Olivia Dean Slams Ticketmaster After Ticket Prices Skyroc...

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Singer Olivia Dean had some choice words for ticket sellers after her upcoming tour sold out and tickets immediately appeared for resell at escalated prices.

Newsweek reached out to Dean's representatives by email on Friday afternoon for further comment.

Why It Matters

Ticket resale prices have come into sharp focus as a significant issue after the frenzy around Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour saw tickets resold at multiple times their original prices, with floor tickets - sold for only a few hundred dollars initially - listed for resale for thousands of dollars on platforms including Ticketmaster, Vivid, and Stubhub.

The issue drew national attention, leading to congressional hearings about what could be done to mitigate or prevent similar issues in the future. However, little has changed, and artists have tried to get creative with their ticket sales, such as country singer Zack Bryan refusing to perform at venues controlled by Ticketmaster, or Hayley Williams of Paramore selling to fans through a verified purchase process.

The United Kingdom announced it will look to implement laws preventing resale of tickets for profit as a means of stopping the issue, but the efficacy of their plan remains to be seen.

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What To Know

The British singer-songwriter took to Instagram and posted on her story that she found the news "extremely frustrating" after learning that resellers were overcharging for her upcoming concerts, with even the cheapest seats at shows going for almost double their original price just hours after some shows sold out.

Tagging Ticketmaster, Live Nation, and AEG Presents in one of story posts, Dean wrote: "You are providing a disgusting service."

"The prices at which you're allowing tickets to be re-sold is vile and completely against our wishes," Dean wrote. "Live music should be accessible and we need to find a new way of making that possible. BE BETTER."

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Prices for her shows at Madison Square Garden - where demand hit such a frenzy that she added three more nights to her original single stop - has the cheapest seats reselling for around $240 as of the writing of this article for the Saturday, August 15, 2026 show. Only on Thursday evening those same tickets were selling for around $150 minimum.

Dean has enjoyed a near-meteoric rise in the United States after she opened several shows for Sabrina Carpenter last month as part of the Short N Sweet Tour during her stops in Pittsburgh and New York City, followed by an appearance as the "Saturday Night Live" musical guest for the November 15 episode.

The single "Man I Need" off her latest album, The Art of Loving, has hit the U.S. charts hard in the subsequent weeks, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 while hitting number one in the United Kingdom.

She was nominated in Britain for the New Music Talent award from the BBC and the Brit Awards, and has been nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 68th Grammy Awards.

Update 11/21/2025, 3:32 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.

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