 year old boss of a
hugely successful enterprise, good luck to her.
I do think she has such wide appeal now that plenty of people are happy enough to leave the radio on a TS song they like is playing and turn it off if it’s one they don’t like without giving much thought to ubiquity or politics. DH was whistling “Shake Of Off” repeatedly the other day, I don’t think he was even aware he was doing it - if you asked him what ‘proper’ music was, he’d say “Led Zep IV”.

I haven't referred to other female artists as 'the product' either.
This isn't about her being female, stop trying to make this something it isn't.
Also, where did I say she didn't deserve success?

I think One Direction were a manufactured band, but I think HS is actually not nearly as marketed as TS is.
So, not funny at all really.

They were manufactured, yes, but they weren't marked as aggressively as the TS product is.
Also, calling them pishy doesn't help your argument.

Sure that's what you were laughing at 😂

You are so transparent, mate.

For 'marked as aggressively' = too successful a woman for your ego to handle.

"They were manufactured, yes, but they weren't marked as aggressively as the TS product is."

Tbh I think the internet has made global marketing much more exaggerated than it was previously, just as it's exaggerated everything else.

"Also, calling them pishy doesn't help your argument."

I know. 🙂

Am a bit sceptical about “benefits the economy” stuff though. What part of the economy - surely this is just about localised gains (and consequent potential loses). If a lot of people’s discretionary spend is being redirected in various directions connected to Taylor Swift’s tour and other places/things that might have otherwise been the recipient of that spend didn’t get it then it’s more about winners and losers than overall gain. Or am I missing something?

Depends. The month I bought my ticket and hotel I just didn't put away as much in savings.