Drake’s OVO Fest Ticket Prices Soar: A Familiar Secondary Market Story

On August 1st, the rappers and friends that form the Young Money trio, Drake, Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj, will perform together for the first time in years as a part of OVO Fest.

Excitement has been building since the announcement of the event, but as tickets were released and fans saw the prices being asked, excitement soon turned to outrage and disappointment.

Several fans have taken to Twitter to voice their concerns about the high prices of tickets which went on sale recently.

Anger seems to be directed not only at Drake himself but also at the ticketing giant Ticketmaster, who themselves are no strangers to negative attention around their pricing strategies.

Pricing

Drake fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of tickets since the announcement of the show. On the day of release, after a long e-queue system, those lucky enough to gain access to the box office discovered that prices for even the lawn seats at the very back of the venue were coming in at around $500–700 per ticket.

Those wishing to get closer to the stage will be looking at shelling out around $2000 in some cases, while the cost of tickets closest to the action comes in at around an eye-watering $5000!

Whilst, of course, Drake, Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj are all superstar headliners in their own right and tickets to their joint reunion were always sure to be in demand, the prices are well above what many people can justify spending on an evening out.

Cash Grab

With events as popular as Drake’s OVO Fest, there are always going to be individuals and groups out to scalp tickets for a profit, and the August show is no exception.

Already some online outlets are running articles on where to get the best resale prices, and a Google search for OVO Fest brings up a ticket brokers website as the number one result.

Whilst OVOfest2022.com make it clear they are not an official website, the website does have a focus on selling tickets, the price of which in small print at the bottom of the homepage they admit “may be above face value”.

Ongoing Problems

The incident highlights the ongoing issues that Web2 ticketing solutions consistently face with extremely high-profile events.

The supply-and-demand nature of live events means high prices at the box office if you can get there. Access to the box office is made more difficult by the scalping bots that buy up tickets that can then be resold for a profit on the secondary market.

Secondary market prices for high-profile events can be jaw-dropping, and while the secondary market prices for OVO Fest are still relatively tame (in comparison to some we’ve seen), the initial prices have still been off-putting for fans.

Is There A Solution?

While high-profile shows like Drake’s Young Money reunion will always attract high prices, as demand for tickets far outstrips venue capacity, Web3 can offer a solution to the over-inflated prices found on secondary marketplaces.

Issuing tickets as NFTs means that artists and event creators can use smart contracts to set conditions governing the ticket, such as price ceilings and royalty splits.

Price ceilings enable those creating tickets to set a maximum resale price for it on a secondary marketplace. This means that should a fan be unable to attend an event (which does happen!), they are able to offer their ticket to someone who missed out, without the new attendee having to pay an extortionate rate.

Royalty splits enable artists and event organisers to see some of the profits that are usually swept up by scalpers. Using smart contracts, those creating tickets are able to define where a percentage of the revenue from any secondary sale is directed. This means that when a ticket is resold (with a price ceiling or otherwise), a cut of the revenue generated is automatically sent to the party (or parties) specified in the contract.

Wrapping Up

SeatlabNFT is designed to help forge closer connections between artists and their fans. We charge a minimal booking fee and include token utility in our Web3 platform to help reward fans for their loyalty.

We love to see sell-out live events, as life is about experiences, but we believe that with Web3, there is an opportunity to rebalance the platforms that connect artists and fans.

For more information on how SeatlabNFT is redefining event ticketing for artists and fans, follow us via the links below.