Singer Taylor Swift during a concert in New Rutherford, New Jersey on May 26. SARAH YENESEL (EFE)
Taylor Swift’s first Latin American tour has already begun to wreak havoc on thousands of teenagers’ spirits and their parents’ wallets. Advance sales for their concerts on November 9th and 10th in Buenos Aires sold out in less than an hour and a half this Monday, and the general sale, which begins Tuesday, is beginning to take on the tone of an open battle. Despite the economic crisis, Argentines have gotten used to sold-out shows, but the American pop artist’s visit opened a new chapter. At the dollar price on the black market set by the local thrifts, in interest-free installments for the preselected bank, and with the devaluation of the peso accessed by cards from banks outside the country, the tickets promise a bargain. Comparing the prices paid in the United States to see one of the highest-grossing singers in the world.
Taylor Swift’s return to the stage after five years began with a scandal that reached the Washington Capitol. When advance sales of the first dates in the US started in November, the Ticketmaster company sold two million tickets in one day and the escalating high prices due to demand and the collapse of the company system ended in an investigation. through monopoly that united Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. Swift, 33, kicked off her North American tour in March and the few remaining tickets to see her have sold by the thousands. According to Bloomberg, the $1,500 a resale ticket could cost for her visit to Chicago last weekend covers the cost of the most expensive ticket to her shows in Argentina, along with the plane ticket to Buenos Aires.
Offering a ticket to Taylor Swift in Argentina is a master class in economics. The official price is between 86,000 and 18,000 Argentine pesos, between 360 and 75 dollars at the official exchange rate, and is close to the average for the rest of the tour. But the 240 pesos per dollar central bank rate is almost a fiction for the citizens.
“Tell me how many Argentines have the capacity to save, and I’ll tell you how much the country saves in dollars,” economist Emiliano Libman analyzed the use of the dollar in an interview with this newspaper a few weeks ago. A store of income promotes de facto dollarization in the country. Those Argentines who manage to save in an economy where inflation is more than 100% a year are doing so in dollars that can almost only be found on the street: the price this week is 482 pesos per dollar.
At the so-called Blue Dollar, the most expensive ticket for Taylor Swift costs half the official price, around 155 US dollars. For purchases made in the country with cards from a foreign bank, the price is similar: Since December last year, the Argentine government has been giving tourists a special rate – currently around 475 pesos per dollar – to avoid selling theirs Currencies on the street and choose to issue them with plastic through the banking system.
Without even thinking about it, in dollars or with a card from a foreign bank, the most expensive ticket costs minimum wage. The 24,000 sold this Monday could not be bought using any of these tricks and could only be bought through a single national bank. But those who bought in advance can pay them in six fixed installments with no interest, which, with a nearly 10% monthly devaluation, reveals another common Argentine anti-inflation method: borrowing to liquidate the purchase price .
The rumor that tickets in Argentina are free compared to prices in the United States has angered the legion of Taylor Swift fans. Some demand that only those who know their entire discography go there; others ask their friends not to bring their friends just to accompany them; Many threaten violence if their friends run out of tickets on the day of the concert and hear a foreign accent. The weekend joke on social media was to quote a tweet from a US fan who wondered if it was safe to attend the concert because there would be no chairs on the pitch. One of the most popular responses was to highlight Argentina’s pride in being a loyal audience that goes crazy in front of its artists. The other, more common, was to warn him that it wasn’t safe at all and that it was best if he didn’t even think about coming.
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