A disturbing trend is sweeping across Australia, as more music artists cancel their tours due to low ticket sales.

Colloquially known as ‘blue dot fever’, the epidemic of Aussies missing out on music is becoming increasingly more common.

Appearing on 3AW Afternoons, freelance music journalist Tyler Jenke said that the music industry is pricing itself out of business.

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“As a result, you’ve got more people voting with their wallets and saying, I guess we don’t need to go. And the flow on effect is that more of these artists are now cancelling as well, which again, it’s a shame that it’s sort of come down to that but people are needing to make that decision,” Jenke said.

Blue dot fever refers to a sea of unsold tickets to a concert, appearing as lots of blue dots that indicate there are seats available, but are not being bought due to the increased cost.

The Australian music industry has been struggling to make a come-back in a post COVID world, with local music festivals such as ‘Blues Fest’ and ‘Splendour in the Grass’ not announcing a return in 2026.

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