Spotify announces “Reserved” feature for concerts

[River 127,157]

12 minutes ago, Juanlittlem said:

I have had an account in GGD for years, does that count?

Honestly it should be 

[Jenina 15,330]

Cool with me

[RAMROD 116,967]

I know I will ALWAYS get my front row Gaga tickets from now on 

 

Edited May 21 by RAMROD

[gagzus 22,720]

So is my understanding correct; they will have a LIMITED number of tickets probably like a pre-sale tickets set aside for people in the top what? 0.2% probably of listeners.

Which tbh sounds like it benefits both Spotify and artists because; Spotify users go up in the months running up to an album release in prep for a tour announcement. Probably because they won’t tell us it’s mostly gonna be people in the top 0.2% listeners who get them. And obviously those with premium too.

And artists get MASSIVE stream boosts because streams = higher chance of getting a ticket. Gaga and Taylor are absolutely gonna bypass Rihanna when this happens.

I can’t lie, if they do this then I might actually start using Spotify again because it’s a good incentive.

Edited May 21 by gagzus

[Juanlittlem 49,344]

36 minutes ago, RAMROD said:

I know I will ALWAYS get my front row Gaga tickets from now on 

 

Im safe too

[StrawberryBlond 15,540]

On paper, it sounds great but there's so many downsides. Bigger countries with more fans, like the US for example, are going to be in much bigger competition to get into superfan status according to Spotify. And there must be a very limited number of tickets available because if an artist has a small venue tour, if 2 tickets are allocated per fan, it would sell out the whole place before the public even gets a chance, so it might even be less than 0.1% of users will get this chance. And you can bet that the elite 1% will pay their way to get top priority. And young people will be the ones with the highest chance as they have more free time and prioritise streaming as a way to support their fave. Your devotion shouldn't be measured by how many streams you play (after all, how do they know how often you play physical media?) Not everyone will want to pay for Spotify, though. But it sounds more like a money-making opportunity for Spotify and not like it's aimed towards fans. 

[gagzus 22,720]

58 minutes ago, StrawberryBlond said:

On paper, it sounds great but there's so many downsides. Bigger countries with more fans, like the US for example, are going to be in much bigger competition to get into superfan status according to Spotify. And there must be a very limited number of tickets available because if an artist has a small venue tour, if 2 tickets are allocated per fan, it would sell out the whole place before the public even gets a chance, so it might even be less than 0.1% of users will get this chance. And you can bet that the elite 1% will pay their way to get top priority. And young people will be the ones with the highest chance as they have more free time and prioritise streaming as a way to support their fave. Your devotion shouldn't be measured by how many streams you play (after all, how do they know how often you play physical media?) Not everyone will want to pay for Spotify, though. But it sounds more like a money-making opportunity for Spotify and not like it's aimed towards fans. 

When looking online I believe "Reserved" will only, at least at first, be for the US listeners. Spotify also responded to a tweet earlier after the announcement that streams won't be the determining factor of who gets the chance to get tickets. Instead they've confirmed it will be based on other hidden metrics such as shares, variation (so they can tell when people are just looping tracks as they sleep vs authentically listening to an artist they genuinely love) and more importantly; randomisation of artist. 

So you could be in the top 0.1% of plays for Kim Petras and not get a ticket offer, but you may also be in the top 0.5% of say Lana and get a ticket offer. Basically they're really trying to randomise it as much as possible so it doesn't feel unfair. I also imagine they won't get access to a full venues worth of tickets, it'll merely be a percent of a percent.

If this works, I wouldn't be shocked if tours start being sponsored by Spotify (which is a great business plan if that's what they're going for - they could even end up with a renamed stadium of arena after them) and we start to see "VIP Spotify Premium Package" tickets become a thing where you get exclusive merch or digital downloads.

[KindnessPunk 2,477]

LG8 Ball Tickets secured 

[KindnessPunk 2,477]

9 hours ago, River said:

the last thing we need is Spotify taking part in ticket sales..

…but that’s too bad 

[salty like sodium 2,255]

On 5/21/2026 at 5:46 PM, Creyk said:

Honestly I don't understand why this wasn't always a thing. It makes so much sense + it stops scalpers from stealing the best tickets.

it's cute you think these will be the best tickets, they will probably be nosebleeds  "but we saved you 2 seats in the room don't worry"

[salty like sodium 2,255]

On 5/22/2026 at 2:30 AM, StrawberryBlond said:

On paper, it sounds great but there's so many downsides. Bigger countries with more fans, like the US for example, are going to be in much bigger competition to get into superfan status according to Spotify. And there must be a very limited number of tickets available because if an artist has a small venue tour, if 2 tickets are allocated per fan, it would sell out the whole place before the public even gets a chance, so it might even be less than 0.1% of users will get this chance. And you can bet that the elite 1% will pay their way to get top priority. And young people will be the ones with the highest chance as they have more free time and prioritise streaming as a way to support their fave. Your devotion shouldn't be measured by how many streams you play (after all, how do they know how often you play physical media?) Not everyone will want to pay for Spotify, though. But it sounds more like a money-making opportunity for Spotify and not like it's aimed towards fans. 

my only counter to this is - good for young people if there's a way for them to be able to get tickets. I'm 30. I was able to afford an (overpriced) ticket to the Mayhem Ball with my adult money. I also would have survived if I hadn't been able to see the show. But when I was 15 and wanted to see the BTWB, I would have KILLED to go, and I was lucky enough to go. I cried when the tickets sold out, my parents had to pay scalpers, and I was lucky they even accepted to pay for tickets for me at all.

Young people are (on average) more passionate about their faves because they don't have spouses, mortgages, kids, jobs, money, etc. Fandom is often all they have. I'm all in favour of them being given access to concert tickets. I know I would have loved to have these types of opportunities when I was young.

At the end of the day, this is Spotify's initiative. If artists cared about your devotion, they would look for ways to measure other metrics. But spotify has decided they wanted to reward their top listeners and I think that's actually a nice perk to add considering other streaming services don't give a **** about fans. Apple Music literally does the bare minimum and still charges a high price.

Edited May 23 by salty like sodium

[Future Lovers 7,533]

On 5/21/2026 at 1:11 PM, River said:

yeah same here for Switzerland, one way would be like dedicated fan clubs with yearly subscription? then u get a unique pre-sale link and it's accessible with your personal info and u don't have to buy merch and hope to be lucky.

yeah also this, or resale in general, because u still don't fix the fake tickets and scammers situation.

This was a thing years ago (Madonna and U2 actually still do it for example), but the issue that artists kept running into was longterm how do these fan clubs stay running? You'd have to essentially give monthly incentives to keep people subscribed, and this was leading to a lot of cheaply made "fan club gifts" that ended up just resulting in a lot of waste when all people were really singing up for was ticket opportunities. 

People aren't going to pay to be in the fanclub just for it only to become useful once every couple of years. This was why these fanclubs all shut down. 

The aforementioned artists who still do it are only honoring legacy subscribers. You cannot actually still subscribe to these fanclubs today. You had to have been signed up already when they closed them. They also don't do the monthly things anymore because they just let everyone who was signed up have a free lifetime subscription. 

It's a good idea on paper, but it didn't work very well at large scale in practice. 

[StrawberryBlond 15,540]

On 5/22/2026 at 3:34 AM, gagzus said:

When looking online I believe "Reserved" will only, at least at first, be for the US listeners. Spotify also responded to a tweet earlier after the announcement that streams won't be the determining factor of who gets the chance to get tickets. Instead they've confirmed it will be based on other hidden metrics such as shares, variation (so they can tell when people are just looping tracks as they sleep vs authentically listening to an artist they genuinely love) and more importantly; randomisation of artist. 

So you could be in the top 0.1% of plays for Kim Petras and not get a ticket offer, but you may also be in the top 0.5% of say Lana and get a ticket offer. Basically they're really trying to randomise it as much as possible so it doesn't feel unfair. I also imagine they won't get access to a full venues worth of tickets, it'll merely be a percent of a percent.

If this works, I wouldn't be shocked if tours start being sponsored by Spotify (which is a great business plan if that's what they're going for - they could even end up with a renamed stadium of arena after them) and we start to see "VIP Spotify Premium Package" tickets become a thing where you get exclusive merch or digital downloads.

I know it's just beginning in the US but it is going to be rolled out internationally before long. I think that the idea of your chances being different for different artists is also a bit odd. Especially, if your chances are higher for a more popular artist who you assume would naturally have more fans. It all seems like the site's picking and choosing when it should be the same standards for all. I could see a lot of strongly worded emails being sent to Spotify complaining that they're in the top 0.1% and didn't get their reserved tickets. Let's face it, initially at least, these programs are very hit and miss at the start. And oh, Christ, concerts sponsored by Spotify...as if they can't get any greedier.

14 hours ago, salty like sodium said:

it's cute you think these will be the best tickets, they will probably be nosebleeds  "but we saved you 2 seats in the room don't worry"

Didn't even think about that. If they were guaranteed to be front row VIP, that would be one thing but it doesn't say anything about how good they're going to be. And naturally, they won't know if every fan is going to have enough money to actually pay for the best seats in the house, so they'll have to be of the cheaper variety by design. Could see this leading to arguments between fans who got better tickets over people who were fans for longer and questioning how random these reservations are.

14 hours ago, salty like sodium said:

my only counter to this is - good for young people if there's a way for them to be able to get tickets. I'm 30. I was able to afford an (overpriced) ticket to the Mayhem Ball with my adult money. I also would have survived if I hadn't been able to see the show. But when I was 15 and wanted to see the BTWB, I would have KILLED to go, and I was lucky enough to go. I cried when the tickets sold out, my parents had to pay scalpers, and I was lucky they even accepted to pay for tickets for me at all.

Young people are (on average) more passionate about their faves because they don't have spouses, mortgages, kids, jobs, money, etc. Fandom is often all they have. I'm all in favour of them being given access to concert tickets. I know I would have loved to have these types of opportunities when I was young.

At the end of the day, this is Spotify's initiative. If artists cared about your devotion, they would look for ways to measure other metrics. But spotify has decided they wanted to reward their top listeners and I think that's actually a nice perk to add considering other streaming services don't give a **** about fans. Apple Music literally does the bare minimum and still charges a high price.

Naturally, the youngest fans are the ones who are the most devastated if they don't get tickets. I've got nothing against them getting the chance, just pointing out that the way all this is measured is going to favour the youngest fans who have more time on their hands to stream and who put a high importance on streaming to gain perks. It just seems like it'll just be young people getting this chance and it just would be nice to see fans from all different ages and walks of life winning this opportunity based on a metric that isn't feulled by money-making tactics like a complete the lyric quiz or something.