For the past couple of months, singer-songwriter Zach Bryan has seemingly waged a war on Ticketmaster and its rising ticket prices. It began with a series of tweets shared in November in which Bryan called out the company for unreasonable prices. He also vowed find a way around the prices so his fans would have an equal opportunity to see him perform. In a Nov. 15 tweet, he coined a classic phrase, "All my homies hate Ticketmaster."
"I'm fully aware of the Ticketmaster and Live Nation relationship," Bryan wrote in the tweet. "All my decisions — moving forward — will reflect this and until there is a serious change in the system all my homies will continue to hate Ticketmaster. (Last thing I say on the matter.) Sorry for being annoying."
Bryan doubled down on his opposition to Ticketmaster by dropping a surprise album on Christmas Day, Dec. 25. The project is aptly titled All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live from Red Rocks), and it serves as the live album from his Nov. 3 performance at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. The album features 23 live tracks, including his breakout song "Something in the Orange" and collaborations with Charles Wesley Godwin and Jonathan and Abigail Peyton. Bryan announced the surprise album on Christmas day with an accompanying statement echoing his commitment to finding a way to provide reasonable ticket prices to all his fans.
"Seems there is a massive issue with fair ticket prices to live show lately," Bryan wrote in a statement on Instagram. "I have met kids at my shows who have paid upwards of four-hundred bucks to be there and I'm done with it."
Bryan continued, announcing that he has plans to play a "limited number" of headlining shows in 2023 and he has worked hard to provide fair tickets to those shows. He also mentions that he is playing a handful of festivals, "which I have no control over."
"I am so tired of people saying things can't be done about this massive issue while huge monopolies sit there stealing money away from working class people," he continues. "Also, to any songwriter trying to make 'relatable music for the working class man or woman,' should pride themself [sic] on fighting for the people who listen to the words they're singing."
Bryan issued another tweet on Dec. 27, clarifying his stance on the matter and expressing that he's not a "hateful man."
"I'm not a hateful man and I meant no harm by naming my album that," he writes. "Love is the only way on a human level. I named it that to shed light on a massive national issue and I love all of you guys so much. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."
Bryan says the announcement of a tour is "coming soon."
