AGENTS PANEL: THE TOURING INTEL YOU NEED NOW
Panelists:
Ali Hedrick, ROAM
Kiely Mosiman, Wasserman Music
Braeden Rountree, WME
Mario Tirado, CAA
Elisa Vazzana, UTA
Moderated by: Jason Rio, Legends Global
“In 2025, are we seeing a market correction?” asked moderator Jason Rio to open the session. “Short answer, yes,” said Braeden Rountree (WME). “After the post COVID boom, fans are being more thoughtful about where they spend. Not every tour can assume automatic sell outs anymore.” Kiely Mosiman (Wasserman Music) added that acts who were used to touring constantly are realizing that repeat business now requires a clear reason to come back. “You need a driver,” she said. “New music, a concept, something to make the tenth show feel different from the fifth.”
“I am firmly in the ‘less is more’ camp,” said Elisa Vazzana (UTA). “If you are everywhere all the time, urgency disappears. A lot of artists tour for ego, just to say they are out. Our job is to help them understand that pulling back can actually create demand.” From a wide lens that includes pop, country, classic rock and prestige projects, Mario Tirado (CAA) sees a split picture. “Pop, comedy and country are still very solid,” he said. “For everything else, you have to be strategic. Fairs, festivals, soft tickets, they all come down to what really nets out after costs. Smart routing and realistic deals are the difference between winning and getting hurt.”
Ticket Prices, All In Fees and the Secondary Market
All in pricing has reshaped the fan experience and not always in a simple way. “Fans see one price now and say, ‘Last time this was thirty five dollars, now it is sixty five, what happened’,” Hedrick said. “The truth is they were already paying about that, they just did not see it until checkout. Now the shock comes up front.” She added that platinum pricing on almost every show has made the purchase path more confusing. “If the most expensive tickets are what you see first and you have to scroll forever to find the cheapest option, a portion of fans never even see the more affordable price.”
On primary and secondary, Vazzana focused on confusion at fan level. “Most fans do not know if they are on StubHub, Vivid, Ticketmaster or anything else,” she said. “They search the artist and city, click the first link and buy. Then they complain about ticket prices in general when what they really did was overpay a reseller. The only things we can truly control are responsible face values and programs that give real fans first access.”
For Zach Bryan, Rountree has seen both sides of that tension. “We ran a tour that was built to keep tickets in fans’ hands and avoid resale as much as possible,” he said. “Some fans were still angry that they could not pay whatever it took to get in on secondary. You are criticized either way. Now the focus is: price fairly, accept that some resale is inevitable and avoid feeding a narrative that everything is a ripoff.”
Hedrick drew a harder line when bots distort realities. “I do not hate the secondary market,” she said. “My problem is when bots grab blocks of tickets, list them high, do not sell them, and a ‘sold out’ show plays to 60 percent in the room. That is brutal for artists, promoters and fans who wanted to be there at face value.”
Mosiman talked through a different path with Chapel Roan. “We did not use platinum at all,” she said. “Chapel could charge far more but she refuses to gouge. We leaned into general admission rooms and parks, used Fair Access, and prioritized fan club and merch buyers. Transfer rates stayed under ten percent. AXS also agreed to cap resale at the prices we set. The primary companies absolutely can protect fans when they choose to.”
Tour Building, Steps and “Event” Strategy
Vazzana walked through Megan Moroney’s rapid rise without jumping too far too fast. “We started in five hundred cap rooms, then fifteen hundred to two thousand, and went up from there,” she said. “We could have jumped straight to an arena. Instead we chose three nights in a smaller building. Multiples in the right room feel bigger than one oversized show. They build mystique and let you move ticket prices up gradually as production grows. Fans do not feel like you went from twenty dollars to two hundred dollars overnight.”
For Mount Joy, Hedrick uses recurring destination shows instead of a constant grind through every market. “They sit between a jam band and a rock band,” she said. “We are creating annual moments. Bend, Red Rocks, Fiddler’s and weekend pairings where people can travel. They are not eager to chase tertiary markets endlessly. We are careful with the steps. The larger plays will be there later.”
On Zach Bryan’s path into college stadiums, Rountree said the “steps” are different when demand is that extreme. “People say we skipped steps,” he noted. “I think of it like a long staircase where momentum lets you move faster. Last year’s run ended up the highest grossing North American tour by a country artist. There was no plan to go bigger immediately. Then Zach said he wanted to do things that had not been done before.
That is when ideas like Notre Dame, the Big House in the round and a first ever show at Marshall come into play. Between Notre Dame and Michigan, less than two hundred miles apart, we sold one hundred ninety five thousand tickets.”
Tirado faces similar questions with Sabrina Carpenter. “At one point the conversation was jump straight to Madison Square Garden,” he said. “We fought for multiple Terminal 5 plays first. That proved to be the right move. Now we think in terms of concentrated touring, multiples, high impact moments and how long that stays impressive when so many top tier acts are also selling out multiple nights. Everyone wants their artist to feel exceptional in a very crowded top layer.”
Communication, Venue Relationships and Artist Priorities
On whether venues should reach out directly, the agents were aligned. “Yes, if you bring a clear reason,” said Vazzana. “If you think you should get the play, call and tell me why. I have moved shows because a venue made a smart, specific case about market, building and fan experience. We want full houses and strong grosses. That always requires a real conversation, not just a stack of anonymous holds.”
She also cautioned against rigid policies. “We made a simple request at one venue, were told no without discussion and pointed out that every other building on the tour had agreed. They still refused. We released the hold. If everything you do is one size fits all, do not expect to land artists whose priorities are very focused, whether that is premium hospitality, sightlines or data driven fan programs.”
Artist priorities vary, but certain themes repeat. “Merch is always huge,” Hedrick said with a smile. Vazzana added that her clients tend to care deeply about the fan experience and price. “They want to know what it feels like to be in the last row, if screens are visible, if the show feels special at every level,” she said. “They obsess over details like bootstrapped production and value for money.”
Tirado sees routing volume as another priority that needs recalibration. “Many perennial acts, especially in country, feel like they can never stop touring,” he said. “I am pushing some of them to step away from North America for a while, build Latin America or Australia and give the home market a chance to breathe. When you come back with intention and new music, demand is usually stronger, not weaker.”
Takeaways
A correction is here. Fans are more selective, and tours must be built with clearer purpose.
Less is more. Strategic gaps between runs can create demand rather than risk burnout.
All in pricing requires education. Fans need help understanding what they see and where to find true face value.
The problem is not resale itself but bots and unsold speculative listings that hurt drop counts and perception.
Multiple nights in right sized venues can build heat, protect pricing and support show development better than one oversized leap.
Calls from venues are welcome when they come with strong reasoning and flexibility. Partnership beats rigid templates.
International plays are an important tool to relieve pressure on North American markets and grow long term value.
Ticketing is likely to change significantly in the coming years, from verification tools to caps to possible new technologies.
Rio closed by reminding the room that agents, promoters and venues are on the same side. “Everybody wants full rooms, great fan experiences and sustainable careers,” he said. “Talk early, share real information and build tours that make sense for where we are now, not just where the market was two years ago.”