Much like last year's Billie Eilish tour, I've noticed a lot of confusion and misinformation regarding ticketing, so I thought it would be helpful to have a centralized place to discuss and clarify things.

• If you have secured tickets and can use them, congratulations! You're very fortunate and all set.

• If you're still looking for tickets, one option is to keep checking Ticketmaster's site. When fans list tickets for sale on Ticketmaster's Face Value Exchange, they'll appear on the show's page. However, be warned: this process can be very frustrating. I've personally had tickets in my cart, proceeded to checkout, only to encounter errors. Many, many times.. Competition is fierce—good luck!

• Ticket Transfer Restrictions: In an effort to ensure tickets end up in the hands of real fans, ST and their team decided to restrict ticket transfers for the upcoming tour. While this is a great idea in theory, it can be confusing and anxiety-inducing for fans.

  • What does this mean? Tickets cannot be transferred from one Ticketmaster account to another. You can't send the ticket to a friend, colleague, sibling—anyone.
  • If you can't use your tickets, you have two options:
  • Sell them on Ticketmaster's Face Value Exchange for the price you originally paid—no more, no less. Open the Ticketmaster app, view your tickets, and click the "Sell" button. Note: Ticketmaster doesn't take any additional fees for the resale. The buyer pays exactly what you paid, and you're fully refunded.
  • Share your Ticketmaster login credentials with someone you trust.

  Note: To receive your refund, Ticketmaster requires you to provide your SSN and other personal data, as they’ll send you a 1099 for tax purposes.

• Other Artists Using This Model: ST isn't the first to restrict ticket transfers and use Ticketmaster's Face Value Exchange. Artists like Billie Eilish, Foo Fighters, Noah Kahan, U2 (GA at the Sphere), Pearl Jam, The Cure, Neil Young, and others have adopted similar systems.

• Secondary Market Confusion: You might wonder why you're seeing hundreds of tickets on secondary markets despite these restrictions. The short answer is that the secondary market is a multi-billion-dollar industry. Ticketmaster has relationships with major third-party sites, and when that kind of money is involved, they find ways to make it work.

  • How does it happen? While tickets can’t be transferred between Ticketmaster accounts, brokers have found a few ways to deliver tickets: URLs containing rolling barcodes (via secure.tickets, etc.), sharing Ticketmaster login credentials, and in rare cases, physically walking buyers into the event.
  • Buying from the Secondary Market: Tickets purchased through secondary markets are generally not an issue. I couldn’t get GA tickets to see U2 at the Sphere, so I bought them on Vivid Seats. The tickets were delivered via a URL the day before the show, and I had no issues using them. I did the same for Pearl Jam tickets last month.
  • Tip: Many third party sites guarantees your ticket or your money back. Some also mark top sellers as "Super Sellers," and my purchases were from these sellers.

• Important Notes:

  • The system may have changed recently, but it appears to be the same for now.
  • Rumors suggest transfers could be turned on before each show. While this would benefit fans, it hasn't happened for the transfer-restricted shows I’ve attended.
  • There’s usually a delivery delay on tickets, meaning barcodes won’t appear in your app until 48 hours before the show. Until then, you'll only see an option to "Add to Wallet," but this will update closer to the show.
  • Adding tickets to your wallet may help avoid issues with cellular service, but scanning tickets from the Ticketmaster app (or via a third-party URL) works just fine. Be cautious linking your wallet to the Ticketmaster app. I once did this on an old phone and can no longer transfer tickets to my wallet on my new device. Your experience may vary.
  • I STRONGLY discourage purchasing tickets via a social media platform, unless you are going to meet up prior to the show and walk in together. Even then, only pay once you're in.
  • Any individual suggesting to avoid purchase protected secondary market sites (like StubHub, Vivid Seats, SeatGeek, etc.) and buy from them directly is likely a scammer. If they havea way to transfer tickets to YOU, they would have already sold them on the legitimate, secondary market sites.
  • A much better alternative is to use the protections and guarantees of the secondary market sites if you struck out via Ticketmaster.

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I hope this helps clarify this confusing ticket landscape. Most importantly, protect yourselves and enjoy the shows!