Olivia Dean, the British singer-songwriter on the rise, has secured partial refunds for her fans after publicly lambasting Ticketmaster and AXS for inflated resale prices of her upcoming North American tour. Fans were appalled to discover third-party listings priced at more than 14 times the original cost, in some cases surpassing a thousand dollars.
In an open letter, Dean called out the platforms, describing the unchecked resale market as "disgusting," "vile," and fundamentally "exploitative," urging them to "do better" to protect fans.
On Wednesday, Ticketmaster made a rare concession, committing to cap future resale rates for Dean's tour and initiate refunds for fans who paid above face value on its platform. "We support artists' ability to set the terms of how their tickets are sold and resold. @OliviaDeano, we will cap resale prices on our site at face value and hope other resale sites will follow," Ticketmaster initially replied.
Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation Entertainment, later addressed Dean's concerns, saying: "We share Olivia's desire to keep live music accessible and ensure fans have the best access to affordable tickets. While we can't require other marketplaces to honor artists' resale preferences, we echo Olivia's call to 'do better' and have taken steps to lead by example."
Dean welcomed the move but made clear that her concerns extend beyond her own tour. She called the secondary ticketing ecosystem "an exploitative and unregulated space," urging the wider music industry to adopt mandatory face-value resale caps for artists who request it. "Tours steal from artists and they steal from fans," she said. "They create inequality and hysteria. I am lucky to have had an education about the complexities and corruption of ticketing from @dicefm and will always choose to partner with them where we can. But know that you have power with other partners."
Emphasizing that live shows remain a deeply personal space for her, Dean wrote: "We are very serious about everything we do but live is a sacred space we have crafted over 10 years. We lose money on nearly every show but feel passionately it is a worthy investment to create a moment for people to connect and lose themselves for an hour. We always do our best to make those spaces safe and accessible to everybody."
"Touts steal from artists and they steal from fans," she continued. "They create inequality and hysteria. Capping resale at face value is your right and we have a duty to encourage a fair resale market. We are often made to feel we don't have a choice but there is always space to ask why and it is always your right to say no!"
Concluding her remarks, Dean said: "It's not every day that you feel heard and understood, so today is a good day." Her comments come amid growing international scrutiny over ticketing practices, with legislators in the U.K. recently confirming plans to make it illegal to resell tickets for more than their original price following advocacy from major artists including Coldplay and Dua Lipa, who argued the change would "help democratize public access to the arts."
