Macklemore’s removal from Ed Sheeran’s tour is having ripple effects on the ticket market.
Ticket prices for an upcoming Macklemore performance are climbing after the rapper was dropped from the remainder of Sheeran’s Loop tour for making pro-Palestine comments onstage earlier this month. Meanwhile, secondary market prices for the remainder of Sheeran’s concerts have dipped.
Resale prices for Macklemore’s October concert at Red Rocks in Colorado are increasing this week, even though the performance was announced in March.
“The get-in price [or the price for the cheapest available ticket] for that show is up 45% in the past 3 days, from $108 to $157,” Keith Pagello, founder of price tracking company TicketData, said in a statement to CNBC on Thursday. “That’s a surge we can say with confidence would not have happened absent this week’s events.”
Macklemore said on social media on Monday that he was removed from the tour after stadium owners threatened to cancel shows following his pro-Palestinian remarks during a performance at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sept. 4. He announced on Thursday that he will donate his $1 million in earnings from the tour to Palestinian aid organizations.
All of Sheeran’s other supporting acts, Finneas, Aaron Rowe, Beoga and Lukas Graham, said they would leave the tour after Macklemore’s removal. It is unclear who will replace the performers.
Following the Macklemore headlines, ticket prices for Sheeran’s tour have decreased at nine of the ten remaining venues, according to TicketData which aggregates statistics from platforms including SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, Gametime, and StubHub.
However, Pagello said the drops are normal and may not be related to the controversy.
“Across the whole universe of concerts, more shows decline in price as the date approaches than rise,” Pagello said.
Ticket prices to Sheeran’s North American concerts this summer dropped by an average of 22% in the final two weeks leading up to the show, according to Pagello.
Pagello sees the amount of ticket resales to Sheeran’s upcoming concerts as more significant.
“There has been a clear uptick in resale volume: since Monday, tickets have been selling at a slight to moderately increased pace compared to earlier tour stops at the same distance out, even with prices trending down,” Pagello said.
While more tickets are changing hands, it’s unclear how much of the trend relates to opposition to Sheeran, support of him or other factors.
Sheeran maintained that Macklemore’s removal was the promoter’s decision and not his own in an Instagram post Wednesday. He also justified his decision to not speak publicly about his personal beliefs.
“I have always used my platform and music to bring people from all backgrounds and cultures together and this won’t ever change,” he wrote. “There is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics – my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds. Those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum.”
The concert promoting Sheeran’s eighth album “Play” kicked off late last year in New Zealand. The February leg in Australia was the high-grossing tour in the world that month, bringing in $70.8 million, according to Billboard.
Sheeran has historically led some of the biggest tours in the world. His most recent tour, which wrapped last year, grossed $875.7 million and sold 8.8 million tickets, according to Billboard.
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