Pantera performing live in Mexico. Photo Credit: Diego Vigueras
Pantera is the latest artist to launch a Spotify-exclusive “Fans First” ticket presale. Down the line, will diehard supporters have to pay for early access under the Super-Premium tier?
The question is front of mind given the recent rumblings of Spotify’s more expensive subscription option. As many know, the long-awaited offering – referred to as Super-Premium, Supremium, Deluxe, and Music Pro alike – has been in the works for years.
But CEO Daniel Ek only confirmed Super-Premium this past summer, and 2025’s opening two months have delivered continued speculation about which features the package will contain.
As things stand, Super-Premium is rumored to encompass a suite of AI-mixing tools, higher-quality audio, and exclusive concert tickets, to name a few perks. The potential support for AI mixing (which may well face licensing-prompted delays) and upgraded audio (which has been in the pipeline for years) isn’t new.
However, the possibility that Spotify will enable certain superfans to access tour presales and/or exclusive seats just recently started gaining traction.
Earlier in February, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino acknowledged exclusive-access discussions between Ticketmaster and Spotify. Judging by those remarks, it’s unclear whether largescale Ticketmaster presales are in the cards for Spotify. Even so, that’s not to say the service’s reported paid-presale ambitions are dead in the water.
As initially mentioned, Pantera is the newest act to afford dedicated followers a presale opportunity through the “Fans First” initiative. In a brief message included in an email from Spotify, the veteran metal group informed stateside recipients that they’d scored “special access to tickets for the tour.”
Normally, the development would perhaps fly under the radar. Spotify isn’t a stranger to high-profile presales, and when it comes to Pantera’s concert series, fans also have several other means of obtaining passes before a general onsale tomorrow.
In light of Spotify’s reported Super-Premium ticketing objectives, though, the focus is naturally shifting to possible presale monetization.
Most immediately, major Spotify-Ticketmaster presale agreement or not, will fans have to pay for Fans First presales from their followed artists at some point?
And what about exclusive access to merch and other “experiences”? Spotify has been leaning into the latter, referring in part to branded events, during 2025. And the Fans First email rather directly spells out that “loyal listeners” can receive “concert presale tickets, limited-edition merchandise, [and] one-of-a-kind experiences” alike.
Time will tell exactly what this means for Super-Premium. But it’s safe to say that far-reaching questions remain about the tier, which, for better or worse, could usher in a new era of superfan monetization during Spotify’s “year of accelerated execution.”
Content shared from www.digitalmusicnews.com.