I Sold Both My Lungs for Taylor Swift Tickets!

Summary

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Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: I Sold Both My Lungs for Taylor Swift Tickets!
Date: September 23, 2025
Hosts: Armstrong & Getty
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

This episode revolves around the wild world of live event ticketing, sparked by the tongue-in-cheek title about “selling both lungs for Taylor Swift tickets.” Armstrong & Getty dive deep into the history, economics, and controversies behind buying event tickets—from youthful adventures camping out for concerts, to the modern frustrations (and opportunities) in the digital era. Central to the discussion: How regulations, big corporations (especially Ticketmaster/Live Nation), and market forces shape ticket prices, availability, and the fan experience.

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KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

1. Anecdotal Kickoff & Nostalgia for Old-School Ticket Buying

• The show opens with playful banter about the episode title (“I sold both my lungs…”), poking fun at the extreme lengths fans go for hot-ticket events.
• Getty jokes, “I don't know if that was good long term thinking.” Armstrong riffs: “All I've got is a Ziploc bag. I inhale. I got a Ziploc bag attached to my trachea.” (03:37-03:46)
• They reminisce about the days when getting concert tickets meant camping out overnight, forming communal lines, and the unwritten code among fans.

2. How Ticketing Has (and Hasn’t) Changed Over Time

• Getty asks, “Has concert tickets always been this way?” Armstrong explains that even in the '70s, prime tickets were hard to get due to industry insiders and promoters scooping up the best seats before genuine fans could buy them. (05:31-06:33)
• Armstrong: “Once I stayed out overnight, slept in line … for Rush tickets … That was the only way to get really good tickets. And it was quite the party.” (06:19-06:34)

3. Regulation and the Power of Big Corporations

• Armstrong introduces a National Review article critiquing well-intentioned but flawed policies meant to fix the ticketing market.
• Discusses Trump’s executive order pressuring federal agencies to reform live entertainment ticketing, especially targeting opaque pricing and automated bots. (03:52+)
• The dark side: Armstrong points out that the regulations often serve to protect major incumbents (like Ticketmaster), who can handle higher compliance costs, at the expense of smaller competitors.

4. Ticketmaster’s Dominance & Government’s Role

• Ticketmaster is called “dominant in primary ticketing”, controlling 80%+ of the market. They benefit from state laws requiring tickets be resold only where purchased, locking users into Ticketmaster’s platforms. (09:00-09:37)
• Armstrong: “Ticketmaster earns twice, once on the original sale and again on the resale. … These venue exclusivities and public subsidies give them enormous power.” (09:45-10:35)

5. The Controversy Over Resale Price Caps

• Live Nation/Ticketmaster is lobbying for a 20% resale price cap, framing it as “for fans,” but critics argue it would hobble smaller competitors while Ticketmaster's diverse revenue allows it to thrive. (08:39-10:35)
• Armstrong highlights how similar attempts at price-capping in Ireland, France, and the UK led to increases in fraud and scams, not consumer benefit. (12:28-14:08)
• Memorable quote: “Price caps don't stop unfair ticket resale practices. They just limit legitimate competition.” (13:32-13:38, paraphrased)

6. Technology and Market Evolution

• Getty recounts buying expensive concert tickets for his son on resale platforms—successfully waiting until an hour before the show for a tenfold price drop. (11:09-11:55)
• Armstrong and Getty appreciate modern platforms like SeatGeek and StubHub for their transparency and consumer protections.

7. Is Scalping Still a Thing in the Smartphone Era?

• They debate the role of physical scalpers versus digital resale, with anecdotes about both legal platforms and the risks of getting scammed buying from individuals. (10:35-12:28)
• “I used to scalp a lot, like all the time. Sporting events mostly. … But why would it exist in the smartphone era?” - Getty (10:35-10:58)

8. Artists, Profits, and Fan Experience

• Getty laments that resale profits rarely benefit the artists: “Why is some ticket broker getting $500 for your $80 ticket instead of you? You're the demand.” (15:22-15:32)
• Armstrong explains brokers take on risk (buying in bulk, not all tickets sell) and are often embraced by artists and promoters to minimize “empty arena” losses. (15:41-16:33)
• Insightful summation: “It's called supply and it's delightful companion demand.” (17:05-17:10)

9. Creative Solutions: The Billy Joel Approach

• Getty shares how Billy Joel would buy up the front rows and give them to passionate fans in nosebleed seats, to avoid “front row boredom” and enhance performers' experience. (20:59-21:55)
• Getty: “There were a lot of rich people around me who showed up late, barely paid attention, looking at their phones. Just annoying.” (21:14-21:45)

10. The Fantasy of “Face Value” and Market Reality

• Armstrong notes that face value prices are often intentionally underpriced to guarantee sellouts and retain event buzz, acknowledging the tension between market forces and idealized fairness. (17:05-18:04)
• “Would I prefer some fantasy land where it was always face value?... But that has to do with a number of people, including the artist, have every interest in a sellout...” (17:54-18:04)

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NOTABLE QUOTES & MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• Armstrong, on the episode title:
  “Sold both malungs for Taylor Swift tickets. So one more thing.” (03:21)
• Getty, on the post-lung era:
  “I'll tell you what era I'm in, the post lung era.” (03:46)
• Armstrong, on regulatory capture:
  “All sorts of different scams and schemes where regulation looks like it's to protect the consumer, but it's not at all.” (04:23)
• Getty, on modern ticket buying:
  “My biggest complaint with the way the modern thing works is the artist doesn't get the money.” (15:22)
• Armstrong, on supply & demand:
  “If I went on and saw that I could not see EC for less than $425. If I don't want to spend that much, I don't go. And if I do want to spend that much, I do. It's called supply and its delightful companion demand.” (17:05)
• Getty, on Billy Joel’s ticket reshuffling:
  “He said he did that for him because he wanted real fans who are really excited to be there, not people who are always in the front row and bored with the thing.” (21:15)

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TIMESTAMP HIGHLIGHTS

• [03:21-03:52] — Kicking off with jokes about selling body parts for concert tickets and the “post-lung era.”
• [05:31-07:50] — Reminiscences on old-school ticket buying: campouts, line etiquette, and sleeping in the street for tickets.
• [08:39-10:35] — Ticketmaster’s price cap lobbying and the impact on competitors.
• [11:09-12:06] — Getty’s last-minute ticket deal; modern reselling platforms discussed.
• [13:00-14:08] — International policy failures when capping resale prices.
• [15:22-16:25] — Debate over who profits from resales, broker risks, and artist incentives.
• [20:59-21:55] — Billy Joel’s unique solution for putting true fans in the best seats.
• [17:05-18:04] — Armstrong’s summing up: “supply and demand” and why ticket prices aren’t “fair.”

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OVERALL TONE AND STYLE

Conversational, irreverent, and grounded in real-life anecdotes. Armstrong & Getty weave in personal stories, industry insight, and policy critique with wit and a heavy dose of sarcasm—never shying away from poking fun at themselves, powerful corporations, or government regulators. The episode is a blend of nostalgia, skepticism of big institutions, and grudging acceptance of market realities.

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SUMMARY

For listeners, this episode delivers an entertaining yet nuanced exploration of why it’s so hard (and often expensive) to see your favorite acts live, how both government and corporations contribute to the mess, and the complicated tradeoffs between “fairness,” competition, and market efficiency. If you’ve ever lost out on tickets you wanted—or wondered why even a $1500 seat might eventually sell for $180—you’ll find plenty to nod (or laugh) along with here.

Transcript

[Armstrong]

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[Armstrong]

Sold both Malungs for Taylor Swift tickets. So one more thing.

[Ad Producer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Armstrong]

One more.

[Getty]

I don't know if that was. I don't know if that was good long term thinking.

[Armstrong]

You're gonna need those lungs now. All I've got is a Ziploc bag. I inhale. I got a Ziploc bag attached to my trachea.

[Getty]

I'll tell you what era I'm in, the post lung era.

[Armstrong]

So I thought this was so interesting from the folks at the National Review, such a great example of policies that sound good but don't make sense if you think about them. That's point number one. Point number two, how a lot of common sense regulations to ensure the safety of the American people are actually the super giant corporations knowing we can crush all of our smaller innovative competitors because we'll saddle them with compliance costs they can't handle. So time honored strategy, actually, Tim Sandifer of the Goldwater Institute, old time friend of the Armstrong and Getty show, has written brilliantly about this. All sorts of different scams and schemes where regulation looks like it's to protect the consumer, but it's not at all. Anyway, so Trump signed an executive order earlier this year directing federal agencies to fix the seemingly broken live entertainment market. And, and according to the National Review, he was standing up for ordinary Americans who've been priced out of concerts and sporting events by, as they write, a system riddled with opaque pricing, aggressive automated bots that buy up and resell tickets in large quantities, even though that's illegal and limited to options. And so the order gave the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Treasury Department until, let's see, the 27th of September, which is coming right up as we record this, to propose reforms. And let's see, this is written by Vance Ginn, or Gin, who was the.

[Getty]

Has concert tickets always been this way? I didn't, I didn't live in a part of the country where you could go to concerts. So it was never on my radar. You did when. When you were young, like in the 70s, could you jump on the phone the day tickets came out and get really good seats? No. No. So it's not.

[Armstrong]

Buy him in person, for one thing. Okay, well, the only way to buy a ticket was in person for the concerts I went to as a teenager.

[Getty]

Could you show up in person and stand in line and get a really good seat? Or has it always been kind of mobbed up to where all the good seats were already gone.

[Armstrong]

Sort of in that the record companies and the big radio stations and maybe the promoter who ran the hall would get a bunch of good tickets. Like once I stayed out overnight, slept in line.

[Getty]

Air Supply, wasn't it? It was Air Supply.

[Armstrong]

It was Air Supply for their wussier than ever tour. No, several buddies and I slept out waiting all night for Rush tickets. And we were. I think we got there like the previous day, I think during your school.

[Getty]

Year or in the summer.

[Armstrong]

I don't remember. You slept all night for tickets. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That was the only way to get really good tickets. And so. And it was. It was quite the party. As I recall, though, we were very tired in the morning.

[Getty]

What I was wondering, where did you. Urina.

[Armstrong]

I don't remember how that worked exactly, but it was one of those situations where. Jesus.

[Getty]

What. What is wrong with you?

[Armstrong]

So, as I recall, since you get to know everybody anywhere near you, because you're there for hours and hours and hours with, remember kids, no screens.

[Getty]

Right.

[Armstrong]

Just chatting. Right.

[Getty]

It's not like now where you wait in line. He got all the world's entertainment sitting there in your hand. Of course, you always do.

[Armstrong]

You would explain, hey, I got to take a pee or whatever.

[Getty]

And.

[Armstrong]

And. And you'd go and you'd come back and the people you've been with for the last 18 hours, we're not going to say you snooze, you lose.

[Getty]

Get out of line.

[Armstrong]

No, you just get back in line. And everybody kind of policed it. But anyway, so we were, as I recall, sixth in line, and it was a maximum of four tickets per person, and we ended up in, I think, the eighth row.

[Getty]

That's pretty good ticket.

[Armstrong]

Yeah, it's pretty good tickets. But that's like 350 tickets away from the front of the stage anyway, because, you know, the powers that be got the ticks. But it was a lot better than it is today when the only way to buy tickets on resale was to know somebody who knows a scalper or something like that. Anyway, so back to the story. So they're supposed to crank out these proposals to protect consumers, enforce the law and expand competition and as Mr. Ginn here writes, not reward powerful incumbents with a regulatory moat. Unfortunately, Ticketmaster is now lobbying the administration to impose a resale price cap, limiting ticket resales to just 20% above face value, which sounds like a win for fans.

[Getty]

How would you enforce that?

[Armstrong]

Oh, gosh, that would be hard. I mean, it's such an enormous market and so spread out. Anyway, the writer writes, it's not a win for fans. It's a clever attempt to crush rivals under the guise of reform. And it will only make this system worse. It's fashionable to call Ticketmaster a monopoly, but the reality is more complex. Yes, it's dominant in primary ticketing, but there are many resale platforms, platforms, SeatGeek, StubHub, Vivid Seats. And competition is growing from direct to fan platforms and decentralized systems. The only reason Ticketmaster still holds so much power despite the number of competing options, is that government helped it entrench the company. There are some state laws that mandate consumers can only resell their tickets on the same website they bought them from. And this benefits Ticketmaster as the company controls more than 80% of the primary ticketing marketplace.

[Getty]

I didn't realize that I use StubHub and SeatGeek pretty often. I didn't know Ticketmaster was that big.

[Armstrong]

So obviously Ticketmaster earns twice, once on the original sale and again on the resale. The added business Ticketmaster is received because of government regulations like these have given his parent company, Live Nation, more capital to spend on amassing controlling interest in more event venues. With the tout tally now being nearly 400 venues worldwide. And these venues, many of which receive public subsidies, then lock in exclusive deals with one ticketing vendor. More often than not, it's Ticketmaster. Now, instead of advocating that the Trump administration remove these government created barriers, which by limited competition limiting competition, raise prices on fans, Live Nation is proposing that Washington add more government red tape on the ticket industry through resale price controls, which would push up prices by further reducing overall industry competition and innovation.

[Getty]

Does scalping at the site still exist? And if so, why? I haven't scalped in the smartphone era. I used to scalp a lot, like all the time. Sporting events mostly. But why would it exist in the smartphone era where you can leave your ticket up there for sale, lower the price as it gets closer to game time or first note of the concert and then sell it that way?

[Ad Producer]

There was a guy.

[Armstrong]

Go ahead, Katie.

[Ad Producer]

Well, no, there was A guy that used to hang out outside of AT&T park in San Francisco that was scalping tickets and they ended up being fake. So I got totally deterred from that.

[Getty]

Oh really? I never got, I never got burned on scalping somehow it never happened to me. But like. So when I took Henry to his first concert, the Eagles at the Sphere. Pretty. And I wanted really good seats. So pretty hard to get ticket. But I waited until an hour before the show started before I bought tickets as a little nerve wracking. As we had flown there stayed in a hotel. I had promised him a concert for his birthday and I hadn't bought tickets yet. I didn't tell him that, but I was just watching the price for the really good seats go down, down, down. They weren't standing outside the Sphere selling them. They had them on. I think it was StubHub and the price was just going down as it got closer because they didn't want to get stuck with their tickets. And I. Tickets that started at like $1500, I think I bought for 180.

[Armstrong]

Wow. Wow. And because those sites are so sensitive to anybody getting ripped off, they've got great.

[Getty]

Oh yeah, yeah. I have no worry on, on those, those big platforms.

[Armstrong]

No, I've never been burned, Michael.

[Ad Producer]

I remember when I was younger going to buying tickets from a gas station. I would meet this guy at the gas station who was a ticket scalper and pay extravagant prices for the tickets. Looking back, that was pretty foolish.

[Armstrong]

I don't know.

[Ad Producer]

But I didn't get ripped off. But I easily could have.

[Armstrong]

So back to the thread of the article because I find this interesting. Anyway, while independent platforms would collapse if they had that 20% above face value rule, Live Nation Ticketmaster would survive just fine. Unlike many of its competitors, its business is not based on resale profits. They make their money from managing the vast majority of the primary ticketing marketplace. Venue fees, artist management and its exclusive of partnerships. That's why it can call for a cap, because it knows its rivals can't afford that. Other governments have tried this. In Ireland, a 2021 resale cap led to a surge in ticket fraud by 2024, as criminal networks filled the void. Ahead of the Paris Olympics, France saw hundreds of scam resale sites pop up due to restricted legitimate options. 2025 UK government study found fraud rates in regulated resale markets were four times higher than in open ones. In other words, price caps don't stop on fair ticket resale practices. They just limit legitimate competition. Well, you, you said you asked the Question. It's a good one. How do you enforce this over zillions of, you know, computers and, you know, everywhere in America people can click and buy tickets? Well, the answer on StubHub would be, well, we have to or we would go to business. So we use algorithms and security and blah blah, blah, IP addresses, blah blah, blah. Nobody's allowed to use a VPN and sell tickets, et cetera, et cetera. We make sure nobody ever gets ripped off. So you're gonna trust them or are you gonna trust the Federal Trade Commission to make sure there's no ticket fraud?

[Getty]

Right.

[Armstrong]

The experience of all these European countries is the government can't hope to regulate it successfully and so the criminals move in and say, yes, now is the time, and it drives all the legit resellers out of business. I'm not saying I love the situation where like T swizzle tickets, for instance, get snatched up. And like, what percentage do you suppose of people who attended the shows bought them from ticket resellers?

[Getty]

I have only purchased from ticket resellers for quite some time now, so. But I don't know for, for most people.

[Armstrong]

Yeah, I don't, I don't know either. I'm, you know, super high profile, super sought after stuff. I tend to go to weirder shows that only weirdos go to, but I've.

[Getty]

Done some pretty big sporting events and concerts and yeah, it's expensive, but I'm a free market guy so that doesn't bother me really. But I love, man, the modern like seat geek where you go on there and it shows you what your view is going to be like at the football field from that seat.

[Armstrong]

That's awesome. Yeah. Final note from this guy writing, fans deserve a fair shot at tickets and entrepreneurs deserve a fair shot at competing. That's what a truly free market provides. But we won't get there by handing Ticketmaster a government enforced price shield.

[Getty]

Yeah, my, my biggest complaint with the way the modern thing works is the artist doesn't get the money. You know, don't use Taylor Swift because she has so much money.

[Armstrong]

But even with all her money, why.

[Getty]

Is some ticket broker getting $500 for your $80 ticket instead of you? You're the demand.

[Armstrong]

You know, I wish we had Al Anonymous, the ticket broker who's a friend of mine with us right now because one, one interesting thing about the whole ticket brokers thing is they have contracts to buy X number of tickets. They're like in. Oh, how do I explain this? It's like buying futures in commodities and so they will buy tickets at face value, lots of them that end up not being profitable at all. They lose money on them because there's less demand than they thought they would be for whatever tour or what have you. And so the actual artists and promoters like them because they limit the opportunity for loss, because they buy futures when.

[Getty]

Air Supply is on their wussier than ever nostalgia tour.

[Armstrong]

Right.

[Getty]

They're happy that Ticketmaster is buying up all those tickets.

[Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. In general. And you know, you also have to get back to the idea that if, you know, I'm Judy and I are going to see Elvis Costello before too long. Longtime musical hero of mine.

[Getty]

How old is Elvis Costello now?

[Armstrong]

Oh, golly gee, he's, he's got to be 70.

[Getty]

And I don't bash musicians based on their age because I've seen some old musicians and they all play and sound fantastic.

[Armstrong]

Right.

[Ad Producer]

He just turned 71.

[Getty]

Yeah, he'll be fine. I saw, I saw, I saw 80 year old Eagles play like crazy.

[Armstrong]

So yeah, I've seen recent shows and he and his band sound fantastic. But anyway, if I went on and saw that I could not see EC for less than $425. If I don't want to spend that much, I don't go. And if I do want to spend that much, I do. It's called supply and it's delightful companion demand. It's fine. Would I prefer some fantasy land where it was always face value? And if we had more time and I had more expertise, I would explain why face value tickets are often underpriced. But that has to do with a number of people, including the artist, have every interest in a sellout or as close to a sellout as they can get. And they get murdered if they have half empty arenas. That's the one thing they must avoid.

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[Getty]

Famously when he was setting his record at Madison Square Garden with sold out shows, he'd buy the first I forget how many rows, six rows or whatever and then give those to people that had the upper tickets when the concert started because he wanted real fans in the front.

[Armstrong]

That's cool.

[Getty]

He said he did that for him because he wanted real fans who are really excited to be there, not people who are always in the front row and bored with the thing. I mean I had that experience at the Eagles. I was in the front row with my son. We were seat. He was seat one A row one. Seat one. And. But he was very excited. His first concert ever. But there were a lot of rich people around me who showed up late, barely paid attention, looking at their phones. Just annoying.

[Ad Producer]

Yeah, that's got to be just a downer for the performer.

[Getty]

Yes. That's what Billy Joel says. He didn't want to look out there and see people who have seen it all and are bored to death. People are screaming and yelling and this is the night of their life. They're going to tell people about forever.

[Armstrong]

I love that. I love that. That's so smart. Yeah.

[Getty]

And that does.

[Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Getty]

One of the first concerts I've ever went to might have been the first concert I went to, but I had nosebleed seats. I was thrilled to be up there. Nosebleed. Just because I was seeing somebody live. I wouldn't do it now sitting up there, having been. I'm jaded from being in the radio business. You get to sit in a lot of cool seats. But I. I couldn't get excited about it now, but I did once.

[Armstrong]

In retrospect, I should have sold like one lung in one kidney. But the guy was paying good for lungs. And I thought, you know, why not double my money?

[Ad Producer]

I could have given up a toe or two. You can get by on three or four toes.

[Getty]

Nobody has any use for a toe, though. People need lungs, livers.

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[Getty]

Come on.

[Tech User]

Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient.

[Lenovo Advertiser]

Still using yesterday's tech upgrade to the ThinkPad X1 carbon ultralight, ultra powerful and built for serious productivity with Intel Core Ultra processors, blazing speed and AI powered performance that keeps up with your business, not the other way around.

[Tech User]

Whoa, this thing moves.

[Lenovo Advertiser]

Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Win the tech [e-mail] Lenovo Lenovo unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create and boost productivity all on one device.

[Justin Richmond]

This is Justin Richmond, host of Broken Record. Lexus is a company that believes in the importance of setting a standard, which I can appreciate as someone who holds themselves to lofty, if not ridiculous standards, especially with the car I drive. The standard Lexus has set for themselves is to experience amazing. Lexus measures success by the feeling and emotions evoked in a driver, like exhilaration and joy. Amazing can only be achieved by knowing people on a deeper level. The standard of amazing results in a feeling in drivers that their car was built in anticipation of them. Machines that make you feel more human because a car that doesn't make you feel something is a car that stops short of amazing experience. Amazing at your Lexus dealer.

[Ad Producer]

This is an Iheart podcast.