The Man Who Broke Ticketmaster (vice.com) 120
Jason Koebler quotes a report from Motherboard: The scourge of ticket bots and the immorality of the shady ticket scalpers using them is conventional wisdom that's so ingrained in the public consciousness and so politically safe that a law to ban automated ticket bots passed both houses of Congress unanimously late last year, in part thanks to a high-profile public relations campaign spearheaded by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. But no one actually involved in the ticket scalping industry thinks that banning bots will do much to slow down the secondary market. Seven years after his Los Angeles office was raided by shotgun-wielding FBI agents, Ken Lowson, the man who invented ticket bots, told Motherboard's Jason Koebler he's switched teams. Now, he's out to expose the secrets of the ticket industry in a bid to make sure tickets are sold directly to their fans.
Re: (Score:2)
Have one buy a ticket and have the other one "want to sit next to (id)" when they buy it.
Re: (Score:2)
And when that seat has already sold in the meantime? As well as the next 20 seats down the row? And one of the two people is a minor, say, a 10 year old?
Re: (Score:2)
Same thing that they should do for airline seats: Instead of assigning a seat, assign a set of preferences with ranked weighting. For example, sort the following in order of personal preference:
The first one might have a weight of 2,000, the second one might have a weight of 1,000
Re: (Score:2)
I wish to face in / against the direction of travel.
Having taken a number of hard landings and violent turbulence in various helicopters over the years, I can assure you that you get thrown about far less in a rear-facing seat. (Except for those rare occasions when the aircraft is flying backwards, which the pilots only do at taxiing speed anyway, on account of having to look in their mirrors while doing it.)
Re: (Score:3)
That brings a whole new set of problems, like people buying no-refund tickets being unable to even give them to their friends if they realize that they can't make it to the show for whatever reason... not to mention all the empty seats that make the concert seem unpopular, thus reducing demand for future shows.
Re: (Score:3)
Auctions.
A few last minute concert-goers would have to privately buy from someone, but an auction format would mean that the first sale price would rapidly approach the true price and thus eliminate the scalpers' profits.
Re: (Score:3)
And yes, the market of limited supply at a fixed rate is trivial to corner if you can buy it all out before with trivial amounts of capital. The proper trick is for tickcetmaster be the actual elastic supplier during the markets course until closing - by emitting new tickets / buying back to prevent fluctuations - in such a way that 1 hour before the ev
Re: Easy solution (Score:2)
Auctions are not unrelated because show tickets are not a commodity. A certain ticket is for a certain seat for a certain show. Some shows may be general admission, but then a ticket is still reasonably distinct as it is for a certain show.
Re: (Score:2)
Maturity times are different for each piece of instrument, but it is lumped together with each being priced by the slight variation in demand for each variant. Because in general, the market does not care about the slight differences between variants. They're fine as long they get *some*.
What I'm trying to say is that auction technically is very limited form of market - where your bid is allo
ticket Lotty (Score:2)
ticket Lotty
Put a captcha on (Score:1)
TicketMaster and the like could easily stop bots IF THEY WANTED TO. But they don't, because they get sellouts, sometimes to things that wouldn't otherwise sellout.
Re:Put a captcha on (Score:5, Insightful)
My hunch is that at least some of the bots are their's.
At any rate, the face value of a concert ticket is meaningless. Since Ticketmaster and the venues find so many clever ways to hold back tickets, distribute them to resellers and other parties before you ever get your hands on one, the dollar value is just pointless. They might as well have tickets called "Cheapest, Cheap, Affordable, Expensive, Really Expensive and HOLY FUCKING SHIT YOU REALLY LOVE THIS BAND!!!!"
After I went to see AC/DC in 2015 in Vancouver, I said that was it for me and big venue concerts. It was an incredible concert, to be sure, but the amount of money and time it took to get there was just outrageous. My wife and I had just as good a time heading over to watch King Crimson in December 2015 in a nice 3000 seat venue where you could actually see the band without the need of a video screen, where volume levels weren't so insane that you were still functionally deaf 48 hours later, and where the venue wasn't filled with beer-swilling psychotics. When I went to my last Rush concert there was literally a drunken couple in the row ahead of us who got into a fucking brawl. Seriously, those people must have paid over $300 for tickets, and to do that and then spend god-knows how much to get pissed up on venue beer, and then get into a fight and get thrown out! Fuck it, big venues suck, and Ticketmaster's evil schemes to fuck you out of more money than the face value of the ticket just puts the cork on it.
Re:Put a captcha on (Score:5, Informative)
My hunch is that at least some of the bots are their's.
Most are. In fact, TicketMaster skips the bots entirely.
TicketMaster owns and operates TicketsNow, which is ticket scalping site.
TicketMaster pinches off a chunk (often the bulk) of tickets and gives them to TicketsNow BEFORE they go on sale.
If they don't sell on TicketsNow, TicketMaster takes some back and releases them on TicketMaster. This is why TicketMaster has the option to be alerted in case more tickets become available.
TicketsNow (and they probably have other sites that are the same damned thing) is their primary business because it lets them get out of any pricing contracts. TicketMaster "sells" the tickets to TicketsNow in advance (or at T 0), and TicketsNow resells them at a much higher price.
Re: (Score:3)
big venues suck
Not necessarily. I think it's more a case of "mainstream audiences suck" or "people who aren't used to going to concerts suck". I see it all the time, especially mainstream rock concerts. There is always a segment of (usually middle-aged) people there, who only go to a concert every other year. They don't know their limits when it comes to beer, they don't know basic concert etiquette, they get angry if they accidentally get bumped, and they especially get pissed off if someone spills a little beer on them,
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah. I remember going to Elton in the 80's. We got up to watch and dance along with Bennie and the Jets. How can you not? Well, maybe 80% of the audience couldn't. But this was the OC. The Yuppies were so wrapped up in career/life/family (in that order) that they forgot how to party.
It looks like very generation has their Yuppies.
Re: (Score:3)
Just wait 20 years and then see them for free at the State Fair.
Re: (Score:2)
Hell yeah, baby. Good price and usually a better venue. Usually the same sound. More wrinkles.
Re: (Score:2)
ticketmaster is not the solution to anything.
Supply and demand (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Supply and demand (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is that demand for many performances is hard to forecast, and the performers want sell-out crowds. So they price the tickets low to ensure that every seat is filled. But then the scalpers come along and buy up the tickets, boost the price, and often have unsold inventory, which means empty seats.
The solution is NOT to ban scalping. Scalping is a response to a market failure, and trying to ban it is not going to work. A better solution is to put the tickets on sale at a high price with a publicly announced sliding price scale, so the price drops each day as the performance gets closer. So customers have a choice of either paying now and having a guaranteed seat, or waiting and maybe getting a cheaper ticket next week. This will maximize revenue, fill every seat, and leave no space for scalpers.
Re:Supply and demand (Score:5, Insightful)
How is it that the scalpers can predict demand, but Ticketmaster cannot?
Re:Supply and demand (Score:4, Insightful)
How is it that the scalpers can predict demand, but Ticketmaster cannot?
Because scalpers set prices to maximize profits. In most cases, ticketmaster does not set the price, and their clients generally set the price to FILL THE VENUE, with short-term profit as a secondary consideration.
Re: (Score:3)
Ticketmaster doesn't many money on the price of the ticket, the venue does. Ticketmaster makes money on their ridiculous bullshit fees which the get regardless of the base price of the ticket.
Re:Supply and demand (Score:5, Informative)
The scalpers ARE TicketMaster, most of the time. TicketMaster owns TicketsNow, which is basically eBay for scalpers. TicketMaster moves its own tickets to TicketsNow to charge obscene prices, preventing anyone from buying them on TicketMaster.
Re:Supply and demand (Score:4, Insightful)
How is it that the scalpers can predict demand, but Ticketmaster cannot?
They don't - scalpers are making a bet - the sometimes lose. This is the situations for many "distributors" in different retail industries, where wholesalers give up some profit to retailers in exchange for reduced risk.
Re: (Score:2)
This will also unfairly give people with large disposable income a huge advantage, as if they didn't have enough advantages in society already.
The fix is simple: Make it illegal to sell tickets for higher than face value. It has worked amazingly well here.
Re:Supply and demand (Score:4, Interesting)
The fix is simple
Not everyone believes that anything needs to be "fixed", or that scalping is a problem at all.
Make it illegal to sell tickets for higher than face value. It has worked amazingly well here.
Why should the police and courts get involved in supporting and subsidizing a broken business model?
Should the police also arrest people that resell used cars for prices not approved by the auto manufacturers?
Re: (Score:2)
Is there currently a problem with "car scalpers"?
No, because you have a huge number of sellers to choose from, both first-hand and second-hand.
Not so with tickets. Generally the tickets for a particular show is only sold through one outlet, at a price that has been agreed on by the venue, the artist('s management) and the ticket company.
Scalpers unfairly deprive people of the ability to buy tickets at the agreed price, by creating artificial scarcity. Hence why regulation is needed.
Re: (Score:2)
The only people getting rich are scummy middlemen with no skin in the game
You must be talking about companies like Ticketmaster, right? Because all the ticket scalpers have skin in the game, they didn't get the tickets they are selling for free. If they buy tickets that they don't sell, they take a loss.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
No. You got scalpers and bots because:
1) People refuse to let the free market set prices. Some events are worth more than the ticket price, otherwise no one would ever buy via a scalper. Instead they insist on a communist "Let everyone watch for the same price" method.
2) The people running the system do not suffer from the scalping, so they do not bother to institute simple methods to stop it.
For example, simply set it up so that you can only buy tickets either a) an hour before the show using
Re:Supply and demand (Score:5, Insightful)
For example, simply set it up so that you can only buy tickets either a) an hour before the show using cash abd getting your hand stamped, or b) with a credit card - that must be shown to pick up the tickets upto an hour before the show.
1. Many people are not going to go to a show that requires them to waste an hour of their time, with no guarantee of even getting a ticket.
2. Scalpers can simply pay homeless people to stand in line and buy up the tickets.
3. This scheme would likely INCREASE demand for scalping, since in addition to getting a guaranteed ticket, you don't have to stand in line.
Re: (Score:2)
1) Not that hard to show how many tickets are left
2) What part of hand stamped did you not understand?
3) What part of "credit card" allows you to buy the ticket in advance do you not understand?
Re: (Score:2)
Only selling tickets just before the show as resulted in stampedes, and riots, with dozens of deaths at a time.
Your solution is inferior.
(Requiring each ticket to be registered to a specific name, and requiring ID to get in, is another matter.)
Re: (Score:2)
If you actually read my post you would see that credit cards would let you purchase tickets in advanced. In other words, the solution you "thought up" and wrote about (i.e. ID) was already in my post.
My solution was superior to yours as it still allowed for cash sales.
Re: Supply and demand (Score:4, Interesting)
People would go line up at that various music stores that were authorized Ticketmaster resellers. You'd get a numbered wristband and wait (similar to how people line up for Black Friday Sales now). You were allowed to buy up to a certain amount (usually 4) tickets.
The pro scalpers would just pay young adults to stand in line for them and buy the maximum allowed ticket amount.
They would then post ads in news papers and the like for "Event Tickets" and people would call to get the 2nd hand price.
Not much different than how it works today except, surprise, it use to require more actual humans to do before automation.
Re: (Score:2)
I gave ONE solution with multiple parts. (A) as an all cash option for those not using credit cards.
I also required hands to be stamped, something that would prevent the obvious abuses you mentioned.
Re: (Score:2)
I also required hands to be stamped, something that would prevent the obvious abuses you mentioned.
It does nothing of the sort, unless you greatly improve the quality of hand stamps. People simply draw a copy of the stamp. Are you going to have people trained to detect counterfeits accurately verifying all these hand stamps?
Re: (Score:2)
b) with a credit card - that must be shown to pick up the tickets upto an hour before the show.
If I buy one of these tickets, which often go on sale months before an event, and for some reason I'm not able to go, can I get a refund? Or did I just piss away whatever I spent on the tickets and leave some empty seats to discourage the artist, other fans and venue? Well, I guess the artist and venue wouldn't be toooo mad, they got paid.
Re: (Score:2)
The poor people end up in nose bleed, but the last time I did that, I ended up watching the band on the video screens and asking myself why I would pay over a thousand bucks for tickets, hotel, meals and gas when I could go buy the live DVD of one of their concerts for $30 on Amazon six months later.
That being said, I said Pink Floyd in 1995, and that is one band where nosebleed seats don't matter. But those guys knew how to put on a big venue concert, and really, nobody gives a shit which little ant on sta
Re: (Score:2)
I've found my solution to this problem: Stop going to bigass mainstream shows, they suck anyway (outside of acts like Pink Floyd).
Go listen to more interesting music, in smaller and more interesting venues instead.
Many of the ticket sites.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Ticketmaster was nailed on this something a decade or so ago as I recall, where one of the reseller sites was actually their company. Ticketmaster basically has a lock on tickets for any significant concert, and while multiple jurisdictions in North America have tried to bust the monopoly, it always ends up with a slap on the wrist and Ticketmaster promising to be good in the future, even as they dream up new ways to screw over consumers. I'm quite sure the way you see it is exactly the way it works, they'd
Re: (Score:2)
Ticketmaster basically has a lock on tickets
The "lock" is guaranteed regular payments to venues. Anyone with enough capital could try to "buy out" the venues and compete with Ticketmaster.
Ticket sellers should just run dutch auctions. (Score:5, Insightful)
You want a ticket, tell us how much you will pay for it. We'll sell the tickets to those making the highest offers. Done.
Scalping will continue at the edges, but the people putting on the shows will get the lion's share of the money, the only problem with scalping.
If Artists want to fuckover scalpers, all they've ever had to do was add shows. Let the scalpers buy all the tickets to shows 1 and 2. See how much the scalpers can get for them after they announce shows 3, 4 and 5 (continuing until they don't sell out).
Re: (Score:1)
The artists are not, and never were, in the equation. Just read up on how Pearl Jam took on Ticket Master and lost.
Re: (Score:2)
I recall Prince fucked over a few cities worth of scalpers doing exactly what I described.
But they don't really want to play half empty shows, even if every ticket was sold. Fragile egos and all. Plus scheduling issues.
Re: (Score:2)
So you basically just want the rich people with high disposable incomes to go to the shows, and no ordinary people?
And no, artists can't just add new shows as tickets sell out, it only happens for really big names, and they have a limited number of shows they can add. For one, you need a venue. And the band (or whatever) is probably moving on to the next city, so they can't exactly just hang around and do extra shows.
And how in the hell would you just schedule another NFL/any sports match?
Re: (Score:2)
So you basically just want the rich people with high disposable incomes to go to the shows, and no ordinary people?
Uhh, "ordinary people" can't own yachts, exotic sports cars, large precious stones, private jets or any of a number of expensive things.
The reality is that popular concerts have a demand that exceeds supply at the face value. Even if you could manage to totally eliminate scalping and sell the tickets on first come, first serve basis with limits you'd be basically re-writing the rules to say "just the people who can stand in line for hours get to buy tickets and not ordinary people with jobs or families".
Re: (Score:2)
No, it's more likely that Ticketmaster is in cahoots with the scalpers, in fact they've already had several convictions for this.
What I'm saying is, that instead of handing rich people another piece of society and culture on a silver platter, why not simply make it illegal to sell tickets at above face value? Because yes, scalpers can still sell tickets at way too high prices, as long as the shows sell out. And most big shows do. So the scalpers will simply buy their tickets at medium prices (no reason to o
Re: (Score:2)
From a practical perspective, they already have it. You have to be rich to buy from the scalpers in the first place.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
why not simply make it illegal to sell tickets at above face value?
Because making selling some things illegal doesn't work? Here in Minnesota scalping used to be illegal and it never stopped anyone, and like drugs, it only made the problems worse (fake tickets, etc).
And since when did people stand in line for hours to buy tickets? It's all online now.
I would argue that's made dominance of the ticket market by scalpers worse, not better. Now they can automate dominating ticket sales. At least in-person ticket sales can impose reasonable limits on per-person sales and give people with the gumption to show up early a chance of buying tickets. And it forces
Re: (Score:2)
why not simply make it illegal to sell tickets at above face value?
Because making selling some things illegal doesn't work? Here in Minnesota scalping used to be illegal and it never stopped anyone, and like drugs, it only made the problems worse (fake tickets, etc).
>
It shouldn't be illegal to resell tickets. In some cases, I've bought tickets for a show, and later found out that I could not attend. I sold the tickets at face value to someone who was able to attend, but didn't get a ticket before they sold out.
It would simply be a regulation on maximum price, not an outright prohibition on reselling. We introduced this rule a couple of decades here, and it really does work.
It is possible that some people make fake tickets, and sell them to people who then discover that
Re: (Score:2)
But it's not a "what the market will bear" situation. Ticket sales for an even are generally from one source only, with a price agreed upon by the venue, the artist's management and the ticket company. In this situation, there is no market competition. The price is set at a level where they expect to be able to fill the venue.
No, it is what the market will bear. The "market competition" for a concert is basically all the other entertainment options other than seeing the concert -- other shows, staying home and watching Netflix, other hobbies, etc. Just like the market competition for iPhones is Samsung, Google, LG, etc.
There is a single source for the tickets for any other show (just like there's a single source for iPhones), but there is a market of buyers who represent the "demand" side of the market. If there are more peop
Re: (Score:2)
Popular concerts are usually priced well below the demand price ceiling
Why is this somehow a bad thing? Sure, there is a drive to maximize profits, but it is countered by a drive to not piss off your fans and primary customers with ridiculously high ticket prices. Maybe "the market will bear it" in the short term, but at the price of pissing of a large part of your customer and fan base.
It could work if your entire customer base had large amounts of disposable income, but by and large, they don't. Music fans are generally working people with ordinary incomes. They usually have
Re: (Score:2)
[Popular concerts are usually priced well below the demand price ceiling]
Why is this somehow a bad thing? Sure, there is a drive to maximize profits, but it is countered by a drive to not piss off your fans and primary customers with ridiculously high ticket prices.
It's a bad thing because it creates an unstable market for tickets and results in scalping!
This will also severely piss off the fans, and without fan goodwill, you are nothing as an artist. It will be seen as greedy and petty, and it will turn fans into haters. The major flaw in your thinking is that you only think about maximizing profits. But you're completely forgetting the human element, the artist-fan relationship, the long-term goodwill and a bunch of other "soft" factors.
If you want to be pissed off about high ticket prices, blame the artist for having too few performances. They can easily address the supply side of the market by playing more concerts. If a concert with $25 tickets (I just made the number up, I only wish they were that cheap) sells out and results in $250 scalped tickets the fan-savvy solution is to just perform more concerts in a given city.
IMHO, the larger problem
Re: (Score:2)
It's a bad thing because it creates an unstable market for tickets and results in scalping!
You're blaming the artists, venues and ticket sellers for the scalping. No, blame the goddamn scalpers for being greedy fucks!
Your reasoning seems to be that if they simply sold the tickets at higher prices, there would be no scalpers. If they increased the prices to what the scalpers charge, they wouldn't sell out the venue.
You're really sounding like an economy 101 student right now. Newsflash: Not everything is a classical market. Hell, even Adam Smith realized that not every area is best served by a cla
Re: (Score:2)
Your reasoning seems to be that if they simply sold the tickets at higher prices, there would be no scalpers. If they increased the prices to what the scalpers charge, they wouldn't sell out the venue.
You're really sounding like an economy 101 student right now. Newsflash: Not everything is a classical market. Hell, even Adam Smith realized that not every area is best served by a classical market.
*Of course* if you raise prices close to what scalpers charge now you'd reduce nearly all scalping *and* sell out venues. Venues sell out now *with* ticket prices inflated due to ticket scalping. What makes you think they would stop selling out simply because the seller of the tickets changed from scalpers to the box office?
And the purpose of a reverse auction with prices which drop when demand drops is to reflect that not everyone is willing to pay a high price to see the concert -- if the prices are too
Re: (Score:2)
All the more reason that it's puzzling that artists would leave their own income on the table and allow scalpers to make the extra money. Why not play more shows at conventional prices or auction the tickets to eliminate the profit margin of scalpers?
It's only puzzling to people who think everything in this world revolves around extracting as much short-term profit as possible from any given situation. These artists are in it for the long run. They don't play music simply for profit, you'll only last a couple of years with that attitude. They play music because they love playing music, and they're trying to make it last for as long as possible. And like I've explained multiple times before, you can't just add shows or build in room for more shows into t
Re: (Score:2)
The reality is that popular concerts have a demand that exceeds supply at the face value.
So then what's the solution? Make it an expensive rich person experience? Or eliminate scalping instead making it a fan dedication based experience? I prefer the latter. If I were an artist I'd much rather play for someone who was sitting on the ticket master site at 9:59am hitting refresh over and over again because they really wanted to come rather than just another rich fuck thinking "meh, I'll throw my money in this direction today".
Re: (Score:2)
You're saying you work for half market or less because your bosses are 'fans'? Moron.
Re: (Score:2)
The market doesn't really exist in this case. There is just one source of tickets, selling at a price agreed to by the venue, the artists and the ticket seller, set at a level where the expect to be able to fill the venue. There is no market when you only have a single source of the good you want to buy. And don't call it a monopoly, because how the hell would you even create market competition for the same single venue's seats?
Scalpers are scammers who artificially drive up prices, by creating artificial s
Re: (Score:2)
For shows with that kind of demand, that's _exactly_ what I'm suggesting.
But in the long term it ISN'T THAT SIMPLE. Right now acts don't see much of the revenue from really popular shows, if they did see that revenue, they would add dates. Right now they run relatively few shows as they aren't getting price signals, breaking the market.
Re: (Score:2)
No, you can't just "add shows" whenever you want, based on ticket sales. When it happens, it's extremely rare, and only because the tour schedule was built around it beforehand.
You need a venue (and all associated people) and you need the time. Artists generally don't just play one concert once, they tour with a set schedule, which is set long before the tickets go on sale.
You really don't have any goddamn clue how this stuff actually works in the real world, do you?
Re: (Score:2)
Most venues sit empty, most nights. It would take changes, but it is not impossible.
Re: (Score:2)
And how do you propose the bands structure their touring plans for this? Keep in mind that the touring schedule is set before any tickets are sold, and they can't just hang around every city for 3-4 days on the off chance that they could sell more shows.
You're being very silly right now, and you obviously have no idea how venue booking, staffing, touring or any of this works in the real world.
Re: (Score:2)
Easier solution: Simply make it illegal to resell tickets at higher than face value.
Re: (Score:1)
Easier solution: Simply make it illegal to resell tickets at higher than face value.
That's already been done in various locales and has had near zero effect, other than you can't buy tickets walking up to the venue.
Re: (Score:2)
What? It has no effect except making the scalping happen in the parking lot, crack deal style.
Re: (Score:2)
What? It has been done here (Denmark), and ticket reselling above face value basically doesn't exist anymore. The risk:reward factor simply isn't worth it for the scalpers.
And you can still buy tickets from people outside the venue, from people who may have an extra ticket, because a friend couldn't come. I've done that multiple times, and simply paid face value. Hell, I was even given a ticket for free once.
Re: (Score:2)
Why should they?
In these cases, I'll sell to the first person to contact me. The price is already set, there is no negotation needed. It makes it much easier for both parties. I'm a fan too, I don't want to rip off fellow fans.
You libertarian "the free market will solve all problems!" types really need to wake up and realize that not every part of life is a competitive bidding war.
"...tickets are sold directly to their fans..." (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And require a name for each ticket then require IDs at the door. Seems easy enough.
Because it takes 30 minutes to board 100 passengers. Go luck doing that with a 50,000 seat stadium.
Re: (Score:2)
It does, but not because they're checking tickets. Stadiums have much better flow for foot traffic, enforced by fire marshals who think they are God (and are correct). They have to check the ticket anyway, it's a small matter to check an ID at the same time. You do need people walking the line reminding everyone of that, and pre-checking that everyone has both. I've seen that done at concerts - and at airports with boarding passes and passports.
The biggest obstacles is that the people who would have to impl
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
With Ticketmaster, prices almost immediately doubled - and have continued to rise at a rate significantly higher than inflation could ever explain,
Ticketmaster pays venues lock-in fees to reduce their risks. The extra money for tickets due to the introduction of Ticketmaster means more venues are able to survive.
The recent run-up in ticket prices, however, is all about Internet music piracy. Big artists can not make much money from recordings due to piracy, so instead they make money from touring.
Re: (Score:2)
Big artists have NEVER made any money from recordings.
Re: (Score:2)
Then why has Paul McCartney made $15 million in royalties [forbes.com] for "Wonderful Christmastime"?
Re: (Score:2)
OK, so one of the biggest performers of all time managed to get some royalties from one of his songs that managed to get on the must play at Christmas list.
And he's still getting royalties on it in spite of internet music piracy.
Re: (Score:3)
Inflation calculator says $30-$50 in 1976 dollars is $126-$210 dollars now. Tickets for Guns n' Roses current tour range from $155 to $280 for front row pit (standing area directly in front of the stage) tickets. Pretty sure inflation explains most, if not all of that. Ticketing middlemen suck for sure and they ad
Anti-scalping laws are total bullshit (Score:3)
Their argument is that if ticket resale were allowed, "speculators" would buy up all the tickets to games and concerts and sell them off at exorbitant prices.
Here in Arizona, ticket resale for any event from a string quartet to the Super Bowl has been legal for years, and I have not heard of a single case of market distortion caused by ticket hoarding for resale. There are even special resale areas near stadiums where ticket resellers gather.
Given this open market situation, no reseller wants to take on the risk of monopolizing blocks of event tickets that they may suddenly find they can't sell. Rather than trying to be better at judging the market than the event promoters themselves, they make lesser but certain money on the brokerage spread, providing a resale market for people who cannot make use of a purchased ticket when their plans change.
http://cronkitenewsonline.com/... [cronkitenewsonline.com]
Arizonans wish we had jurisdiction to provide a resale market for all those non-refundable airline tickets that people have to throw away when something comes up and they can't make a flight. Airlines would be able to sell non-refundable flights without needing a tribunal to read doctor's notes and listen to endless sob stories. AT the same time, passengers would be able to recoup part of their loss for a foregone flight. Can we get the new DOT to take another look at this idea?
In-Person Purchasing (Score:2, Interesting)
If a specific venue wants to reduce the problem of ticket bots, they could simply have ticket purchases to be at the box office only. After all, if you are physically going to the show, you are physically capable of going there to buy tickets.
Edge cases: the venue is not in your current city; you have a physical limitation that greatly increases the inconvenience of going there to get the tickets (e.g., in a wheelchair); I'm sure people can think of others. Possible solution? For these cases, purchase over
Re: (Score:2)
Too bad (Score:2)
There's not many companies I hate worse than AT&T and Sony, but there is one. Ticketmaster.
They're breaking themselves (Score:5, Interesting)
I know this may be a bit off topic, but idiotic games are just part for the course.
I wanted to buy tickets to see Steve Martin at Boston Symphony Hall a few years back, and visited the TicketMaster web site. I wasn't surprised to find I had an offer for a front-row seat, since I was very early and this wasn't exactly AC/DC or some massively popular band. However, the web site insisted I needed to buy the tickets within 10 minutes, or I'd most likely lose my seats to another buyer. I messed around for a bit to see what the rates were for other seats, and sure enough, once the 10 minute timer was up, the front-row seats were no longer available and I was offered a new selection a few rows back. Rinse and repeat a few times, and I soon found myself in the middle of the venue, with all the front row seats having sold out, and the site urging me to buy RIGHT NOW before I risk losing out and every seat has been sold. No matter what I did, the web site wouldn't give me a decent seat again.
I knew very well the seats weren't selling out, so I simply cleared my web browser cookies, and... found myself in the front row again.
Another lovely bonus is how they offered to mail me the tickets for free, but they would charge (if I remember correctly) a $17 convenience fee for electronic tickets I could print myself. They employ e-book logic, apparently.
This type of bologna is why I stopped going to major concerts entirely. Also, it was surprisingly fun to visit a local race track (Seekonk Speedway in MA) for a mere $20, rather than one of the regional NASCAR races. Small shows may not have as much spectacle, but they're still lots of fun and you don't have to put up with all this ticket gouging nonsense
Easiest solution (Score:2)
Make it illegal to profit from tickets, by mandating that tickets may only be sold at face value or below. This also encourages possible ticket buyers to report scalpers.
Of course, it also requires a population that's not likely to just think "screw everyone else, I'm getting my ticket!", which may be problematic in the US.
Re: (Score:2)
Scalpers only make it "easier" to find tickets if you're way late to the party and only find out about the show at the last minute.
And the scalpers are actually making it harder to buy tickets late, from an official source, as they buy up large amounts of ticket to sell for ridiculous profits. They're creating an artificial shortage.
Re: (Score:2)
but if that's what people are willing to pay...
The scalpers should be rewarded for their greed?
Ticketbastards (Score:2)
Ticketbastards.
They have exclusive contracts with so many venues that an artist cannot find a place to perform that does not have a "Ticketmaster-only" contract for shows. Ticketbastards run an obscene, monopolistic racket.
Re: (Score:2)