Olivia Dean Condemns Ticketmaster, Live Nation and AEG as Fans Face Soaring Resale Prices
Olivia Dean publicly criticized major ticketing companies on Friday after seeing rapid and substantial price inflation on the secondary market for her newly announced 2026 tour. The British singer, who has spent the past two years emerging as one of pop’s most charismatic young performers, addressed fans directly on Instagram, saying she was “disgusted” by the level of price gouging happening only hours after tickets went on sale.
Dean’s message appeared mid-afternoon, at a moment when fans across social media were already posting screenshots showing resale prices climbing far beyond face value. “You are providing a disgusting service,” she wrote, tagging Ticketmaster, Live Nation, and AEG. “The prices at which you’re allowing tickets to be re-sold is vile and completely against our wishes. Live music should be affordable and accessible, and we need to find a new way of making that possible. BE BETTER.”
Her frustration reflected what has become a familiar tension for artists navigating the modern touring economy. Even when performers attempt to keep base ticket prices reasonable, the rapid emergence of third-party resellers, along with platforms that allow variable or dynamic pricing, can push the cost far out of reach for the average fan within minutes. Dean, whose audience has grown sharply over the past year, appeared determined to make clear that she had no role in setting or endorsing the inflated figures.
An hour before her sharper statement, Dean had taken a more measured tone, telling fans her team was “looking into” early reports of suspicious pricing and warning them to avoid purchasing tickets from comment-section resellers likely running scams. But the tone shifted quickly as the scale of the problem became evident. By early afternoon, tickets for her Baltimore tour stop were listed at $54 to $166 through standard channels, while the secondary market on StubHub showed asking prices ranging from just over $200 to well above $500.
Ticketmaster responded unusually fast, reposting Dean’s message and announcing that it would impose a cap keeping resale prices at face value on its own platform. The company also encouraged other resale sites to adopt similar measures. AEG Presents, which promotes one of Dean’s U.S. dates, said in a statement that it immediately shut down resale for its AXS-ticketed show after noticing “irregularities” in pricing. A representative reiterated the company’s support for legislation aimed at protecting both fans and artists from predatory resale practices.
Live Nation did not immediately comment, while StubHub defended its role in the market and shifted blame toward what it described as an industry monopolized by a limited number of ticket distributors. “The problem starts with a monopoly that controls how many tickets go on sale, what fans pay, and where they can buy them,” the company said in a statement, adding that StubHub itself does not set prices.
For Dean, the controversy arrived on what should have been a celebratory day. She had announced her Art of Loving North American tour with visible excitement, calling the venues “places I’ve only dreamt of playing.” Instead, she found herself confronting the same systemic issues that have plagued some of the industry’s biggest touring artists, from Bruce Springsteen to Taylor Swift, in recent years.
Dean’s 2026 North American run is scheduled to begin in July in San Francisco and conclude in Austin the following month.
