Live music: How buying concert tickets could be made better

By Mark Savage

BBC Music Correspondent

Fans, politicians and even musicians have been complaining about the painful process of trying to buy tickets for concerts for years.

From soaring prices to intractable online queues and the prevalence of touts, everyone has a horror story.

Things came to a head last November, when the launch of Taylor Swift's Era's tour went so badly that Ticketmaster was hauled in front of the US Senate to answer questions about its business practices.

So what can be done? We asked industry experts how they would change the system.

1) Demand lower prices

Ticket prices have soared by 19% since the pandemic, and 51% of people in the UK say rising prices have stopped them attending a gig in the last five years.

The inflation has several causes: Artists are trying to combat the impact of streaming on their incomes; Brexit pushed up transport costs, as most drivers are based in Europe; and venues have passed rising electricity bills on to bands.