Where Do Presale Codes Actually Come From?

A presale is an early buying window that opens before the general on-sale, and a presale code is what proves you belong to the group it was opened for. For a high-demand tour, that early window is often where the best seats actually go. This guide covers where codes genuinely come from, how to track down the code for one specific tour, and what your options are when the presale is gone.

The six places codes actually come from

• The artist's fan club or mailing list. The most reliable source, and usually the earliest window. Sign up on the artist's official site before a tour is announced — codes are emailed to the list, so joining after the announcement is often too late.
• Credit-card partners. In Canada, American Express runs card-member presales for a large share of arena tours; other issuers occasionally do the same. You need to hold the card and pay with it, and the code is usually the first digits of the card or is shown in the card's own entertainment portal.
• Radio stations. Local stations get an allocation for shows in their market and give codes away on air, in newsletters, or on their websites. This is the most accessible route for a show in your own city, and it costs nothing.
• The venue. Arenas, theatres and clubs run their own member or newsletter presales for events they host. Signing up to the two or three venues you attend most is a small amount of effort with a long shelf life.
• Streaming and platform lists. Spotify and similar services notify an artist's top listeners about presales, and some platforms run their own windows. These are automatic if you already listen to the artist.
• Tour-specific promotions. Album pre-orders, merch bundles and sponsor promotions frequently include a presale code. The tour announcement itself will say if one exists.

Finding the code for one specific tour

Start at the source and work outward. The artist's official tour page lists every presale window for that tour and who each one is for — that tells you which codes exist before you go looking for them. Then check the ones you already qualify for: your email for fan-club and venue newsletters, your card issuer's entertainment portal, and the local station's site for the city you want to attend in. Note each window's start time and time zone, and be signed in to the relevant account before it opens, because the queue starts the second it does.

Two cautions. Codes are tied to one presale and one event — a code for a show in Toronto will not work for the same tour in Calgary. And treat any site selling codes as a scam risk: resold codes are routinely already used or expired, and you have no recourse when one fails at checkout.

When the presale sells out

Presale allocations are limited by design, so plenty of fans with valid codes still miss out. Two things usually happen next. First, artists frequently add dates when demand is obvious, and added dates get their own presales — so staying on the mailing list still pays off. Second, once tickets are issued and transferable, the resale market fills in: buyers who can no longer attend list their seats, and new listings appear continuously, sometimes below face value as the date approaches. TheTicketers indexes those live listings, so you can compare seats and all-in prices for the event in one place instead of refreshing a sold-out primary page.

For the wider timeline that presales sit inside — announcement, presales, general on-sale — see when tickets go on sale, and for the sold-out case specifically, how to buy tickets to a sold-out show.

Frequently asked questions

Browse events with presales on now, or see what is on sale today.