Grammy Award-winning Phoebe Bridgers will hit the road hard this fall. Shortly after expanding her The Lost Tour, the “Motion Sickness” singer’s 31-date run across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union sold out.
But as ticketholders look over the final purchase price, they notice an upcharge. Over on Instagram, concert monitoring page FaceValue accused Bridgers of enabling Ticketmaster’s platinum pricing feature, which caused the uptick. Now, Bridgers has reportedly set in to issue partial refunds.
The ticketing platform’s despised feature dynamically adjusts the price of an event based on several factors, including demand, remaining demand, and seating location.
According to the platform, during the tour’s artist presale, supporters were shocked to find fluctuating pricing across each city. For example, FaceValue pointed out that The Lost Tour stops at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada (October 1 and October 2) jumped to a starting point of $93.25 despite the base ticket having been set to just under $80.
Other fans on Reddit explained away the pricing mixup as an add-on caused by The Lost Tour‘s philanthropic partnership with anti-sexual violence organization and operator of the National Sexual Assault Hotline, RAINN.
In a screenshot shared by the user croftmacncheese, the image shows a disclaimer outlining the ticket rates. The note reads as follows: “Tickets for this event have been priced in advance by the tour from $79.95 to $469.64… At least $10.00 from each Platinum ticket sold will be used to provide tickets to RAINN. Availability and pricing are subject to change. No portion of the purchase price is tax deductible.”
After fans let their voices be heard online, Bridgers reportedly corrected the mishap. Although Bridgers did not publicly address the claim that she intentionally enabled platinum pricing, she reportedly sent a private note through Ticketmaster to ticketholders.
In the screengrab captured by FaceValue, Bridgers revealed that ticketholders would be issued a partial refund for any upcharge they had been billed by Ticketmaster.
“Sorry, ‘The Lost Tour’ didn’t get the price right on your tickets,” Bridgers supposedly wrote. “Ticketmaster is helping by refunding you the difference, and your tickets are still valid. See you soon.”
Ticketmaster has made an enemy out of several musicians’ fanbases, including Beyoncé, Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, and Harry Styles. It appears supporters of Phoebe Bridgers might be added to the list.
