The ticket sales for Bad Bunny’s upcoming European tour have sparked chaos in Spain. Within a single day, over 600,000 tickets were sold for the Puerto Rican artist’s concerts, ten of which are scheduled in Madrid and two in Barcelona next year. The overwhelming demand caused several official ticket sale websites, such as Ticketmaster, to break down during the pre-sale period, activating dynamic pricing systems that adjust costs in real-time based on demand.
This dynamic pricing system saw the cost of some of the cheapest tickets, initially priced at 83.30 euros, soar to 500 euros. This escalation prompted the Spanish Consumers and Users Organization (OCU), akin to Portugal’s DECO, to lodge a complaint against Ticketmaster accusing it of abusive ticket-selling practices.
“We received numerous complaints from users who accessed the ticketing system with one visible price, only to end up paying up to three times more than initially indicated,” stated OCU spokesman Enrique García to the Spanish newspaper, El País.
The organization identified several irregularities, including non-transparent additional fees, disproportionate administrative costs, a mandatory donation included by default, and the use of the contentious “platinum ticket” concept, which allows for price increases without prior notice.
Following this complaint, Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs disclosed to the same Spanish newspaper that it intends to investigate a “major ticket management company.” While the ministry did not specify the company’s name, they noted the investigation pertains to “concerts in Spain by an international artist,” subsequent to “consumer complaints about potential illegal charges.”
Of all the detected irregularities, the most controversial is indeed the real-time price adjustment system based on demand. This model is likened to Uber’s surge pricing, where prices are raised during peak demand times.
This strategy, according to the British newspaper The Guardian, was one of the factors behind the scandal involving ticket sales for Oasis concerts.
In Portugal, Bad Bunny’s concerts are slated for May 26 and 27 next year in Lisbon. The shows in Spain are set for May 22 and 23 at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, and on May 30 and 31, as well as June 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, and 15 in Madrid.
These events mark the artist’s first European tour in seven years. The tour will kick off with its debut concert on May 22 in Barcelona.
