Music News

Olivia Dean has secured partial refunds for fans after publicly criticizing Ticketmaster and AXS over inflated resale prices for her upcoming North American tour.

The rising British singer-songwriter called out the platforms last week after fans discovered third-party listings priced at more than 14 times the original cost — in some cases surpassing $1,000.

In an open letter, Dean described the unchecked resale market as “disgusting,” “vile” and fundamentally “exploitative,” urging companies to “do better” to protect fans.

On Wednesday, Ticketmaster responded with a rare concession: a commitment to cap future resale rates for Dean’s tour and to begin refunding 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 the singer’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 honour 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. Calling the secondary ticketing ecosystem “an exploitative and unregulated space,” she urged 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.

“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!”

Dean, who performed on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage last year and has become one of 2025’s biggest breakout stars, emphasised that live shows remain a deeply personal space for her.

“We are very serious about everything we do but live is a sacred space we have crafted over 10 years,” she wrote. “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. They create inequality and hysteria. Capping resale at face value is your right and we have a duty to encourage a fair resale market,” she continued. “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!

“It’s not every day that you feel heard and understood,” she concluded, “so today is good day.”

Her comments arrive amid growing international scrutiny over ticketing practices. In the U.K., legislators recently confirmed 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 democratise public access to the arts.”