Yesterday, I wrote about how I semi-enjoyed Taylor Swift’s Reputation concert. Today, let me write about how I did flipping her tickets. Recall last concert’s ROI where I netted $1800 of profit and a 37% ROI. For this concert, I wound up LOSING $1,700 and a -23% ROI. Am I mad? Not one bit. Am I sad? Not because of the money lost, but because I was wrong on my bet. I think there were a couple of factors that turned this flip into a stinker – 1) a weaker album, 2) I don’t think she should have embraced the snake symbolism which may have alienated some fans, and 3) most importantly, she raised prices for this tour. While she may have raked in record ticket sales this concert, this doesn’t bode well for her career since demand has fallen since the last concert, thus driving down resell prices. I think it’s clear she peaked with the 1989 tour. And yes, I’ve read this WSJ article. This was 3.5 hours before the concert (yes, you could have still gotten floor tickets on the day of the concert.)
Lessons Learned
Do I plan on flipping her next concert? Most likely NOT unless the album is super strong. Also, here’s another interesting chart (the X axis is logarithmic). The 2 profitable sales were on 1/18 and 12/30. This means I should have gotten more aggressive in my pricing at that point. As you can see, I sort of panic-sold within the last 3 weeks of the show.
