“It’s a Broken and Convoluted System”

Hayley Williams is going on tour, and she’s got a message for ticket scalpers: Stay away.

The pop punk icon confirmed a slate of upcoming shows for next year on Monday, along with efforts to ensure tickets get in actual fans’ hands for a reasonable price, rather than to resellers who will hawk them at major markups to those who missed out during the initial on-sale.

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“I’ve had countless conversations with my team, and they’ve spent countless hours trying to find the best solution for fans to be able to buy tickets,” Williams wrote in an Instagram story Monday. “It’s been tough (to say the least), and unfortunately, there’s just no way to guarantee that zero tickets get scalped. But we’re doing our best.”

Williams’ tour will begin next March in Atlanta and will wrap with two Los Angeles shows at The Wiltern in May. Her full list of show dates is available on her website.

For those hoping to get a chance at tickets for the tour, Williams partnered up with the platform Openstage for presale, where prospective ticket buyers will have to verify their phone number and email to sign up. Williams will host a face-value ticket exchange so fans who can no longer attend can off load their tickets, with all other ticket transferability turned off. (That won’t apply in Chicago in New York, where both cities are under state legislature that outlawed making concert tickets non-transferable).

“I know this won’t be perfect. You shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to buy tickets to see the show, but unfortunately, it’s a broken and convoluted system,” Williams said. “My team and I are doing everything we can, and I am hopeful that the processes we’ve put into place will get as many tickets into the hands of my fans (at face value) as possible.”

Williams is one of a growing number of artists who’ve sought to curb resale so fans don’t have to pay hundreds to thousands of dollars more on secondary ticketing websites. The Cure instituted a similar system for its 2023 North America tour, with the band also taking a stance to avoid the much-bemoaned platinum ticket prices artists often employ that fluctuate costs based on demand of a show. Billie Eilish instituted non-transferable tickets last year as well.

As Williams herself acknowledged in her post, there is no system that will guarantee everyone comes away happy. Zach Bryan, for example, instituted a similar non-transferable ticket policy for his tour back in 2023 as an effort to curb scalping, only to be inundated with fans voicing their displeasure that they didn’t have a chance to get tickets after his concerts had quickly sold out. Still, while non-transferable tickets won’t guarantee any individual fan gets a ticket, they certainly make it more difficult for resellers to mark them up at scale.

Williams’ tour announcement comes days after the Paramore singer nabbed four Grammy nominations with her latest solo album, Ego Death at a Bachelor Party. Along with a nomination for best alternative music album, “Parachute” was nominated for best alternative music performance, “Mirtazapine” got a nomination for best rock performance, and “Glum” got a nod for best rock song.

“I can’t wait to be back on the road and see all of your faces,” Williams said Monday. “We’ll dance, scream, and cry together. Love you all. Take care of yourselves.”

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