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There has been some bad news for BTS' ARMY. Tickets for the K-pop sensation's first live concert, post-pandemic, were marked sold out by Ticketmaster, even before going on sale.
As soon as BTS announced an upcoming concert in Los Angeles, fans around the world celebrated. American ARMY, in particular, were excited for a chance to see their favorites up close. Generally, acquiring concert tickets can be a competitive endeavor, but this time ARMY discovered that the tickets sold out before going on sale for the public.
Ticketmaster under fire for BTS tickets selling out in pre-sale
BTS is scheduled to hold its first in-person concert in the last two years. The four-day show will be held at California's SoFi Stadium on November 27, 28, and the first two days in December. Given that ARMY were looking forward to the show, the latest news has infuriated many.
A pre-sale of the tickets went live on October 7 and 8, where a select group of lucky fans could purchase Permission To Dance On Stage tickets.
Gold members of Ticketmaster gained access on October 7, while "verified fans" got access to the sale the next day. The general public was supposed to have gained access to the tickets on October 9, but things did not go as planned.
Instead of opening up to the general public, Ticketmaster announced that the tickets had already sold out. All four shows were reportedly sold out in the pre-sale itself. Thus, they said that no public sale would take place.
Fans around the world are understandably infuriated by this unexpected news. While BTS tickets and albums are prone to selling out quickly, the speed, in this case, made fans suspicious about Ticketmaster's policies.
Several ARMY accused Ticketmaster of having faulty systems, lax security, and an abundance of scalpers. These are non-fans who buy the tickets in bulk and sell them later at substantially higher prices. Fans of the band also reported that several codes given to them by Ticketmaster were unusable.
Ever since the news broke, ARMY has taken to Twitter to vent their frustrations with Ticketmaster. Some pointed out that the $60-450 tickets are now being re-sold on K-pop forums for as high as $80,000.
After spotting one concert ticket going for $36,000, some fans even decided to take matters into their own hands. Their goal was to take down the scalpers, causing this significant inflation.
Calls to take down Ticketmaster are flooding Twitter, with ARMY upset at the unfairness of shelling out at least 3-4 times the actual amount of tickets. Some have called out the unpreparedness of SoFi Stadium and Ticketmaster, who are hosting the BTS concerts.
Critical of how Ticketmaster has monopolized concert ticket sales in the US, ARMY wants an alternate, more secure ticketing platform for all artists via Weverse.
Several fans have also advised other ARMY members not to buy overpriced tickets, thereby pushing scalpers into a loss.
With tickets for the dates currently unavailable, it appears that the only way to view the band's first concert post-pandemic is via digital streaming.
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