How to get presale codes, source by source
Fan clubs, Ticketmaster lists, card issuers, venues and Spotify all hand out codes; an AyeWatch alert tells you when one of them posts an offer.
How to get presale codes comes down to joining the right list before the tour is announced: the fan club, Ticketmaster's own presale lists, your card issuer or carrier, the venue newsletter, or the artist's sign-up page. Then use an alert service such as AyeWatch to tell you when one of those sources posts a new offer, because the codes are handed out on their schedule, not yours.
Ticketmaster's help pages list more than a dozen places codes come from. Here they are grouped by what you have to do to qualify.
Codes you get by signing up
These cost nothing but a little attention before the announcement.
- Artist presale. Sign in to Ticketmaster, open the artist's presale sign-up page and tick the shows you want. Ticketmaster emails a reminder with an access link the day before. Some artist presales run through another company and need a code, which is emailed the night before.
- Ticketmaster presale. Opt in to Ticketmaster offers and add artists, teams and venues to your Favorites.
- Venue and team lists. Local venues run their own presales, so their newsletters are worth joining. Sports teams do the same through their email lists.
- Social and radio. Ticketmaster suggests following artists, venues and shows on social media, and checking radio station sites for contests.
Codes you get by being a customer
| Source | How access works, per Ticketmaster |
|---|---|
| Credit cards | Some issuers, Citibank and Chase among them, offer presales to cardholders |
| Cash App | Enter the first nine digits of an active Cash Card |
| T-Mobile and Verizon | Offers for eligible customers through their benefit programs |
| Spotify | May pick active listeners who follow the artist for a unique code |
| Live Nation All Access | Presales open automatically when signed in with the same email |
Codes you pay for
Fan club memberships often include presale access, and some tours offer codes to fans who pre-order the new album. Ticketmaster notes that fan club codes come from the fan club and are case sensitive, so type them exactly.
Why codes slip past people
The hard part is not the code itself. It is the timing. Sign-up windows close, emails land in promotions folders, and a venue presale may never reach a national list. Ticketmaster also says a code does not guarantee a ticket and that not every event has a presale.
This is where an alert layer helps. With AyeWatch, you paste the artist's tour page, the venue's events page or your card issuer's entertainment page, and write a rule like "alert me when a presale code offer or sign-up for this tour is posted". You get a push notification when it appears. Push and the in-app feed come with every plan, including the free preview; paid plans start at $9 a month and add email, Slack, Discord and webhooks.
A simple routine
- Pick the two or three artists you care about most.
- Join their fan club lists and Ticketmaster presale sign-ups, and add them to your Favorites.
- Check which of your cards or phone plans run presales.
- Set AyeWatch on each artist's tour page and your nearest venue.
- When an alert fires, act on it the same day.
If you only follow one artist who announces everything in a single newsletter, that newsletter may be enough on its own. The routine above pays off once you follow several acts across different venues.
For a worked example of tracking one major tour this way, see the AyeWatch blog post on presale monitoring.