# Raye, Sam Fender, Garth Brooks… and the bots. Five things to know about the AI arms race in live ticketing

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/raye-sam-fender-garth-brooks-and-the-bots-five-things-to-know-about-the-ai-arms-race-in-live-ticketing/
- Published: 2026-11-02T14:26:22+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-04T01:27:46+00:00
- Original publisher: Music Business Worldwide
- Original article: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/raye-sam-fender-garth-brooks-and-the-bots-five-things-to-know-about-the-ai-arms-race-in-live-ticketing/
- Topics: AI, Americas, Art, Culture, Entertainment, Music, Technology, World

## Key points

- Bots disrupted sales for Raye, Garth Brooks and Sam Fender.
- Raye’s presale had 1.8 million registrations for 5,000 seats.
- Ticketing firms and US regulators are battling bot-driven buying.

## Summary

Ticket bots disrupted sales linked to Raye, Garth Brooks and Sam Fender in October, showing how automated attacks can affect presales and even lead to a show being cancelled. Artists and ticketing companies are trying to keep tickets available for genuine fans, while regulators are pursuing claims under US anti-bot laws.

Raye’s presale drew 1.8 million registrations for 5,000 seats, prompting her team to review applications and send codes to people it considered real fans. More than 90,000 people entered the queue for Brooks’ Kansas City show, most of whom were later said to be bots; the sale was stopped and the show cancelled. Fender’s Newcastle presale was postponed after a reported attack on ticketing site Gigantic. Ticketmaster said it blocked nearly 260 million bot access attempts a day in 2025, while an FTC case alleges one broker used more than 13,000 accounts to evade safeguards; the broker denies breaking the law.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.