How a bunch of K-pop fans beat Ticketmaster’s sneaky pricing tactics

June 7, 2026 — 5:03am

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Usually, when there’s a big-spending splurge event that overlaps with the rate of inflation being higher than the Reserve Bank would like it to be, the temptation from many is to point the finger of blame at those splashing the cash and roll out the usual warnings about how they should know better than to risk upsetting the economy.

But over the past week, something strange has happened, and we’ve seen the blame game flip on its head thanks in large part to one of the biggest pop bands in the world.

But before we get into how a Korean boy band galvanised people against the music industry, we need to go back to 2024, when Taylor Swift was preparing to bring her Eras Tour to Australia for a series of sold-out shows.

At the time, it was one of the biggest world tours any musician had ever undertaken. Ultimately, it went on to become the highest-grossing tour of all time, netting $US2 billion ($2.8 billion) in ticket sales alone.

When Swift and her tour landed on Australian shores, a vocal posse of doomsayers predicted the Melbourne and Sydney shows would bring the local economy to its knees because of how much money her fans would spend at a time when inflation was already high. Two years later, we know that the sky did not fall in, the economy did not collapse and everything worked out perfectly OK.

All of this brings me to BTS, whose tickets for their upcoming Arirang world tour went on sale this week. While BTS might not have the same kind of broadscale name recognition in Australia as Taylor Swift, they are easily one of the biggest – if not the biggest – band in the world right now.

Many people (myself included) had no idea that it was even a legal practice to not disclose ticket prices........

© Brisbane Times