Ticket Resale

florence151

Just got 2 tickets to see Radiohead. They have a new policy that has all tickets printed with the name of the purchaser and/or attendees. Photo ID required upon entry. Looks like they are trying to stop the scalpers. Good idea. IMHO.

PianoManKD

Yeah it's a great idea, but it's going to take FOREVER now to get through the gates.

PJNB

Love this idea but are you able to transfer tickets? If so then it will still be abused but not nearly as much.

kasedoug

I saw them twice in LA back in August and from what I experienced, that drives the price of tickets for people who miss out way up, a lot higher than allowing a free market. People looking for extras were offering several hundreds over face value just to get in the door because StubHub and other secondary ticketing sites were out of the equation. It's great in theory if everyone who wants to get a ticket is able to with this system being employed, but when tons of fans are still shut out after the shows sell out it makes it tough because there aren't competitive secondary marketplaces where resellers then undercut each other as supply and demand take over.

Lowlight

Isn't outside the venue on the night of the show a free market? I don't understand how having re-sellers results in price decreasing? Price is dictated by demand. Price increases until demand = supply. Price decreases until demand = supply.

kasedoug

Lowlight said:

Isn't outside the venue on the night of the show a free market? I don't understand how having re-sellers results in price decreasing? Price is dictated by demand. Price increases until demand = supply. Price decreases until demand = supply.

The more availability of tickets on re-sale markets like StubHub, Vivid, brokers, and the like that can sell their tickets without the will call/having to walk buyers into the venue restriction increases the supply by a lot.

on2legs

kasedoug said:

Lowlight said:

Isn't outside the venue on the night of the show a free market? I don't understand how having re-sellers results in price decreasing? Price is dictated by demand. Price increases until demand = supply. Price decreases until demand = supply.

The more availability of tickets on re-sale markets like StubHub, Vivid, brokers, and the like that can sell their tickets without the will call/having to walk buyers into the venue restriction increases the supply by a lot.

But doesn't this system make it more of hassle for scalpers and requires them to be able to go to the venue? So that boxes out scalpers from all over the country who buy tickets regardless of location and then sell them on StubHub. Which then hopefully would mean that less scalpers attempt to buy tickets when they go on sale so then more fans end up with the tickets during the original on sale?

kasedoug

on2legs said:

kasedoug said:

Lowlight said:

Isn't outside the venue on the night of the show a free market? I don't understand how having re-sellers results in price decreasing? Price is dictated by demand. Price increases until demand = supply. Price decreases until demand = supply.

The more availability of tickets on re-sale markets like StubHub, Vivid, brokers, and the like that can sell their tickets without the will call/having to walk buyers into the venue restriction increases the supply by a lot.

But doesn't this system make it more of hassle for scalpers and requires them to be able to go to the venue? So that boxes out scalpers from all over the country who buy tickets regardless of location and then sell them on StubHub. Which then hopefully would mean that less scalpers attempt to buy tickets when they go on sale so then more fans end up with the tickets during the original on sale?

That would work out perfectly and cut out the out-of-town scalpers/brokers like you mentioned, if Radiohead were playing venues large enough to meet the demand of all the fans that want to attend the shows. There's still way more demand than there is supply no matter how they sell the tickets because of capacity constraints and not playing enough nights.
In LA, they played two nights at a 6K venue when they've easily sold out the Hollywood Bowl (18K) two nights over in the past. I saw scalpers literally walk people into the venue and then exit immediately, because they made so much selling one ticket that they could basically waste the other.

on2legs

kasedoug said:

on2legs said:

kasedoug said:

Lowlight said:

Isn't outside the venue on the night of the show a free market? I don't understand how having re-sellers results in price decreasing? Price is dictated by demand. Price increases until demand = supply. Price decreases until demand = supply.

The more availability of tickets on re-sale markets like StubHub, Vivid, brokers, and the like that can sell their tickets without the will call/having to walk buyers into the venue restriction increases the supply by a lot.

But doesn't this system make it more of hassle for scalpers and requires them to be able to go to the venue? So that boxes out scalpers from all over the country who buy tickets regardless of location and then sell them on StubHub. Which then hopefully would mean that less scalpers attempt to buy tickets when they go on sale so then more fans end up with the tickets during the original on sale?

That would work out perfectly and cut out the out-of-town scalpers/brokers like you mentioned, if Radiohead were playing venues large enough to meet the demand of all the fans that want to attend the shows. There's still way more demand than there is supply no matter how they sell the tickets because of capacity constraints and not playing enough nights.
In LA, they played two nights at a 6K venue when they've easily sold out the Hollywood Bowl (18K) two nights over in the past. I saw scalpers literally walk people into the venue and then exit immediately, because they made so much selling one ticket that they could basically waste the other.

I'm strictly talking about the system across the board and being used by all bands. Not specifically about one show by one band in LA.

kasedoug

on2legs said:

I'm strictly talking about the system across the board and being used by all bands. Not specifically about one show by one band in LA.

The example used in this thread by the OP was Radiohead, and their tour across the board has tons of excess demand due to them playing smaller venues, not enough nights, restricting the supply of their tickets with their entry restrictions, and also not charging enough for their tickets in the first place.
There are multiple examples of when artists restrict access to tickets which limits supply on the secondary markets, it actually drives the price way up for those that get shut out and still want to get in. Adele's tour was another big example. Most of her tickets were will call/credit card entry and demand/secondary prices were nuts even though she played 6-8 nights in bigger markets.
Recently I saw someone on Facebook comment how surprisingly easy it was for her to get floor tickets for Roger Waters, when she can never get them for PJ. I commented that it was most likely due to the Waters tix being priced more accordingly to demand. His floor tickets are way more expensive than upper levels, so people get priced out of certain seats which helps thin out demand. She agreed and said she had never thought of it that way. PJ/TOTD priced all their tickets pretty much the same across the board, no matter if you're up close in Seattle or behind the stage upper level in LA. Same price initially, but way different value. I would have gladly paid a higher face value for my TOTD Seattle tix if it meant thinning out some competition.
Artists underpricing their tickets in the first place and then under supplying tickets due to venue size is the main culprit when it comes to driving the price up in secondary markets.
The will call/credit card restrictions is a good start in theory, but you also have to make sure every fan willing to buy a ticket for whatever show that may be is able to do so at the initial point of purchase for a face value that leaves little to no excess demand. That's the challenge.