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The ‘funflation’ economy is dying as a consumer attitude of ‘hard pass’ takes over and major artists cancel concert tours

Without a Taylor Swift or Beyoncé megatour, prices for summer concerts are falling back to normal.

But a recent spate of tour cancellations and changes by well-known artists indicate that consumers’ appetite for live music may be slowing. Jarred Arfa, head of global music at the touring agency Independent Artist Group, said he believes the current concert environment is less of a slowdown than a return to a pre-pandemic atmosphere, where “there’s a lot of winners, but not everything is winning.” What’s more, in addition to the DOJ lawsuit, concert cancellations, and popular discontent, Ticketmaster is also dealing with a data breach affecting millions of customers.

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