Why Musicians Are Manufacturing Sold-Out Shows

Within the indie rock world, the Brooklyn, New York, band Geese was undoubtedly the breakout success story of the past year. After releasing their critically acclaimed record Getting Killed, the precocious zoomers embarked on a national tour of midsize venues across the US, each show to a sold-out crowd.

Thanks to the success of Getting Killed — and mounting fascination with the band’s frontman, Cameron Winter — ticket demand went through the roof, pushing resale prices on sites such as StubHub and SeatGeek to $2,000 in some cities. Given how far in advance tours are planned, that kind of secondary market action would have been hard to predict when booking venues, just as it’s hard to know which band will blow up next. That it was almost immediately prohibitively expensive to see the hottest band in the US live, though, has itself become part of the Geese narrative. While it’s impossible to intentionally replicate the group’s mainstream breakthrough — the discourse around which has now entered conspiracy theory territory — the music industry does have some leeway when it comes to lining up a string of sold-out dates.