Dispatches - The Great Ticket Scandal

KingJeremyTheWicked82 · February 2012

Watching this programme on Channel 4 and it's fookin shocking to think of how many fans are ripped off buying tickets from these online ticket sellers. Two that were investigated were Viagogo and Seatwave. They claim that their sites are fan to fan ticket selling when in fact they are allocated thousands of tickets and sell them at ridiculous prices! Makes me so fookin angry watching this! Makes you think though...

Claireack · February 2012

I'm watching it on +1.

Absolutely crap.

KingJeremyTheWicked82 · February 2012

Claireack wrote:

I'm watching it on +1.

Absolutely crap.

Ain't it just grrr! :(

eddiec · February 2012

I recorded it, will check it out tomorrow.

green mountain man · February 2012

I have tix from SEATWAVE for both AMS shows. The news did not say they are fake tix did they ?

Anestha · February 2012

green mountain man wrote:

I have tix from SEATWAVE for both AMS shows. The news did not say they are fake tix did they ?

THIS. Now I'm worried. Got 2 E-tickets for AMS from Seatwave 2. I guess they're not fake, but I'm afraid someone else could use them. :shock:
And by the way, now there are tickets available at the official seller for the "sold out" Berlin first show!

veddertown · February 2012

green mountain man wrote:

I have tix from SEATWAVE for both AMS shows. The news did not say they are fake tix did they ?

The tickets themselves are legitimate, it's the companies selling them and Livenation/Ticketmaster that are the problem. For an example they used Coldplay at London 02, viagogo had an allocation of approximately 1000 tickets which they were selling at sometimes way over double the face value. The money from each sale was split, the 15% booking fee and 10% of the profit made off the sale price went to viagogo with Livenation getting 90% of the profit in return. The bands and their management are usually oblivious to this practice and the venues are seemingly happy to turn a blind eye to what little they do know. On top of the allocations viagogo employees are paid to keep the phonelines busy so they can snap up 6 tickets at a time and they know how immoral it is. The fan to fan thing is utter bullshit, this is a money making scheme worth billions per year and it is only getting worse. If you have ever failed to get tickets on the morning of a sale it is mainly because of companies like these. I'd imagine last nights documentary will cause a stir and a few headaches for loose tongued employees that said too much to the undercover folk. Maybe it's time for the bands to take a stand over Livenation and Ticketmaster and say that if they continue to give allocations to what are effectively scalpers then they refuse to fulfil their touring commitments. There are so many of these sites and when you are trying to score tickets for an event in a 20000 capacity arena you are probably looking at only maybe half of these actually going through normal phone/online sales. It's absolutely shocking and I'm sure there must be some legal loophole that can end this and put those online scalping companies out of business.

chime · February 2012

Will say it's not ticketmaster giving these companies an allocation (although with getmein this could be a different story that they didn't cover in the documentary!) in the documentry it was the promotors so Live Nation/SJM/MCD etc

I've luckily never had to go this route as through friends etc I've usually managed to get a face value ticket or not gone.

I have sold through scarletmist once though for a gig I could no longer attend and recommend them to anyone looking for tickets to a sold out event. Tickets are sold at face value only

http://scarletmist.com/

Jennytree · February 2012

I'll have a look at this this eve on youtube.

Tis a crying shame that they're allowed get away with it, but if people keep buying, they're gonna keep selling.

We have a site here in Ireland (www.toutless.com) which is a forum for users selling other users tickets at face value only. Every country probably has one, and they're highly recommended as they're fans selling to other fans as opposed to a company trying to make money from it.

veddertown · February 2012

chime wrote:

Will say it's not ticketmaster giving these companies an allocation (although with getmein this could be a different story that they didn't cover in the documentary!) in the documentry it was the promotors so Live Nation/SJM/MCD etc

I've luckily never had to go this route as through friends etc I've usually managed to get a face value ticket or not gone.

I have sold through scarletmist once though for a gig I could no longer attend and recommend them to anyone looking for tickets to a sold out event. Tickets are sold at face value only

http://scarletmist.com/

When Lorna was trying to get us tickets for Dublin in 2010 she spoke with a woman at getmein.com who said they were a Ticketmaster affiliate and told her to check back with TM nearer to the date of the gig as they returned the majority of the unsold ones. I was pretty annoyed last night too where the guy spoke of selling unsold tickets outside the Take That gig and having to throw over 40 or 50 in the bin and then saying it didn't matter as they made plenty from the gig anyway! That's hard to take for a music fan who could only afford face value and I guess it happens all the time. Imagine watching a tout chucking that many PJ tickets away knowing how many were maybe still looking for them right up to the gig.

dottles · February 2012

I think the programme kind of confirmed what I'd always assumed to be honest.
It is galling to think about it, I wonder if the bands/artists themselves will make a stand now - I think they should!

Chris T-T has written an interesting article on the programme - http://christt.com/words/
(I don't actually agree with all his points but it's interesting to read and I generally concur tbh)

JK_Livin · February 2012

Any one ever use Ticket Master's ticketexchange? I have Philadelphia Eagles season tix and sometimes sell them on there if I can't find someone to sell or give them to. You can't sell them for less than face value which is inconveinient. The reason for this is that whatever I sell them for, they take 10%. Not too bad but what they don't tell you or advertise is that they tack 15% on top of the price I listed them for sale. Total racket.

green mountain man · February 2012

veddertown wrote:

green mountain man wrote:

I have tix from SEATWAVE for both AMS shows. The news did not say they are fake tix did they ?

The tickets themselves are legitimate, it's the companies selling them and Livenation/Ticketmaster that are the problem. For an example they used Coldplay at London 02, viagogo had an allocation of approximately 1000 tickets which they were selling at sometimes way over double the face value. The money from each sale was split, the 15% booking fee and 10% of the profit made off the sale price went to viagogo with Livenation getting 90% of the profit in return. The bands and their management are usually oblivious to this practice and the venues are seemingly happy to turn a blind eye to what little they do know. On top of the allocations viagogo employees are paid to keep the phonelines busy so they can snap up 6 tickets at a time and they know how immoral it is. The fan to fan thing is utter bullshit, this is a money making scheme worth billions per year and it is only getting worse. If you have ever failed to get tickets on the morning of a sale it is mainly because of companies like these. I'd imagine last nights documentary will cause a stir and a few headaches for loose tongued employees that said too much to the undercover folk. Maybe it's time for the bands to take a stand over Livenation and Ticketmaster and say that if they continue to give allocations to what are effectively scalpers then they refuse to fulfil their touring commitments. There are so many of these sites and when you are trying to score tickets for an event in a 20000 capacity arena you are probably looking at only maybe half of these actually going through normal phone/online sales. It's absolutely shocking and I'm sure there must be some legal loophole that can end this and put those online scalping companies out of business.

Thanks so much for the info VEDDERTOWN. I guess people like me are part of the problem. I continue use these sights on a regular basis.
I googled the Orkney Islands. It looks like a place that I would enjoy. Are there Scottish Highland Cattle on those islands ? I have had those on my farm throughout the years.
The Ring of Brodgar really caught my eye. Cool place. I have about 50 huge stone posts erected on my property. It looks like the Ring of Brodgar.
Best of Health

veddertown · February 2012

green mountain man wrote:

veddertown wrote:

green mountain man wrote:

I have tix from SEATWAVE for both AMS shows. The news did not say they are fake tix did they ?

The tickets themselves are legitimate, it's the companies selling them and Livenation/Ticketmaster that are the problem. For an example they used Coldplay at London 02, viagogo had an allocation of approximately 1000 tickets which they were selling at sometimes way over double the face value. The money from each sale was split, the 15% booking fee and 10% of the profit made off the sale price went to viagogo with Livenation getting 90% of the profit in return. The bands and their management are usually oblivious to this practice and the venues are seemingly happy to turn a blind eye to what little they do know. On top of the allocations viagogo employees are paid to keep the phonelines busy so they can snap up 6 tickets at a time and they know how immoral it is. The fan to fan thing is utter bullshit, this is a money making scheme worth billions per year and it is only getting worse. If you have ever failed to get tickets on the morning of a sale it is mainly because of companies like these. I'd imagine last nights documentary will cause a stir and a few headaches for loose tongued employees that said too much to the undercover folk. Maybe it's time for the bands to take a stand over Livenation and Ticketmaster and say that if they continue to give allocations to what are effectively scalpers then they refuse to fulfil their touring commitments. There are so many of these sites and when you are trying to score tickets for an event in a 20000 capacity arena you are probably looking at only maybe half of these actually going through normal phone/online sales. It's absolutely shocking and I'm sure there must be some legal loophole that can end this and put those online scalping companies out of business.

Thanks so much for the info VEDDERTOWN. I guess people like me are part of the problem. I continue use these sights on a regular basis.
I googled the Orkney Islands. It looks like a place that I would enjoy. Are there Scottish Highland Cattle on those islands ? I have had those on my farm throughout the years.
The Ring of Brodgar really caught my eye. Cool place. I have about 50 huge stone posts erected on my property. It looks like the Ring of Brodgar.
Best of Health

I've used a couple of these sites in the past and paid maybe £60 for a £40 ticket just because it was the only option outside bidding for one but not for a few years now. If scalping outside venues is illegal then so should this be. These companies are making far too much money and all the while they are depriving music/sports fans out of attending events they could normally afford to go to. I'm not 100% sure about how much involvement Ticketmaster have with any of these companies but there are so many of them now that surely they can't all be coming from Livenation?

We don't really have much Highland cattle here by the way. A few farmers have a handful here and there but Orkney beef is all gold label standard and it's a huge business here so it's mainly Charleroi and Aberdeen Angus. We have a lot of sheep here too including the world famous North Ronaldsay breed which are unique to one island and live from eating seaweed at low tides. Very expensive but very worth it! Most people who come here as tourists come back regularly and many come here for retirement or semi-retirement. The Ring Of Brodgar is only one of many amazing historic sites. The history here is pretty amazing for such a small place. Where is it that you live?

green mountain man · February 2012

The U.S in the beautiful state of Vermont. VT has stunning scenery, unspoiled landscapes, endless outdoor activities, a strong buy local movement , fresh food,and world class chefs .
Montreal and Boston are within a 3 hour drive.
I am fortunate to live on 12 acres high up in the green mountains. I have the freedom to light a huge bon-fire, get laid, and crank up PJ tunes all in my backyard.

green mountain man · February 2012

Those north Ronaldsay sheep that eat sea weed are interesting. I never heard about them.

ilockyer · February 2012

They need to follow up this programme with one investigating whether or not the bands themselves are complicit in this practice and receiving monies. Efestivals have been giving Coldplay quite a lot of static about this via Twitter and, not surprisingly, following the programme, there's been no comment from them.

Now, assuming a band are involved in this, is it so wrong for them to get the best return for their work that they can? It's underhand, for sure, but you'll often hear people saying they'd rather monies for CDs etc ended up in the bands pockets, rather than middlemen (the shops). So, they sell a percentage of their tickets through Viagogo/Seatwave etc and give away a small percentage for the trouble, money goes to their pockets, people get to a show they didn't think they would... is there really that much of a difference?

The only fair way to resolve this is to stop ticket sales over the internet, announce tour dates but only sell the tickets on the night of the show, you pay your money and walk through the door. No tickets leave the building. Those that want to travel to see shows can, they may have to sacrifice time queuing to ensure they get a ticket, but a lot would do that to ensure they got to the front anyway. Bob Dylan did this a couple of years ago with some shows in San Francisco, I think, to great success.

deftones · February 2012

Has anyone got tickets from Seetickets? I bought for Man 1 and I got to have them before 18th of June cause then we're flying to uk. Should I worry?

JOEJOEJOE · February 2012

I watched the show on Youtube. It seems as if any website that starts as a "person to person" selling site eventually gets overrun by larger sellers, as well as the site owners who become sellers, as opposed to being just an intermediary.

I wonder who will be left holding the bag in this situation. IMHO, Viagogo and the promoters don't have much to lose...they are already viewed as the greedy ones. Any band that gives the ok to funnel tickets for more profit will have a lot for which to answer. However, the band members can always play dumb, and claim that their managers/agents approved it without first consulting the band members.

Many bands have been offering "platinum seating" to their shows at an inflated price. This may appear greedy, but at least they are being upfront about their attempts to up their grosses.

Dispatches - The Great Ticket Scandal

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