Chappell Roan fans disappointed after learning tickets are sold out

ROGERS, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A line of people at the Walmart AMP hoping to secure Chappell Roan tickets were disappointed Friday after finding out they were standing in line for a sold-out concert.

Chappell Roan fans Izabel Santos and Loren Howrey tried to get tickets for her upcoming show.

“I’m excited to potentially see her. These tickets are stressing me out,” Santos said.

Howrey says she dreams of becoming an overnight sensation just like Chappell Roan.

“She inspires me a lot and so I love her,” Howrey said.

They love her so much, they lined up Friday morning to be some of the first to grab a ticket.

That’s after they failed to get one during a pre-sale event earlier this week.

“It has been a living nightmare. I have been at the queue to where it’s like, ‘Oh, I can add to cart and then it literally won’t let me add to cart for five minutes,” Santos said.

Howrey was annoyed because she was in line for the presale.

“I was number, I think 7,000 and I wasn’t able to get tickets,” Howrey said.

So instead Santos drove to Rogers from Little Rock to get the tickets in person when sales opened up to the public, only to find out they were completely sold out during the pre-sale.

“If you’re having a pre-sale and an actual sale, you should have tickets allocated for per-day purchases, so that way you’re not sold out day one,” Santos said.

Santos and Savannah Paxton believe bots kept them from getting tickets.

“Because you cannot convince me that a recently famous indie artist had a queue in line for her that was almost double the population of Bentonville. That doesn’t make any sense,” Paxton said.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, people may use software to buy tickets quicker than the average consumer. Then they sell the tickets for higher prices.

“It’s also happened whenever I tried to get tickets to go see Hozier. I was ready in there whenever the launch happened, and they immediately sold out. And I end up having to purchase a normal seat for $300 a piece from a third-party website,” Paxton said.

Jennifer Wilson, a spokesperson for the Walmart AMP, says the standard ticket prices for the show range from about $34.50 to $80.50 plus applicable fees.

She says there is a ticket limit of four per household for this show and each tour dictates its ticket limit and inventory.

“If you have thousands of bots, there’s no way that they’re going to catch all of those,” Paxton said.

If you go to ticket reseller websites such as Seat-Geek, you’d have to pay about $200 to more than $1,000.

“I know this isn’t anywhere close to the prices that the AMP was selling,” Paxton said.

Wilson says event tickets purchased from any sources other than the Walmart AMP and the Walton Arts Center may not be valid and honored for admission.

“So if you bought something from Ticketmaster, sorry to tell you that you probably don’t have a ticket,” Santos said.

Wilson sent a statement saying,

Bots are something that every ticket seller deals with. We do have industry-standard measures in place on our websites that help defend against bots. We don’t discuss details about those measures. Keep in mind that ticket reselling is legal in Arkansas. Bots become an issue if they are purchasing more tickets than are allowed. We regularly review ticket sales, identify over-the-limit or suspicious transactions, return those tickets and make them available to the public.

Jennifer Wilson, spokesperson with Walmart AMP

“I don’t think that just washing your hands of it and saying, ‘Well, ticket sales are legal, everybody has a problem with bots, get over it.’ I don’t think that’s sufficient,” Paxton said.

Paxton suggests the AMP should become stricter on ID requirements for people trying to purchase tickets.

“Especially for an artist like Chapell Roan. It would make sense since she is an 18 and up artist to require an I.D. to purchase tickets, you have to have an ID for everything else,” Paxton said.

Paxton says this is a reflection of problems that have been happening.

“On a national and worldwide scale actually coming and touching us here. And we need to be prepared to do something about it. Instead of just rolling over and saying, ‘Well, that’s just how the industry works.’ I believe we can do better, and we should,” Paxton said.

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