- Spotify launches new system that gives an artist’s biggest fans a first chance to get concert tickets more easily
- If you’re an eligible fan, Spotify will reserve two tickets for you
- The platform wants to ensure that fans get their tickets first, rather than scalpers and scammers.
It’s getting harder and harder to get tickets to live concerts, but Spotify is doing something and the platform is about to launch its own ticketing priority system for top fans.
During its Investor Day 2026 briefing, Spotify revealed Reserved, a new system that will give top fans priority to purchase tickets for their favorite artists at no extra cost. It will launch in the United States for eligible Spotify Premium subscribers aged 18 and over in the United States starting in the coming months, with other countries expected to follow.
For starters, recently announced tours for select artists will have the option to reserve tickets for fans. Spotify plans to expand this feature to tours of all sizes in the future.
In a world where ticket scalpers are commonplace and Ticketmaster sales feel more like battlegrounds, Spotify’s Reserved Experience aims to make the ticket-buying experience smoother, ensuring that longtime fans who donate to their favorite artists have a fair chance to see them in person. Essentially, Spotify wants to reward your fandom.
Spotify will determine if you’re a Top Fan by looking at your overall Spotify activity, which includes your streams and shares, as well as monitoring Premium user activity. This will help Spotify determine if you are a “real human fan” and not a robot.
If Spotify decides you’ve streamed an artist enough to be a big fan and they play a show in your area, the platform will reserve two tickets for you which you will then have the opportunity to purchase in a dedicated window (Spotify says this will take about a day). That said, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Get to the front of the line
When Spotify declares you a devoted fan, you will receive an email and an in-app notification informing you of your eligibility to purchase tickets. Spotify recommends turning on notifications for live events, turning on your location settings, and making sure your app is updated if you don’t want to miss anything.
After receiving your notification, you will have the opportunity to purchase two tickets within the scheduled time before sales open to the general public. While this amount doesn’t cover large groups wanting to attend a concert together, if your friends are also big streamers of the same artists, it’s possible they’ll also be eligible fans with restricted access, meaning no one in your group will have to miss anything.
If you decide to continue with your purchase, you’ll be redirected to a ticketing partner’s website to complete the sale, but then there’s the question of availability.
Spotify claims that not all fans are guaranteed a ticket deal because the number of fans wanting tickets exceeds the total capacity of venues. Additionally, Spotify says that ticket deals with Reserved will be based on the location of the tour, meaning that if a tour isn’t coming to your area, you may not receive priority access.
However, if you receive an offer despite this, you will be able to purchase a ticket to any show on the tour where you can select the date, location and seat selection when you depart. Spotify also adds that availability of ticket types will vary by show.
Fan Engagement Matters
As a concert series attendee, I’ve noticed firsthand how ticket buying has evolved over the past two years, and while the pandemic has contributed to the skyrocketing demand for live music touring, scalpers and Ticketmaster’s controversial dynamic pricing method have also made ticket purchasing an anxiety-riddled process.
Although Spotify has its off days, it is the first company among all the top music streaming services to start taking a stand against scalpers who resell tickets at ridiculous prices to upset true fans.
Recently, Ticketmaster came under fire when its president claimed that queue positions were not random, leaving fans wondering about the real reason behind these placements.
“We’re building this to give back to the fans who support artists the most – and because when fans and artists win, so does Spotify,” the streamer explained in its announcement.
But for the platform, it’s all about engagement: “When the listeners who show up for an artist on Spotify are the ones who attend their shows, the fans stay, the artists grow, and live music gets stronger. This is part of a broader investment Spotify is making in the live music of artists at every stage of their careers,” the company concluded.
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