Spotify will launch a new ticketing program called Reserved this summer that sets aside two seats at select concerts for an artist's most engaged listeners. The program identifies superfans based on Spotify activity and reserves tickets for them rather than placing them in a general presale queue.

Identified users will have a full day to purchase the seats reserved for them, and Spotify will not add any fees on its platform. To qualify, fans must be legal adults who subscribe to Spotify's paid Premium service, and offers will be for shows in their local area.

Spotify will identify real fans based on factors including streams, shares and other activity on the service, and will monitor Premium user activity to verify that participants are humans rather than bots. The company said the feature will help ensure more tickets go to fans instead of scalpers by only inviting validated users.

Reserved tickets are not guaranteed because there are more superfans than seats available on a tour, and availability will vary by artist, tour and location. Spotify said the program will later expand to more tours of all sizes.

"Getting concert tickets today can feel like a race you're set up to lose," Spotify said in announcing the program. "You show up at the right time, refresh endlessly, and still miss out. Too often, the experience is stressful, unpredictable, and disconnected from what should matter most: whether real fans actually get tickets."

Spotify also described the Reserved process as offering "no racing against thousands of other fans, no hunting for codes, just a reserved window to purchase before tickets are on sale to the general public." The company already offers presale access for fans of some top-streamed artists.

The launch follows years of friction over high-demand concert sales. Taylor Swift used the Ticketmaster Verified Fan system for her 2018 Reputation stadium tour, offering fans a chance to boost their place in the presale queue through streaming, watching videos, purchasing merchandise and engaging on social media. The Verified Fan presale for her 2022 Eras Tour saw overwhelming demand.

Live Nation, Ticketmaster's parent company, settled an antitrust case with the U.S. Justice Department. As part of the settlement, Ticketmaster agreed to provide a stand-alone ticketing system allowing third-party companies including SeatGeek and StubHub to offer primary tickets through its platform. Service fees will be capped at 15%, Ticketmaster will divest up to 13 amphitheaters and it will reserve 50% of tickets for nonexclusive venues, according to a senior Justice official.

Artists including Harry Styles, Oasis and Ed Sheeran have canceled tickets associated with scalpers to offer them to fans at a fair price. Ticketmaster platforms also allow people to see unsold tickets as "blue dots" available for purchase.