American Express launched a portal that lets cardholders buy tickets early to concerts and sports games. The implication is that you needed help losing money faster.
The service is called American Express Experiences. Not Amex Tickets. Not Presale Access. Experiences. Because watching someone else perform while you sit in a chair you overpaid for by 40% is now classified as an experience worth branding.
Here's how it works. You hold an Amex card. You log into their portal. You see a list of events. You buy tickets before the general public. You pay more than face value because it's exclusive. You attend the event. You post about it. You check your credit card statement. You realize the nosebleed seats to see a washed-up band cost you three hundred dollars after fees.
The entire value proposition rests on the word exclusive. Exclusive access. Exclusive presales. Exclusive opportunity to wire your paycheck directly to Ticketmaster while feeling like you won something.
Retail traders will love this. They already buy options on companies they can't spell. Now they can buy concert tickets they can't afford using credit they don't have. The Venn diagram is a circle.
American Express charges an annual fee for most of these cards. You pay them for the privilege of paying more for tickets. That's the business model. You're not the customer. You're the mark with a rewards program.
The technical analysis on this is simple. If you need a credit card company to access live events, you should probably just stay home and watch the charts. At least when you lose money on a 0DTE SPY call, nobody makes you sit through an opening act.
Photo by CardMapr.nl on Unsplash
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