Prediction: Concert Seating Will Change

Spinbrett

Myself and many others have emailed ten club asking for change. They didn't send the usual responce back, which I take means they are reading/considering change. Will it make some people mad, maybe? Will it be more fair,yes! Many options have been addressed from a limit to shows, randomizing numbers for the best seats, priorty pick for hometown or concerts near where you live, any many others. It will give new and old members chances at the better seats. The outdated number system which is basically season ticket holders, I'm sure is being looked at. People that have low low numbers have let their memberships lapse, then they go to renew and find they have the same low low number again, which isn't suppose to happen, so that high numbers move up. Thats not being done. People with low numbers say "Its all about the music, I don't care if I sit in the lawn" Then you won't mind when change comes!

jomo297

I'd be all for that since my number is so high, but I doubt it will happen. The 10club seems to be pretty consistent.

wickedmonkeyz

Spinbrett wrote:

Myself and many others have emailed ten club asking for change. They didn't send the usual responce back, which I take means they are reading/considering change.

if you don't mind me asking, what exactly was their response?

Motown322

wickedmonkeyz wrote:

if you don't mind me asking, what exactly was their response?

My guess would be, "Stop crying about the tickets, you f**king babies."

SoonForgotten2

Spinbrett wrote:

They didn't send the usual responce back, which I take means they are reading/considering change.

Or just maybe they're tired of you wasting their time and are now ignoring you. Just a thought.

Reno1979

I agree... I have a low number, but honestly it just makes more sense to allow you to have one show based on your number and the rest just be random. Kinda silly to have the same 200 people in the first few rows at every show in a specific region.

rival9500

Motown322 wrote:

My guess would be, "Stop crying about the tickets, you f**king babies."

Yeah seriously. I've been a member since 97 and would be quite pissed to see someone that just joined this year with better seats. Sorry but that's the way it is.

SoonForgotten2

Reno1979 wrote:

I agree... I have a low number, but honestly it just makes more sense to allow you to have one show based on your number and the rest just be random. Kinda silly to have the same 200 people in the first few rows at every show in a specific region.

What's even sillier is to upset your best customers- people who had paid for years for their membership and who pay for two tickets to multiple shows.

Reno1979

You think they will stop coming because they now only get "presale tickets" instead of "presale tickets in the first ten rows"? If they do, they are NOT your best customer. I had tickets to four shows this tour, all within rows 8-15. If I wasn't promised seniority seating, I would still have gone to all the shows and had enough compassion to feel great that some fresh blood may be having the time of their lives in front of me. Just my opinion.

SoonForgotten2

Reno1979 wrote:

You think they will stop coming because they now only get "presale tickets" instead of "presale tickets in the first ten rows"? If they do, they are NOT your best customer. I had tickets to four shows this tour, all within rows 8-15. If I wasn't promised seniority seating, I would still have gone to all the shows and had enough compassion to feel great that some fresh blood may be having the time of their lives in front of me. Just my opinion.

None of that matters. The point is simply you do not fuck with your best customers. I think that's a pretty simple business guideline. Ten Club has nothing to gain by making any of the suggested changes. Doing so would serve to alienate their most loyal customers. Why should 10C, as business (which they are) do that?

nukeboot

I like some of the ideas for change, but please remember that the Ten Club is a very small organization. Just think of how hard it would be to implement a system where hometown fans have priority. It's much easier to assign seats based on a simple member number system.

Reno1979

Hmmm... I think you are forgetting about the ideals and nature of the band we are talking about. Do you really think it is all about the dollar for Pearl Jam.. You my friend are mistaken. If this was just "business" there would be a lot of things changed. Look outside your own wants and desires...

SoonForgotten2

Reno1979 wrote:

Hmmm... I think you are forgetting about the ideals and nature of the band we are talking about. Do you really think it is all about the dollar for Pearl Jam.. You my friend are mistaken. If this was just "business" there would be a lot of things changed. Look outside your own wants and desires...

It has nothing to do with my own wants and desires. You can say what you want about Pearl Jam, but at the end of the day those running 10C need to get paid. And come on, let's be real here PJ charge $15 for a pair of socks. 10C members got an incentive to order the album through 10C, but they didn't get it for free or at a discount. Ten Club is not a charitable organisation.

Reno1979

Do you know what it costs to design, and have made a smallish run of custom SOCKS? I do. Probably about 5 to 7 dollars a pair. Seems high, but trust me, custom stuff like that is expensive. So they double their money or so. A limited run, ultra rare concert poster costs $25. They would still sell the same amount if they charged $75. Their tickets are cheap for a band of their size playing in the venues they play. The could easily make 5-15 more a ticket. If by limiting the amount of "upfront cuz I been here since forever" seats will really drive away fans, then I have mistaken how much these "LOYAL" fans really love the band. I would think putting new people up front would actually grow the hardcore, rabid fanbase. Trust me.. my first upfront experience changed who I felt and viewed Pearl Jam forever. Now we just have bedpost notchers in the first few rows.

SoonForgotten2

Reno1979 wrote:

Do you know what it costs to design, and have made a smallish run of custom SOCKS? I do. Probably about 5 to 7 dollars a pair. Seems high, but trust me, custom stuff like that is expensive. So they double their money or so. A limited run, ultra rare concert poster costs $25. They would still sell the same amount if they charged $75. Their tickets are cheap for a band of their size playing in the venues they play. The could easily make 5-15 more a ticket. If by limiting the amount of "upfront cuz I been here since forever" seats will really drive away fans, then I have mistaken how much these "LOYAL" fans really love the band. I would think putting new people up front would actually grow the hardcore, rabid fanbase. Trust me.. my first upfront experience changed who I felt and viewed Pearl Jam forever. Now we just have bedpost notchers in the first few rows.

Of course they could charge more, thats not the point (though I find the socks explanation laughable, nothing personal). The seniority systems rewards people who have been with 10C for years. This not only rewards those fans but also prevents Johnny come latelys from ending up with front row seats only to then sell them off at 10X the price. This policy actually protects the fans and is what PJ is all about, but it seems that some cannot see past their own wants and desires to realise this. This combined with the inevitable alienation of senior members would make changing the system a horrible move on 10C and PJ's part.

neartodeath

SoonForgotten2 wrote:

What's even sillier is to upset your best customers- people who had paid for years for their membership and who pay for two tickets to multiple shows.

exactly the point

u2's fan club was a complete disaster because they allowed anyone to join, and people signed up in droves, and later they found out that people were joining just to scalp tickets

if you make it more fair for the new people who just joined, you are opening up the potential to having scalpers abuse the 10c allottment. right now it's the fans who are up front and they bought their tickets at list price

Motown322

Reno1979 wrote:

Look outside your own wants and desires...

I'd suggest you do the same. It's your very own "wants and desires" to change a system that works very well into something that benefits you and your situation for the best. This whole "10C needs to do something with the tickets because I'M getting screwed" crap is such an old bit around here. When you joined, you knew that seniority was the way tickets were handled. I can't understand why it comes as such a shock that people who have been in the 10C for 10+ years might go to more than one show and they're sitting in front of you.

Eliot Rosewater

Spinbrett wrote:

Myself and many others have emailed ten club asking for change. They didn't send the usual responce back, which I take means they are reading/considering change. Will it make some people mad, maybe? Will it be more fair,yes! Many options have been addressed from a limit to shows, randomizing numbers for the best seats, priorty pick for hometown or concerts near where you live, any many others. It will give new and old members chances at the better seats. The outdated number system which is basically season ticket holders, I'm sure is being looked at. People that have low low numbers have let their memberships lapse, then they go to renew and find they have the same low low number again, which isn't suppose to happen, so that high numbers move up. Thats not being done. People with low numbers say "Its all about the music, I don't care if I sit in the lawn" Then you won't mind when change comes!

Pipe dream buddy. Nothing's gonna change in ticketing.

Pegasus

10c don't give a toss about seniority in Europe so why should the US be different.
We're happy to get tickets point, with maybe (if the advance entry works) a chance of better 'seats'.

things WILL change in the US, someway soon. I can predict that too.

meme

Yeah, I'm thinking they'll go back to no assigned seating, which is a shame.

SoonForgotten2

meme wrote:

Yeah, I'm thinking they'll go back to no assigned seating, which is a shame.

I doubt that actually. I don't see the band ditching the seated set-up as they get older- that just defies conventional wisdom. Plus I think US venues are better equiped for seated floor plans than most European ones are.

DopeyBoy

Can't see them changning it, that would just be dumb!
Although it wouldn't be too hard to implement the "hometown" idea, I still don't see them changing things, not that dramatically at least.
Just because a few spoiled babies can't get front row, they're not gonna change things. I've been to 8 shows and never been closer than 18th row, but hell, I'm just happy to be in the building, let alone that close!
Enjoy the tickets you get, and don't bitch unless you have a real reason!!!

Peace
:-p

meme

SoonForgotten2 wrote:

I doubt that actually. I don't see the band ditching the seated set-up as they get older- that just defies conventional wisdom. Plus I think US venues are better equiped for seated floor plans than most European ones are.

I can only hope. My number is in the 300,000, but since I'm 35 I'm pretty content with my mid-floor or side seats.
Of course in Milan I'll be in front row though. Once in a while...

Reno1979

Uh.. my number is quite low... My own wants and desires would I guess be to leave it the way it is, since I had no worse than 15 rows back in four shows I bought 10c for on this tour.

The better option for the whole, in my opinion is to mix things up. The scalping thing is just not an issue... You don't get your tickets until right up before the show. There might be a small percentage who would show up and sell them outside, but that happens now. Trust me, I just saw it in Denver.

I think you should go try to get some price quotes on custome socks. I did this sort of thing in a past career, and you would be surprised how custom printing and stitching goes up in price once you aren't working with T-shirts. Or you can just laugh at me like the elitist you seem to portray so well.

SoonForgotten2

Reno1979 wrote:

I think you should go try to get some price quotes on custome socks. I did this sort of thing in a past career, and you would be surprised how custom printing and stitching goes up in price once you aren't working with T-shirts. Or you can just laugh at me like the elitist you seem to portray so well.

Yes, reselling is done now even with the system in place as it is. Imagine how bad it would be were this not the case. It would also enable scalpers to quickly join 10C come tour time and resell the tickets. The current system discourages that pretty well.

And yes, I am such an elitist for questiong your sock expertise. I said nothing personal, but I guess socks are just to near and dear to your heart to not take offense. But really, custom socks? Are they tailoring at the arenas for each buyers own foot? It's a logo sewn onto either a black or white sock. Maybe if they're hand sewn onto hand knitted socks made from hand picked cotton then I could understand the $15.

pjhawks

SoonForgotten2 wrote:

None of that matters. The point is simply you do not fuck with your best customers. I think that's a pretty simple business guideline. Ten Club has nothing to gain by making any of the suggested changes. Doing so would serve to alienate their most loyal customers. Why should 10C, as business (which they are) do that?

well because isn't it better to serve and please the masses than a few hundred fans? If there are like 50,000 fans wouldn't it be better to give 45,000 of them at least an occasional chance at the best seats, then allowing the same 5,000 to always get them? In a business sense pleasing the 45,000 would be greater. I'm not judging right or wrong on this, just pointing out the possible business reasons for a change.

SoonForgotten2

pjhawks wrote:

well because isn't it better to serve and please the masses than a few hundred fans? If there are like 50,000 fans wouldn't it be better to give 45,000 of them at least an occasional chance at the best seats, then allowing the same 5,000 to always get them? In a business sense pleasing the 45,000 would be greater. I'm not judging right or wrong on this, just pointing out the possible business reasons for a change.

But you already have those joining based on the system. The backlash of changing it would likely outweigh the initial profits of the change. People may complain about the way seating is allotted by they are still buying tickets and memberships. If you're 10C, why rock that boat?

mulder11

Why does this subject continue to be raised by those members with higher membership numbers? It wasn't a surprise how seating was done when you joined. I've been a member for 10 years, best seats I got was this tour, 11th row. I'm moving up as the years go by, and I don't complain about it. I too was one of the new members back in the day and it continues to pay off. I don't need to email the 10club offering suggestions on a process that has worked for 12+ years.

obiwon76

Funny how these type of requests are often initiated by those who are dissapointed with their seats. Why would the 10C change the system? Fan Clubs are supposed to reward the people who have been there the longest. I've been mailing in my 10C fees for the past 10 years and it's paid off.

Sexy2aFault

Reno1979 wrote:

Do you know what it costs to design, and have made a smallish run of custom SOCKS? I do. Probably about 5 to 7 dollars a pair. Seems high, but trust me, custom stuff like that is expensive. So they double their money or so. A limited run, ultra rare concert poster costs $25. They would still sell the same amount if they charged $75. Their tickets are cheap for a band of their size playing in the venues they play. The could easily make 5-15 more a ticket. If by limiting the amount of "upfront cuz I been here since forever" seats will really drive away fans, then I have mistaken how much these "LOYAL" fans really love the band. I would think putting new people up front would actually grow the hardcore, rabid fanbase. Trust me.. my first upfront experience changed who I felt and viewed Pearl Jam forever. Now we just have bedpost notchers in the first few rows.

Reno is correct, plus it has to be disappointing to see 35 year old fellas in the front row for every show who really do not want to hear WWS into Severed into Corduroy, so they act like they have anemia..... I hate those guys. Loyal or not, they do not deserve how good they have it now, they should put a limit on the best seats to maybe two a 10C member per tour.. So that way a Bostonite could have a good seat to either Boston shows, or use one of of his premium seats for a Hartford..

The rest of the tour he should get average 10C seats.

Reno1979

Why is it funny? Of course the people who aren't happy will raise their voice. HELLO? I support a change. For the good of the whole. My number is 103XXX. Everyone with a low number should still get ONE show based on their seniority. A tip of the cap for long time faithfulness. After that, just do it randomly.

Even between us with lower numbers I don't think it is quite fair. Let's say I am in Philly and have number 140XXX. That puts me on the side or back on the floor in the current system due to all the people on the east coast who travel to so many shows. Great side seat, or good middle floor seats. If you had a better system. that would put the same person way up front, in their home town. I just think I would gladly sit a bit farther back, and have some equity. My opinions... not the gospel.