{"id":1760471,"date":"2026-02-12T13:46:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T10:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1760471"},"modified":"2026-02-12T13:46:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T10:46:57","slug":"pop-music-isnt-fun-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1760471","title":{"rendered":"Pop music isn\u2019t fun anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1009\/0-0-1009-673\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437133.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/music\/article\/69624\/1\/ticket-prices-are-sucking-the-fun-out-of-pop-harry-styles-taylor-swift-music\" data-article-id=\"69624\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-landscape-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.52\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"GettyImages-1393470392\" class=\"img\" height=\"673\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1024\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437133.jpg\" width=\"1024\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">(Photo by Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for <span class=\"nowrap\">Harry Styles)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-02-12T13:46:57+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"12 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"12\">12,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - music\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/opinion\">Opinion<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/opinion\">Opinion<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>Pop music isn\u2019t <span class=\"nowrap\">fun anymore<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>Fans are growing tired of eye-watering ticket prices and overpriced merch from the likes of Harry Styles and Taylor Swift, writes <span class=\"nowrap\">Alim Kheraj<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-02-12T13:46:57+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"12 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"12\">12,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-02-12T13:46:57+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"12 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"12\">12,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/AlimKheraj\">Alim Kheraj<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>What do <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/harry-styles\">Harry Styles<\/a> tickets and olive oil have in common? They\u2019ve both doubled in price over the past three years. That was the shock that awaited Styles fans once tickets for the singer\u2019s upcoming tour went on sale last month, with some costing upwards of $1,000 (or \u00a3750). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Despite the cost, tickets were in high demand. The singer recently returned to music after a near three-year hiatus, announcing a new album, the oddly titled\u00a0<\/span><em><span>Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally<\/span><\/em><span>, and releasing a new single, the LCD Soundsystem-esque \u201cAperture\u201d. With Styles\u2019 return to music naturally came the tour announcement, including a mammoth 30 shows at Madison Square Garden in New York and a record-breaking 12-night run at Wembley Stadium in London. At the time of writing, many of the shows are sold out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This isn\u2019t surprising. Pop fans are dedicated, especially fans of Harry Styles. Nevertheless, the eye-watering price of tickets to his shows has soured the singer\u2019s comeback. Social media and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@mads.starr\/video\/7599786348173708551?lang=en-GB&amp;q=harry%20styles%20ticket%20prices%20doubled&amp;t=1769768605555\"><span>TikTok<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0were flooded with fans\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/nialltookme\/status\/2015736365913137491\"><span>complaining<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0about how much the opportunity to see the former One Direction heartthrob live now cost, with the\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DUEE4HGjkxP\/\"><span>BBC<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0confirming that the price of some tickets had more than doubled since the last time Styles toured in 2023.\u00a0Ticket prices were so high <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/culture\/culture-features\/harry-styles-tour-blood-tickets-1235505811\/\"><em><span>Rolling Stone<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> reported that some fans were literally selling their blood in order to afford them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI\u2019m terrified of needles, and I was so scared,\u201d one fan said of the process. \u201cBeing in the chair, I was having second thoughts. Like, \u2018What am I doing?\u2019 I just want to see one of my favourite artists. We shouldn\u2019t have to be doing all this just to afford tickets for one night.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"instagram-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-instagram\" data-script-depends=\"instagram-embeds\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>They\u2019re not wrong. Over the past decade, the price of gig tickets has increased a dizzying amount. As The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/culture\/2025\/jan\/20\/gig-concert-ticket-prices-dynamic-pricing-oasis-taylor-swift-eras\"><em><span>Guardian<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> reported in early 2025, average ticket prices increased by 23.3 per cent in 2023, a trend that the trade publication <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.pollstar.com\/2025\/12\/23\/year-end-business-analysis-a-return-to-earth-2025-grosses-ticket-sales-drop-averages-increase-beyonce-oasis-coldplay-have-top-tours-venues-stadiums-rock\/\"><em><span>Pollstar<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> says has only continued \u2013 between 2024 and 2025, the average ticket price for a stadium show rose by 18.3 per cent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Of course, high ticket prices aren&#8217;t a new phenomenon. Madonna has been charging fans huge amounts for concert tickets for years (\u201cPeople spend $300 on crazy things all the time, things like handbags,\u201d she told <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/madonna-lady-gaga-we-her-new-album-64351\"><em><span>Newsweek<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> in 2012. \u201cSo work all year, scrape the money together, and come to my show. I\u2019m worth it\u201d). But following the backlash that surrounded the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/2022\/nov\/18\/taylor-swift-tickets-ticketmaster-live-nation-us-justice-department\"><span>Ticketmaster x Eras Tour debacle<\/span><\/a><span>, and fan awareness of the predatory practices employed by ticket marketplaces like dynamic or surge pricing, it seems people are waking up to how expensive and exploitative modern pop fandom has become.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s not just the price of tickets, either. Taylor Swift and her endless album variants have set a precedent that many artists now follow. Before Styles had even released the first song from <\/span><em><span>Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally<\/span><\/em><span>, he was selling four different coloured vinyl records for fans to collect, each costing just shy of \u00a330. That\u2019s before we get to the merch bundles, which include a \u00a370 box containing a camera, bumbag and a CD, as well as a bundle that contains a limited edition tomato-coloured vinyl, a \u201csilver glitter cassette\u201d and a CD for \u00a356. Add to this the limited merch drops and the rise of artist-centred pop-up shops employed by the likes of Beyonc\u00e9, Billie Eilish and Styles \u2013 who, as a perk of the $1,435 VIP package for his upcoming shows, is offering fans a \u201cscheduled time and fast pass access to the pop-up shop\u201d \u2013 and pop music suddenly seems like a late-stage capitalist hellscape.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Once confronted with this greed, it\u2019s hard to feel excited or entertained by pop<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>There will, undoubtedly, be those who point out that things have always been this way. Pop music, as a genre, has close ties with consumerism, profit and commodification, often inseparable from the synthesisers. In the era of CD singles, it was common for artists to release multiple variants in order to boost sales. Often, these singles would even contain a song that fans could already listen to on an album. What differentiated the era of CD singles from our current world of vinyl variants and VIP ticket packages was the price \u2013 the most Geri Halliwell was charging for a CD of \u2018Look at Me\u2019 was \u00a35.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Of course, in the decades since the dominance of the CD single, how musicians make money from their music has drastically shifted. Streaming means that very few artists are able to make a living from just their recorded music alone; on average, Spotify, the most popular streaming service, pays out between just $0.003 and $0.005 per stream. It\u2019s understandable, then, that artists would turn to merchandise, physical editions and ticket packages in order to recoup costs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, there are those who, despite this harder economic environment, don\u2019t gouge their fans. Bands like The 1975, The Cure and Bleachers, as well as high-profile artists such as Hayley Williams and Yungblud, are able to keep the price of their concert tickets down while avoiding predatory practices such as dynamic pricing. Olivia Dean has even <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cjwy44966w1o\"><span>called out<\/span><\/a><span> Ticketmaster and AXS after tickets for her US tour appeared on each platform\u2019s official reseller marketplaces at 14 times their original face value. Dubbing the companies \u201cvile\u201d, Dean successfully convinced Ticketmaster and AXS to cap the reseller prices. \u201cLive music should be affordable and accessible, and we need to find a new way of making that possible,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"instagram-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-instagram\" data-script-depends=\"instagram-embeds\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>While ticket touts, the unregulated secondary market, and the monopoly held by Ticketmaster are all an issue, they don\u2019t explain the ungodly amount being charged. Nor does it give a reason why artists are encouraging fans to purchase numerous copies of albums before any music has even been released. In an age of increasing costs, stagnating wages, economic uncertainty and rising inequality, charging fans hundreds \u2013 if not thousands \u2013 for tickets to a concert makes pop stars seem decidedly out of touch. What\u2019s worse is that the artists, labels, managers and promoters know that fans will fork out anyway, even if it means selling their own bodily fluids.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Not only does this vampiric exploitation alienate those fans unable (or unwilling) to go to the lengths required to secure tickets, but it\u2019s also sucking the fun out of pop. After all, pop music has always offered a fantasy to escape into. It\u2019s a space for play and experimentation, an arena within which to find catharsis, joy and explore one\u2019s identity. Even when artists are singing about wealth and glamour, there\u2019s usually a silly preposterousness to the braggadocio. When that fantasy bleeds into reality, though, it exposes the greasy, money-grabbing mechanism that powers the music industry. Music stops being art and becomes a mere product to be sold. As a result, you lose your identity as a fan and simply become a consumer, there to be profited from at any expense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Once confronted with this greed, it\u2019s hard to feel excited or entertained by pop. What was once a delightful, sometimes ridiculous, and often thrilling form of escapism now seems like just another emblem of our enshittified, extractive existence. Now, when you hit play on \u201cAperture\u201d and hear Harry Styles sing \u201c<em>we belong togethe<\/em>r\u201d, it\u2019s hard not to hear the implicit caveat: \u2018Only if you can afford it, though.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! 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data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"creds to \u5f35\u5bb8\u744b Chenwei Chang\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/196-415-2365-1573\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/6\/1436233.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">In pictures: Taiwan\u2019s spiritual temple raves<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline\" data-newsletter hidden>\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>What do <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/harry-styles\">Harry Styles<\/a> tickets and olive oil have in common? They\u2019ve both doubled in price over the past three years. That was the shock that awaited Styles fans once tickets for the singer\u2019s upcoming tour went on sale last month, with some costing upwards of $1,000 (or \u00a3750). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Despite the cost, tickets were in high demand. The singer recently returned to music after a near three-year hiatus, announcing a new album, the oddly titled\u00a0<\/span><em><span>Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally<\/span><\/em><span>, and releasing a new single, the LCD Soundsystem-esque \u201cAperture\u201d. With Styles\u2019 return to music naturally came the tour announcement, including a mammoth 30 shows at Madison Square Garden in New York and a record-breaking 12-night run at Wembley Stadium in London. At the time of writing, many of the shows are sold out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This isn\u2019t surprising. Pop fans are dedicated, especially fans of Harry Styles. Nevertheless, the eye-watering price of tickets to his shows has soured the singer\u2019s comeback. Social media and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@mads.starr\/video\/7599786348173708551?lang=en-GB&amp;q=harry%20styles%20ticket%20prices%20doubled&amp;t=1769768605555\"><span>TikTok<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0were flooded with fans\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/nialltookme\/status\/2015736365913137491\"><span>complaining<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0about how much the opportunity to see the former One Direction heartthrob live now cost, with the\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DUEE4HGjkxP\/\"><span>BBC<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0confirming that the price of some tickets had more than doubled since the last time Styles toured in 2023.\u00a0Ticket prices were so high <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/culture\/culture-features\/harry-styles-tour-blood-tickets-1235505811\/\"><em><span>Rolling Stone<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> reported that some fans were literally selling their blood in order to afford them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI\u2019m terrified of needles, and I was so scared,\u201d one fan said of the process. \u201cBeing in the chair, I was having second thoughts. Like, \u2018What am I doing?\u2019 I just want to see one of my favourite artists. We shouldn\u2019t have to be doing all this just to afford tickets for one night.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"instagram-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-instagram\" data-script-depends=\"instagram-embeds\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>They\u2019re not wrong. Over the past decade, the price of gig tickets has increased a dizzying amount. As The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/culture\/2025\/jan\/20\/gig-concert-ticket-prices-dynamic-pricing-oasis-taylor-swift-eras\"><em><span>Guardian<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> reported in early 2025, average ticket prices increased by 23.3 per cent in 2023, a trend that the trade publication <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.pollstar.com\/2025\/12\/23\/year-end-business-analysis-a-return-to-earth-2025-grosses-ticket-sales-drop-averages-increase-beyonce-oasis-coldplay-have-top-tours-venues-stadiums-rock\/\"><em><span>Pollstar<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> says has only continued \u2013 between 2024 and 2025, the average ticket price for a stadium show rose by 18.3 per cent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Of course, high ticket prices aren&#8217;t a new phenomenon. Madonna has been charging fans huge amounts for concert tickets for years (\u201cPeople spend $300 on crazy things all the time, things like handbags,\u201d she told <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/madonna-lady-gaga-we-her-new-album-64351\"><em><span>Newsweek<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> in 2012. \u201cSo work all year, scrape the money together, and come to my show. I\u2019m worth it\u201d). But following the backlash that surrounded the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/2022\/nov\/18\/taylor-swift-tickets-ticketmaster-live-nation-us-justice-department\"><span>Ticketmaster x Eras Tour debacle<\/span><\/a><span>, and fan awareness of the predatory practices employed by ticket marketplaces like dynamic or surge pricing, it seems people are waking up to how expensive and exploitative modern pop fandom has become.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s not just the price of tickets, either. Taylor Swift and her endless album variants have set a precedent that many artists now follow. Before Styles had even released the first song from <\/span><em><span>Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally<\/span><\/em><span>, he was selling four different coloured vinyl records for fans to collect, each costing just shy of \u00a330. That\u2019s before we get to the merch bundles, which include a \u00a370 box containing a camera, bumbag and a CD, as well as a bundle that contains a limited edition tomato-coloured vinyl, a \u201csilver glitter cassette\u201d and a CD for \u00a356. Add to this the limited merch drops and the rise of artist-centred pop-up shops employed by the likes of Beyonc\u00e9, Billie Eilish and Styles \u2013 who, as a perk of the $1,435 VIP package for his upcoming shows, is offering fans a \u201cscheduled time and fast pass access to the pop-up shop\u201d \u2013 and pop music suddenly seems like a late-stage capitalist hellscape.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Once confronted with this greed, it\u2019s hard to feel excited or entertained by pop<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>There will, undoubtedly, be those who point out that things have always been this way. Pop music, as a genre, has close ties with consumerism, profit and commodification, often inseparable from the synthesisers. In the era of CD singles, it was common for artists to release multiple variants in order to boost sales. Often, these singles would even contain a song that fans could already listen to on an album. What differentiated the era of CD singles from our current world of vinyl variants and VIP ticket packages was the price \u2013 the most Geri Halliwell was charging for a CD of \u2018Look at Me\u2019 was \u00a35.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Of course, in the decades since the dominance of the CD single, how musicians make money from their music has drastically shifted. Streaming means that very few artists are able to make a living from just their recorded music alone; on average, Spotify, the most popular streaming service, pays out between just $0.003 and $0.005 per stream. It\u2019s understandable, then, that artists would turn to merchandise, physical editions and ticket packages in order to recoup costs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, there are those who, despite this harder economic environment, don\u2019t gouge their fans. Bands like The 1975, The Cure and Bleachers, as well as high-profile artists such as Hayley Williams and Yungblud, are able to keep the price of their concert tickets down while avoiding predatory practices such as dynamic pricing. Olivia Dean has even <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cjwy44966w1o\"><span>called out<\/span><\/a><span> Ticketmaster and AXS after tickets for her US tour appeared on each platform\u2019s official reseller marketplaces at 14 times their original face value. Dubbing the companies \u201cvile\u201d, Dean successfully convinced Ticketmaster and AXS to cap the reseller prices. \u201cLive music should be affordable and accessible, and we need to find a new way of making that possible,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"instagram-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-instagram\" data-script-depends=\"instagram-embeds\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>While ticket touts, the unregulated secondary market, and the monopoly held by Ticketmaster are all an issue, they don\u2019t explain the ungodly amount being charged. Nor does it give a reason why artists are encouraging fans to purchase numerous copies of albums before any music has even been released. In an age of increasing costs, stagnating wages, economic uncertainty and rising inequality, charging fans hundreds \u2013 if not thousands \u2013 for tickets to a concert makes pop stars seem decidedly out of touch. What\u2019s worse is that the artists, labels, managers and promoters know that fans will fork out anyway, even if it means selling their own bodily fluids.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Not only does this vampiric exploitation alienate those fans unable (or unwilling) to go to the lengths required to secure tickets, but it\u2019s also sucking the fun out of pop. After all, pop music has always offered a fantasy to escape into. It\u2019s a space for play and experimentation, an arena within which to find catharsis, joy and explore one\u2019s identity. Even when artists are singing about wealth and glamour, there\u2019s usually a silly preposterousness to the braggadocio. When that fantasy bleeds into reality, though, it exposes the greasy, money-grabbing mechanism that powers the music industry. Music stops being art and becomes a mere product to be sold. As a result, you lose your identity as a fan and simply become a consumer, there to be profited from at any expense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Once confronted with this greed, it\u2019s hard to feel excited or entertained by pop. What was once a delightful, sometimes ridiculous, and often thrilling form of escapism now seems like just another emblem of our enshittified, extractive existence. Now, when you hit play on \u201cAperture\u201d and hear Harry Styles sing \u201c<em>we belong togethe<\/em>r\u201d, it\u2019s hard not to hear the implicit caveat: \u2018Only if you can afford it, though.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/69624\/1\/ticket-prices-are-sucking-the-fun-out-of-pop-harry-styles-taylor-swift-music&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1009\/0-0-1009-673\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437133.jpg&#8221;] (Photo by Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for Harry Styles) February\u00a0 12,\u00a0 2026 Music \/ Opinion Music \/ Opinion Pop music isn\u2019t fun anymore Fans are growing tired of eye-watering ticket prices and overpriced merch from the likes of Harry Styles and Taylor Swift, writes Alim Kheraj February\u00a0 12,\u00a0 2026 February\u00a0 12,\u00a0 2026 TextAlim [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1760471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1760471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1760471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1760471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1760471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1760471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1760471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}