Nothing is revealed if it is stated that buying tickets to a concert of a prominent pop figure today can be an adventure with an often frustrating development and ending. The only thing you know for sure is the name of the artist you will see and that you will leave in your fingers updating information on your laptop. The final price or location conditions (on which optimal vision and audio performance depend) are not always precise. In recent years, public opinion has protested against the proliferation of unofficial resale platforms, which often result in scams. This same Thursday, English artists such as Coldplay, Dua Lipa and Radiohead urged British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to keep his election promise to put an end to these “extortionate and harmful” sites, among which they cite Viagogo or StubHub. But resale is not always illegal: Ticketmaster has long offered its users the opportunity to resell their tickets, as happens at Bad Bunny concerts in Spain. And this led to the paradox: although it was announced that the tickets were sold out, there are still some on sale.
On May 16, 2025, Live Nation, the company that promotes Bad Bunny’s concerts in Spain, released a statement informing that tickets for the Puerto Rican artist’s ten concerts in Madrid (Estadio Metropolitano) and two in Barcelona (Estadi Olímpic) were sold out. Worn out, as they love to brag in the industry. The recitals will be held between May and June 2026. “In Spain alone, it sold more than 600,000 tickets, breaking the record for the most tickets sold in a single tour in the country. The tour broke pre-sale records in speed and volume, surpassing levels previously set by Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which featured two evenings. worn out at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium,” reads the statement, adding: “More than 2.5 million fans queuing for pre-sale in Spain.” Six months later, the approximately two million people who tried but failed are presented with a new opportunity: there are still tickets on sale. But wait: weren’t they sold out? Well, no.
At the time of writing it is possible to purchase tickets for almost all 12 Spanish concerts. Keep in mind that the price is expensive, between 286 and 638 euros, most with grandstand (high, low or medium) and non-adjacent seats. There are some VIP tickets, but almost all available tickets fall into what the promoter calls the “Platinum” category and “fan-to-fan entry” specificity. On the Live Nation website they define the Platinum concept: “These are a limited number of tickets that are put on sale with a dynamic pricing method, adapted based on the supply and demand of the event. Platinum tickets do not include any additional services or products like VIP package type tickets do.” Remember what dynamic prices are: a model based on algorithms that allows you to establish the cost of tickets in real time based on existing demand; and since the demand is great in the first hours of sales of large concerts, the result is that the price skyrockets.
It’s the slippery slope of dynamic priceone of the great points of conflict in recent times when it comes to musical performances. For dynamic pricing to exist, the artist must agree to it. There are musicians who don’t consider them because they consider them offensive: the recent concerts of the Cure and Radiohead in Madrid are examples of resistance. In Spain, Fito & Fitipaldis or Leiva, both currently on tour, do not tolerate this, as well as lowering prices as much as possible.
Journalist David Gallardo has been reporting on the sale of concert tickets for years in various media: “Dynamic prices began to be tested in Spain during U2’s last visit, in September 2018 to the WiZink Center in Madrid, with some tickets having quintupled the initial prices at the box office. The official excuse for this practice is that if there are people willing to pay such high prices, it is because the organizer sells their normal tickets cheaply, with the aggravating circumstance that the resale appears in that margin: therefore it is an anonymous person who takes advantage of the situation, buys at the original price and then resells it at a higher price, and the amount at source is directly increased”, he tells this newspaper.
While the existence of dynamic pricing is acknowledged on Live Nation’s official website (including an explanation of its Platinum mode, as we’ve seen), the confusion increases when Ticketmaster Spain informs this newspaper: “In the case of Bad Bunny, dynamic pricing was not applied at these concerts. Ticket prices were set in advance and did not change during the ticket sales process.” This same source doesn’t understand why Live Nation’s official website talks about dynamic pricing. As it happens, Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010, so they are the same company, although they don’t appear to be coordinated at the moment. This merger has raised concerns due to its impact on competition. The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit accusing the company of exercising an illegal monopoly.
Returning to the Bad Bunny case. Why then does an entry quintuple in price without dynamic price action? Ticketmaster replies: «They correspond to a limited number of tickets, to which the artist/event organizer applies a certain price». In other words: Bad Bunny and the organizer Live Nation have decided in some cases to significantly increase the ticket price for this very reason. With what percentage of registrations was this strange operation carried out, which in practice is a kind of dynamic pricing? The sources can’t answer, but “it’s usually not much.”
The concept of “fan to fan”.
The concept is that of “fan-to-fan tickets”, which are the ones that can be purchased right now for Bad Bunny concerts in Spain at prices between 286 and 638 euros. Where did those tickets come from? This is someone who purchased their Platinum (i.e. high priced) ticket and resells it to Ticketmaster so the ticket company can put it back on the market. This is how the ticket holder explains it: “As a general rule, unless the fan purchases cancellation insurance, concert tickets are non-refundable when the patron, for any reason, is unable to attend the event.” On a side note: It’s surprising that so many people know today (November) that in six months (May) they won’t be able to attend the concert. Perhaps we should talk here then about a speculative component.
In any case Ticketmaster offers to resell it. Can the regretful buyer increase the price? The Ticketmaster source responds: “The fan can put their ticket on sale at a maximum price 20% higher than the original, at the same price or at a lower price than the one purchased.” Ticketmaster also takes advantage of this, as it charges processing fees twice, once for each ticket sale. Management fees vary, like many things in this area, but here are two real examples of Bad Bunny tickets in Premium or VIP mode: 348.30 euros + 46.50 euros of management fees or 543.30 euros + 72.50 euros of management fees.
Will these tickets sell out? fan to fan What are available right now? David Gallardo replies: “With dynamic prices, tickets are sold more slowly, but it doesn’t matter, because they are placed little by little, without rushing. Precisely for this reason, concerts are announced more than a year in advance, so that there is time for potential participants to end up buying. Sell more expensive, even sell less, but in any case earn more by increasing prices. This is the strategy, the sign of the times, for this type of large concerts.”
Another option is not to rush and wait, and the fan will still be able to save some money and enjoy the author’s concert I should have taken more photos: In many stadium concerts, tickets are offered at the last minute “because the stage did not occupy as much space as expected and part of the floor or some stands remained free”. Another mystery of this foggy sector.
