After "Hello" singer Adele's success in her album, it is not quite surprising for her concert ticket sales to be sold out in a blink of an eye. American fans of the hit singer were in dismay after not being able to buy tickets even after waiting for hours before the tickets were sold to the public.
Due to high traffic, the Ticketmaster websites became very slow and made it impossible for the fans to buy a ticket fast enough. A Ticketmaster representative gave light to why the websites were acting slow.
The initial price of the Adele concert tickets ranged from $40 to $150 for arena seating. Arena seats are now resold to up to $800. There are a few cheaper resale prices for as low as $350 at StubHub.
This outrageous ticket buy and sell strategy is called Scalping. Scalpers invest hardware and resources in buying concert tickets early and reselling them at higher prices to desperate fans. Scalpers are not actual fans are only in it for the shameful profit.
Even the singer herself has taken part in mitigating this trend. She supports Songkick, a website that sells tickets through the artist's official website and fan clubs. The partnership aims to filter and validate the buyer's identity.
Some fans took the liberty to physically fall in line outside Xcel to secure a ticket for themselves.
Adele is the largest artist that has partnered with Songkick and the largest to attempt to wipe away the scalper community.
Recently, New York State Attorney General launched an order to investigate ticket reselling sites like StubHub after the incident with Bruce Springsteen's 2016 concert tour.
In Britain, SongKick was able to prevent more than 53,000 sales to potential scalpers. It is estimated that around $6.5 million worth of mark-up was blocked because of Songkick's partnership with Adele.