Zach Bryan is taking on Ticketmaster one sold-out show at a time
Zach Bryan is battling Ticketmaster and Live Nation one show at a time and filling venues like Red Rocks with legions of dedicated fans along the way.
Bryan started uploading his music to YouTube in 2017, with friends recording him performing using his iPhone, Eventually, one song, “Heading South,” went viral. Last year, his first album on Warner Records, the 34-track “American Heartbreak,” was certified Gold after topping the Billboard County Album chart and debuting at No. 5 on its Top 200 Album chart.
His crusade against high ticket fees and prices and Ticketmaster ramped up when on Christmas day, he released a live album, “All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster,” recorded live just 7 weeks earlier at Red Rocks and took to social media.
“Seems there is a massive issue with fair ticket prices to live shows lately,” wrote Bryan. “I have met kids at my shows who have paid upwards of four hundred bucks to be there, and I’m done with it. I’ve decided to play a limited number of headline shows next year to which I’ve done all I can to make prices as cheap as possible and to prove to people tickets don’t have to cost $450 to see a good and honest show.”
Walking His Talk
An artist leading a protest is nothing new, and many like the Grateful Dead and Phish have worked to put their fans first. Eric Church famously refunded tickets for a pre-sale dominated by scalpers and bots tickets. Way back in 1995, Pearl Jam tried to book a national tour of only non-Ticketmaster venues and failed.
So Zach Bryan’s decision to loudly take on the two biggest players in live music – Ticketmaster and its now-owner, Live Nation – is both bold and unique.
Not only has he gone mockingly public with his distaste for Ticketmaster, but he’s also walking his talk playing fewer dates and delaying his tour while his team reconfigures it to save fans money. “I’m sorry it has taken so long,” wrote Bryan. “Just did everything I possibly could to make tickets more affordable.”
His fans love him for taking this stand as they do for all of the ways in which he super serves them. Just listen to their screams on the live album (below) or watch a fan live video.
The industry is taking note, as well. “First and foremost you can believe in Zach Bryan,” wrote Bob Lefsetz. “He’s got credibility, he’s his own man, he’s not beholden to the system. And so far he’s not selling out, there’s no tie-in with the Fortune 500, no brand building with perfume, etc.”
Can Zach Bryan take on Ticketmaster? He’s certainly trying to change it, one show at a time.
Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.
