Long live the sole proprietor!

Guitarhero27

Here's an end-all to these types of threads.

Addressing the ticket issue:

Ticket prices are the same as they were a few years ago...in that respect they have not gone up.

As for using an independent agency for ticketing - you will run into some (major) problems.

1. Volume: Independent ticket agencies do not have the technical support that ticketmaster or live nation has. Sure the 10C may crash during ticket sales, but that's to benefit the 10C members directly, and would have no bearing on the indie agencies.

2. Venues: If you have been living in a box the past 10 years, then you won't know about ticketmaster/live nation controlling the nations biggest and largest venues. There are contracts in place that prevents artists from booking at non-TM/LN venues, or even the venues not using TM/LN ticketing. These are HUGE contracts that made those 2 companies be what they are. Half the time, LN/TM owns the actual venue.

3. Security: Building your own venue to play requires strict security and permit clauses and codes that are preposterous. Sure, PJ did this in 96 to a limited extent, and built venues per diem essentially each show, it was a small tour, to see if this style of touring could work. Eventually they saw the costs of security and the cost of building the stages (not to mention the indie ticketing agencies being hard to get tix from)....and it was also UNSAFE for the fans, the workers, the band, and their crew because it was not state of the art materials.

So would you rather PJ perform in the comforts of their own security and insurance clauses so that EVERYONE is protected and generally safe, not to mention use a form of ticketing that is accessible by virtually everyone? Or would you rather them produce unsafe shows that will make conditions (including driving/parking) very difficult

-Seth

Dissidentman

thebetterman wrote:

SPEEDY MCCREADY wrote:

$77-$85 a ticket is too much????

Lets see....

If you save $1.00 a day for a full year.....

You can buy a concert ticket
a poster
a shirt
a hooker
and some condoms.............

Which has all the makings of a good night out.......

I can see the TV commercial now, "for just 25 cents a day, you can send this poor college student to a PJ concert, afterward you'll receive a photo with your sponsor and Boom from outside the venue, and many letters about how they shouldn't have played Even Flow AGAIN, how your sponsor's seats weren't in the first ten rows, and that the show poster was sub par."

hahahaha

Demps

thebetterman wrote:

PJ cares about its fans, but they also care about our money more than they used to.

Well they used to be able to count on revenue from people actually buying the records a lot more then they can these days.

DewieCox

Demps wrote:

thebetterman wrote:

PJ cares about its fans, but they also care about our money more than they used to.

Well they used to be able to count on revenue from people actually buying the records a lot more then they can these days.

A little, but the road and merch is where they(and every other name band) have always made their money.

JOEJOEJOE

thebetterman wrote:

Wallawallapj wrote:

hmm, first post...a doozie. First, PJ are paying their own way on this tour...no "label" to pick up the tab. Do you have any idea how expensive that is to "rent" the United Center, Seattle Center, or any other venue? And as a fan, do you realize that they negotiate a shitload of seats for fanclub members (i.e. you) so you don't have to sit in section 309, row 42. In Chicago alone, 7000 fanclub seats in a venue that holds 16,000. Yeah, they don't care about us at all...Should they play 65 shows at the Showbox just to be able to take care of all of the fans in Seattle that want to see them? Take this post to the whiners corner.

I agree with you for the most part, but you do realize that the band makes more money by "renting" out the venues themselves and not having to go through middlemen right? So yeah, its expensive of course, but they're in effect getting the wholesale price on the venue. On top of that, ticket prices went up, so they should be banking hard this tour.

PJ cares about its fans, but they also care about our money more than they used to.

How do you know that the band rents-out the arena?

thebetterman

JOEJOEJOE wrote:

thebetterman wrote:

Wallawallapj wrote:

hmm, first post...a doozie. First, PJ are paying their own way on this tour...no "label" to pick up the tab. Do you have any idea how expensive that is to "rent" the United Center, Seattle Center, or any other venue? And as a fan, do you realize that they negotiate a shitload of seats for fanclub members (i.e. you) so you don't have to sit in section 309, row 42. In Chicago alone, 7000 fanclub seats in a venue that holds 16,000. Yeah, they don't care about us at all...Should they play 65 shows at the Showbox just to be able to take care of all of the fans in Seattle that want to see them? Take this post to the whiners corner.

I agree with you for the most part, but you do realize that the band makes more money by "renting" out the venues themselves and not having to go through middlemen right? So yeah, its expensive of course, but they're in effect getting the wholesale price on the venue. On top of that, ticket prices went up, so they should be banking hard this tour.

PJ cares about its fans, but they also care about our money more than they used to.

How do you know that the band rents-out the arena?

Personally I'm not sure, but I believe thats how it goes. PJ (or whoever) pays the venue to play there, and then PJ sells tickets for whatever they want. Maybe the venue gets a percentage of ticket sales I don't know, but I believe its the same as if I had a band and we played a local VFW hall and I was booking everything myself. I'd pay to rent the space for x hours, and then sell my own tickets to recoup the money paid to the hall and get some profits.

Again, no actual knowledge if thats right, but based on how other types of events are booked thats how i imagine it working.

DewieCox

thebetterman wrote:

Personally I'm not sure, but I believe thats how it goes. PJ (or whoever) pays the venue to play there, and then PJ sells tickets for whatever they want. Maybe the venue gets a percentage of ticket sales I don't know, but I believe its the same as if I had a band and we played a local VFW hall and I was booking everything myself. I'd pay to rent the space for x hours, and then sell my own tickets to recoup the money paid to the hall and get some profits.

Again, no actual knowledge if thats right, but based on how other types of events are booked thats how i imagine it working.

Livenation supplies the venue, PJ supplies the show. It's not the same as your vfw, unless your vfw is a livenation controlled venue.

Guitarhero27

thebetterman wrote:

Personally I'm not sure, but I believe thats how it goes. PJ (or whoever) pays the venue to play there, and then PJ sells tickets for whatever they want. Maybe the venue gets a percentage of ticket sales I don't know, but I believe its the same as if I had a band and we played a local VFW hall and I was booking everything myself. I'd pay to rent the space for x hours, and then sell my own tickets to recoup the money paid to the hall and get some profits.

Again, no actual knowledge if thats right, but based on how other types of events are booked thats how i imagine it working.

Wrong. Venues are giving acts "Guarantees" these days. Most of these venues (Madison Square Garden) for one, set the ticket prices based on how many tix they expect to sell. Muse played MSG last year, or two years ago. The entire 400 section was not opened at all. Tickets were over $50 a pop....the day after the MSG show, Muse played Penn's landing in Pennsylvania for $23 a ticket.

Most bands do not have a say in ticket prices when they are paid through a guarantee. The venue wants to ensure it gets profit of course.

Big name acts like Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, DMB negotiate through guarantee's and set ticket prices on a mutual level. It allows the "Same Price - Anywhere" routine. If you notice that all PJ ticket prices are the same no matter where you are (lawn is different based on venue). U2 - tix are not all the same prices, yet they do try and sell a limited amount of tickets at a certain (low) price for their current tour.

Having a big name allows negotiations, but remember, the more people, the more staff and security is needed. Union fees are not cheap - labor is not cheap. The economy is not the same as it was in 1996. While the market may have dropped, the cost of living has not. I'm not implying PJ can't cover their own cost of living, I'm stating a fact that the people setting up these venues day in/day out need to cover the cost of their living.

jimbojones1138

wow...this same exact bitch fest of a thread again...dont we see this one crop up every few months???


its not the band, so if you feel like a doormat its your own fault...neither the band nor their managment are gouging you personally...its fucking inflation, folks!


a dollar today aint gonna buy you what it did in 2000...suck it up and dont go if you cant afford to

thebetterman

Guitarhero27 wrote:

thebetterman wrote:

Personally I'm not sure, but I believe thats how it goes. PJ (or whoever) pays the venue to play there, and then PJ sells tickets for whatever they want. Maybe the venue gets a percentage of ticket sales I don't know, but I believe its the same as if I had a band and we played a local VFW hall and I was booking everything myself. I'd pay to rent the space for x hours, and then sell my own tickets to recoup the money paid to the hall and get some profits.

Again, no actual knowledge if thats right, but based on how other types of events are booked thats how i imagine it working.

Wrong. Venues are giving acts "Guarantees" these days. Most of these venues (Madison Square Garden) for one, set the ticket prices based on how many tix they expect to sell. Muse played MSG last year, or two years ago. The entire 400 section was not opened at all. Tickets were over $50 a pop....the day after the MSG show, Muse played Penn's landing in Pennsylvania for $23 a ticket.

Most bands do not have a say in ticket prices when they are paid through a guarantee. The venue wants to ensure it gets profit of course.

Big name acts like Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, DMB negotiate through guarantee's and set ticket prices on a mutual level. It allows the "Same Price - Anywhere" routine. If you notice that all PJ ticket prices are the same no matter where you are (lawn is different based on venue). U2 - tix are not all the same prices, yet they do try and sell a limited amount of tickets at a certain (low) price for their current tour.

Having a big name allows negotiations, but remember, the more people, the more staff and security is needed. Union fees are not cheap - labor is not cheap. The economy is not the same as it was in 1996. While the market may have dropped, the cost of living has not. I'm not implying PJ can't cover their own cost of living, I'm stating a fact that the people setting up these venues day in/day out need to cover the cost of their living.

thanks, i was answering (incorrectly) under the "pearl jam setting up its own tour" assumption that was going on earlier in the thread.

fhelewa1

Yes ticket prices are way to expensive with ticket masters "convenience charges”. Yes I paid too much for tickets to 4 up coming shows in L.A. and 1 in s.d. . But saying you will never attend another p.j. show is pretty lame.... I do agree with you that the band might be slipping away from the old ticket master fighting p.j. we used to love. I also think that their music is turning into old man heart land of America rock, but they are still p.j. and they have been a big part of my life since 91. I have never seen a bad show, I have never been let down with any of their performances........but I would love to hear another album with a vs. or vitology sound. The old man rock is slightly bumming me out.