Ticketmaster's massive expansion of what they sell now as "Platinum" tickets (they sell balcony seats as platinum for many shows now)
So for shits & giggles I just looked at the seat map for Tool at the TD Garden in Boston. They are selling Balcony 314 row 15 as Platinum. Literally the last row in the balcony, in a section just before you hit the turn at the opposite end of the stage and this is considered a "platinum" ticket and sold by TM for a huge mark up over face. I mean whether its Maynard, Danny or Live Nation who's behind it, don't piss down my leg and tell me its raining. Just make the face value of crap seats nearly $300.00 rather than telling me its a premium "platinum" seat and worth a larger price of admission. Its one of the worst seats in the building. Maybe 97th percentile of bad.
Those lower level Tool tickets that were $400 are now $356. The promoter ( the company that owns Ticketmaster) is monitoring the market and adjusting the process based on purchasing . I can not think of a fairer system.
If Tool performs at a particular city once every 4 years on average, why is it not completely fair for fans to save $9 per month for good seats to a premium event?
This, of course, would be impossible to do for a privately ticketed event like a PJ show unless someone invents a time machine.
I guess that I’m an idealist because I want to attend shows where most of the people are the same fans that buy the band’s albums and merch, post in a band’s forums, and know all of the words to the songs. PJs system isn’t perfect but it does attempt to give real fans the first shot at tickets and their tickets tend to be much less than other bands of their stature.
I’d like to see a system where you pay to join a fan club and get tickets to 1 show as part of that. Maybe even have an opportunity to get additional tickets for buying merchandise or pre-ordering albums. Do something like the lottery for the remaining tickets and, if there are any left, let a broker sell those. You could have an ID with a barcode (or something similar), where the ticket is loaded onto that so it can’t be resold. This way, true fans are most likely to be at the shows and the band gets the money.
One thing that’s always bothered me is, for example Elton John announced his farewell tour ages ago and he won’t get to Glasgow until next year. A full 2years since the tickets went on sale. The capacity is 13000 or thereabouts. If the tickets are say £100 that’s £1.3 million per gig ( sure he’s playing 2 shows) so 2.6million, sitting in a bank making interest. Multiply that buy the whole tour and they must be making millions upon millions for doing nothing. Even if even if the tour or dates get cancelled or postponed they are still making money, like the Ozzy European tour postponed for a second time yesterday.
Glasgow Cathouse 1992
Glasgow S.E.C.C. 2000
Shepherds Bush 2009 - M.E.N 2009 - London O2 2009
Boston 2010 - Newark 2010 - MSG1+2 2010 - Dublin 2010 - Belfast 2010
London 2010
Manchester 1+2 2012 EV Manchester 2012 EV London 31/7/2012
Philly 1+2 2013 - Hartford 2013
Berlin 2014 Leeds 2014
Fenway 2 2016 EV London 1+2 2017 London 1+2 - Berlin 2018
Ticketmaster doesn't have nearly as much control as many of you think on a lot of these items.
To have verified resale, the band/promoter have to agree to turn on resale for the event. Once the decision is made to turn on resale, the fees, as with all the ticket service fees, are split between TM and the promoter/venue. With the number of resale sites out there, it isn't possible to stop the resale of tickets. Measures have been put in place to control the resale like digital tickets, rotating barcodes, block chain, etc., but it will continue to happen and in many states must be allowed to happen. It comes down to does the promoter want the primary tickets listed with resale tickets that could be above or below the "face value".
The promoter chooses to sell platinum tickets. The promoter chooses to sell VIP packages. The promoter chooses to have special presales. Bands can chose their promoter. Bands can take a smaller paycheck and dictate not to use some of these options. Ticketmaster just facilitates these transactions. If Ticketmaster did not facilitate these transactions, they would shift to another site that would.
Again, as I have stated earlier in the thread, Ticketmaster is the promoter for the vast majority of shows.
Live Nation is the largest concert promoter in the country. They have exclusive deals with most major artists and venues.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010. They keep 2 separate names for 2 branches of the same company.
Why even have face value then? It seems like anymore, buying concert tickets is like an auction.
Technically there is no face value anymore. Paper tickets are long gone and the e tickets ive used dont have a price on them.
I could swear that these are paper...
FWIW here is the TM message for the upcoming Wilco show. This is fairly common for shows I look to attend.
"Tickets will not be emailed or available to print."
That may be the venue, not sure where your show is.
But the TD Garden is trying to go all mobile. Bruins & Celtics tix are now all mobile. Not sure if they have done it 100% for concerts yet, last show I went to there was in 2018 and I got a hard ticket for that.
We are heading in that direction unfortunately. There needs to be some exceptions made, though it doesn't seem like it, there are still folks who don't carry a smart phone (we heard from them last year here, and PJ made arrangements for those cases).
And I don't know how difficult it is to transfer the mobile tickets say out of a season ticket account. If you have Bruins season tix, likely you wouldn't go to every game and would give some games to friends and family or if a business has them they give them to clients. An easy task when you just have to give them the printed ticket, or even an email pdf file, can get more complicated transferring the mobile ticket (Black Keys LA fiasco for example).
One thing that’s always bothered me is, for example Elton John announced his farewell tour ages ago and he won’t get to Glasgow until next year. A full 2years since the tickets went on sale. The capacity is 13000 or thereabouts. If the tickets are say £100 that’s £1.3 million per gig ( sure he’s playing 2 shows) so 2.6million, sitting in a bank making interest. Multiply that buy the whole tour and they must be making millions upon millions for doing nothing. Even if even if the tour or dates get cancelled or postponed they are still making money, like the Ozzy European tour postponed for a second time yesterday.
Yeah there was a time and not that long ago, where tickets would go on sale for a show a couple months before the show, sometimes even less.
I recall when Great Woods (now the Xfinity Center after several corporate name changes over the years) first opened in Mansfield MA in the mid 80's. The first decade or so there would be a big announcement in the spring, usually late April or early May of the lineup for the summer...then tickets would go on sale over a number of days for the various shows, and some more shows would be added later. Never had to buy tickets for a show that was a year away, or 10 months away or anything close. Longest wait would be maybe 4 months.
Now its commonplace for the shows to go on sale way in advance (Green Day/Weezer summer tour for next year went on sale over a month ago)
Thou don' know how much interest they earn as banks basically pay nothing these days. But it forces fans to spend the money way in advance, and make a decision about their availability to attend a year out.
Why even have face value then? It seems like anymore, buying concert tickets is like an auction.
Technically there is no face value anymore. Paper tickets are long gone and the e tickets ive used dont have a price on them.
I could swear that these are paper...
FWIW here is the TM message for the upcoming Wilco show. This is fairly common for shows I look to attend.
"Tickets will not be emailed or available to print."
That may be the venue, not sure where your show is.
But the TD Garden is trying to go all mobile. Bruins & Celtics tix are now all mobile. Not sure if they have done it 100% for concerts yet, last show I went to there was in 2018 and I got a hard ticket for that.
We are heading in that direction unfortunately. There needs to be some exceptions made, though it doesn't seem like it, there are still folks who don't carry a smart phone (we heard from them last year here, and PJ made arrangements for those cases).
And I don't know how difficult it is to transfer the mobile tickets say out of a season ticket account. If you have Bruins season tix, likely you wouldn't go to every game and would give some games to friends and family or if a business has them they give them to clients. An easy task when you just have to give them the printed ticket, or even an email pdf file, can get more complicated transferring the mobile ticket (Black Keys LA fiasco for example).
That Wilco show was at radio city. I find tickets on my phone time consuming and clunky. I had seats very close and walked in during the opener. The phone automatically goes into full bright mode when showing ticket to ushers and being close to the stage it seemed distracting. Most TM shows seem to push me to get the e ticket.
They seem to default to mobile tickets, but depending on the venue you can select a different option, though not always.
Like I said the TD Garden is attempting to do Bruins & Celts all mobile. Interestingly I just out of curiosity checked for tix for the Bruins game today at 1:00. It defaults as mobile but gives you the option to choose will call if you prefer. However for a game a few weeks away I checked and mobile is the only option. For concerts however it appears that while mobile is the setting it defaults to, you can change to pdf, regular mail or UPS. So for now only forcing mobile for the B's & C's, but definitely trying to steer everyone that way for other shows.
Why even have face value then? It seems like anymore, buying concert tickets is like an auction.
Technically there is no face value anymore. Paper tickets are long gone and the e tickets ive used dont have a price on them.
I could swear that these are paper...
FWIW here is the TM message for the upcoming Wilco show. This is fairly common for shows I look to attend.
"Tickets will not be emailed or available to print."
That may be the venue, not sure where your show is.
But the TD Garden is trying to go all mobile. Bruins & Celtics tix are now all mobile. Not sure if they have done it 100% for concerts yet, last show I went to there was in 2018 and I got a hard ticket for that.
We are heading in that direction unfortunately. There needs to be some exceptions made, though it doesn't seem like it, there are still folks who don't carry a smart phone (we heard from them last year here, and PJ made arrangements for those cases).
And I don't know how difficult it is to transfer the mobile tickets say out of a season ticket account. If you have Bruins season tix, likely you wouldn't go to every game and would give some games to friends and family or if a business has them they give them to clients. An easy task when you just have to give them the printed ticket, or even an email pdf file, can get more complicated transferring the mobile ticket (Black Keys LA fiasco for example).
That Wilco show was at radio city. I find tickets on my phone time consuming and clunky. I had seats very close and walked in during the opener. The phone automatically goes into full bright mode when showing ticket to ushers and being close to the stage it seemed distracting. Most TM shows seem to push me to get the e ticket.
They definitely use e-ticket as the default option. You just have to click the dropdown and switch to standard ticket. 99% of shows I get tickets for have a hard ticket option.
For concerts however it appears that while mobile is the setting it defaults to, you can change to pdf, regular mail or UPS. So for now only forcing mobile for the B's & C's, but definitely trying to steer everyone that way for other shows.
I'll also point out it's been like this for a long time. They've used print-at-home/eticket as the default option for like 5 years, give or take.
It's surprising to me that they don't push harder, actually. For most shows it's still free to have the hard tickets sent. The times that they do charge, it's 2 bucks. I thought for sure they would have made it more cost prohibitive at this point. Really thankful that they haven't!
They are getting $4.50 to mail hard tickets for a lot of shows nowadays. I remember back when they first introduced "print at home" and mail was still free, but you could print them at home for a fee of $2.00 or $2.50...let's see have you print them on hard stock and mail them to me for free or have me print them on my regular paper using my ink for 2 bucks...easy choice. Took them years to smarten up on that one.
How is market pricing not infinitely fairer than a private fan club sale?
There's no such thing as fair, just priorities. Both approaches are reasonable.
Artist 1: Wants to get tickets in fans' hands at reasonable prices. Seniority-based seating keeps a bunch of scalpers from joining and pulling the best seats.
Artist 2: I don't have the energy to deal with ticket distribution. Go get us the most money you can while getting the most people in the room.
How is market pricing not infinitely fairer than a private fan club sale?
There's no such thing as fair, just priorities. Both approaches are reasonable.
Artist 1: Wants to get tickets in fans' hands at reasonable prices. Seniority-based seating keeps a bunch of scalpers from joining and pulling the best seats.
Artist 2: I don't have the energy to deal with ticket distribution. Go get us the most money you can while getting the most people in the room.
Option 1 locks out the same fans from best seats possibly forever. Seniority should have priviliges but not absolute imo.
PJ actually did a good job keeping out scalpers by distributing tickets at the last minute and with the digital ticket no transfer policy.
How is market pricing not infinitely fairer than a private fan club sale?
There's no such thing as fair, just priorities. Both approaches are reasonable.
Artist 1: Wants to get tickets in fans' hands at reasonable prices. Seniority-based seating keeps a bunch of scalpers from joining and pulling the best seats.
Artist 2: I don't have the energy to deal with ticket distribution. Go get us the most money you can while getting the most people in the room.
Option 1 locks out the same fans from best seats possibly forever. Seniority should have priviliges but not absolute imo.
PJ actually did a good job keeping out scalpers by distributing tickets at the last minute and with the digital ticket no transfer policy.
The lottery rows and GA shows mitigate that. Clearly it's their ethos that they don't want people who buy their way up front to be up front.
I guess that I’m an idealist because I want to attend shows where most of the people are the same fans that buy the band’s albums and merch, post in a band’s forums, and know all of the words to the songs. PJs system isn’t perfect but it does attempt to give real fans the first shot at tickets and their tickets tend to be much less than other bands of their stature.
I’d like to see a system where you pay to join a fan club and get tickets to 1 show as part of that. Maybe even have an opportunity to get additional tickets for buying merchandise or pre-ordering albums. Do something like the lottery for the remaining tickets and, if there are any left, let a broker sell those. You could have an ID with a barcode (or something similar), where the ticket is loaded onto that so it can’t be resold. This way, true fans are most likely to be at the shows and the band gets the money.
Two points. First, if you don't think scalpers will find a way to game fan clubs scalping tickets bought way below market value, I don't think you've been paying attention. Second, what if you just can't make the show any more? These restrictive practices end up affecting the 'true fans' in adverse ways.
When artists don't charge market value for their tickets, the fact is that the scalping industry does. The noble venture of leaving money on the table so that 'true fans' get in doesn't exist in the real world, because when the artists leave money on the table, the scalpers pocket it by charging at or above market value, and 'true fans' suffer. Why some think it's superior to have scalpers pocketing market value instead of artists is completely beyond me, as is why some think it's immoral for artists to claim these funds instead of scalpers.
I listen to a podcast about politics where they often say how in any policy, there are always winners and there are always losers. Consistent pricing policies favour a lucky few who get to buy tickets well below market value, and disservice an unlucky mass who will choose to buy tickets at or above market value, as well as the artists who forfeit much of their revenue to subsidize fixed-price tickets and to deliver revenue to scalpers. Dynamic first-sale pricing policies disservice those who had 'trigger fingers' and were able to quickly buy concert tickets, and favours those who formerly would have bought at or above market value through the resale market as well as the artists who are able to recoup a greater chunk of the revenue share.
'05 - TO, '06 - TO 1, '08 - NYC 1 & 2, '09 - TO, Chi 1 & 2, '10 - Buffalo, NYC 1 & 2, '11 - TO 1 & 2, Hamilton, '13 - Buffalo, Brooklyn 1 & 2, '15 - Global Citizen, '16 - TO 1 & 2, Chi 2
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
Should mention that in the tour that led to this discussion- Tool - the 2nd sold out LA show had extremely reasonably priced lower level tickets the day before the show after the band released a fresh supply of tickets. This was after most lowers were $400+ after the show originally sold out.
When multiple shows are played and ticket supply is not limited to a private club, the market has a chance to adjust. And fans didn't need to make their buying decisions in 1998.
So, unless you don't have to plan ahead with regard to child care, travel, or time off work, you can wait until just before the show and get a reasonably priced ticket. Maybe.
Otherwise, if you have to make arrangements well ahead of the show, be prepared to pay ridiculous prices for tickets.
Got it.
If hope can grow from dirt like me, it can be done. - EV
Should mention that in the tour that led to this discussion- Tool - the 2nd sold out LA show had extremely reasonably priced lower level tickets the day before the show after the band released a fresh supply of tickets. This was after most lowers were $400+ after the show originally sold out.
When multiple shows are played and ticket supply is not limited to a private club, the market has a chance to adjust. And fans didn't need to make their buying decisions in 1998.
The Ten Club ticketing situation is only a problem for you or people in your situation. It's not an objective problem so no one cares. The band is happy and the fans sitting in those seats are happy. No one is losing sleep over the guys who want to buy their way up front and can't.
So, unless you don't have to plan ahead with regard to child care, travel, or time off work, you can wait until just before the show and get a reasonably priced ticket. Maybe.
Otherwise, if you have to make arrangements well ahead of the show, be prepared to pay ridiculous prices for tickets.
Got it.
So, unless you can be online at a specific time on a specific day and can win the Ticketmaster ticket purchasing opportunity and have access to funds right then and there, you're obligated to pay "ridiculous prices" while a band is obligated to deny themselves a piece of that pie because the scalpers have earned that privilege. Got it.
When supply can't meet demand, suppliers raise prices. If the suppliers don't raise the prices, the scalpers do. This has been happening for years when bands price their tickets under market value. In either case, the cumulative amount of money spent on the concerts are likely in the same ballpark. I'm actually so much less okay with scalpers making that profit and me getting into a show for less because I've got a good set of trigger fingers (which I do), than I am paying market rates and more revenue going back to the artists and venues and yes - even Ticketmaster.
'05 - TO, '06 - TO 1, '08 - NYC 1 & 2, '09 - TO, Chi 1 & 2, '10 - Buffalo, NYC 1 & 2, '11 - TO 1 & 2, Hamilton, '13 - Buffalo, Brooklyn 1 & 2, '15 - Global Citizen, '16 - TO 1 & 2, Chi 2
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
The difference for me is that I have never bought tickets from a scalper, nor have I ever purchased tickets with the intention of selling them for profit.
This new system denies the consumer of a direct transaction without someone, or some company shoving their way into the position of middleman. No additional value is gained for the consumer and in my case, if denied the opportunity to not deal with a scalper, individual or corporate, I just won't go to shows. No money from me for concessions or merch. The band, venue, TM and promoter get nothing.
I fully understand the new system and why it is what it is. I just don't like it and won't contribute to it.
If hope can grow from dirt like me, it can be done. - EV
Should mention that in the tour that led to this discussion- Tool - the 2nd sold out LA show had extremely reasonably priced lower level tickets the day before the show after the band released a fresh supply of tickets. This was after most lowers were $400+ after the show originally sold out.
When multiple shows are played and ticket supply is not limited to a private club, the market has a chance to adjust. And fans didn't need to make their buying decisions in 1998.
Right, for those who can decide to go to the show the day before and are smart enough to check for production releases, the system can work. For 95% of fans who need to make plans further in advance and/or aren't privy to the fact that production releases happen, the current system bends them over. (to remove excess cash from their wallet, what were you thinking I meant?)
Should mention that in the tour that led to this discussion- Tool - the 2nd sold out LA show had extremely reasonably priced lower level tickets the day before the show after the band released a fresh supply of tickets. This was after most lowers were $400+ after the show originally sold out.
When multiple shows are played and ticket supply is not limited to a private club, the market has a chance to adjust. And fans didn't need to make their buying decisions in 1998.
The Ten Club ticketing situation is only a problem for you or people in your situation. It's not an objective problem so no one cares. The band is happy and the fans sitting in those seats are happy. No one is losing sleep over the guys who want to buy their way up front and can't.
I only care about myself getting the best seats each and every tour, which drives up prices for everyone else by limiting supply. And certainly I dont care about someone else's right to an opinion or to speak.
More face value Tool tickets released today for tonight's show. Again.
Really its a novel and cool concept making tickets available to the public at face value to a sold out show.
Isn't it common for their to be ticket drops to concerts on the day of? That's always been one of the top rules in getting tickets to a show:
1) If the band has a fan club, joint it to get advance tickets
2) If the tickets from the fan club suck, don't buy them
3) Try all the presales
4) If the presales suck, try the general sale
5) Make sure you try for over an hour on the general sale. Quite often they dump more tickets an hour or two into it. I've gotten amazing side stage seats from drops like that.
6) If none of that worked, bookmark the event page and keep checking. Tickets randomly drop.
7) There are always ticket drops the week of, and the day of a show. Left over comp tickets, side stage tickets that were originally blocked off with concerns of obstructed view... etc.... Most of those last minute ticket drops are great tickets.
That's what I've always done. I've had amazing tickets to most of the shows I've gone too. Until PJ brought out GA pits, 10c tickets (Even with seniority back to '98) tended to be the worst tickets I had to shows. Always had better tickets for other concerts.
I completely empathize with bands capturing the revenue scalpers were taking. I do know for a fact it's resulting in me going to less shows. Where it used to be the travel was the most expensive part of going to a show, it's now the tickets. Or at best it's the same. It makes going to concerts crazy expensive. Unless it's my favourite band, it's superhard plunking down that money to see a band I've already seen 3 to 5 times already.
Should mention that in the tour that led to this discussion- Tool - the 2nd sold out LA show had extremely reasonably priced lower level tickets the day before the show after the band released a fresh supply of tickets. This was after most lowers were $400+ after the show originally sold out.
When multiple shows are played and ticket supply is not limited to a private club, the market has a chance to adjust. And fans didn't need to make their buying decisions in 1998.
The Ten Club ticketing situation is only a problem for you or people in your situation. It's not an objective problem so no one cares. The band is happy and the fans sitting in those seats are happy. No one is losing sleep over the guys who want to buy their way up front and can't.
I only care about myself getting the best seats each and every tour, which drives up prices for everyone else by limiting supply. And certainly I dont care about someone else's right to an opinion or to speak.
More face value Tool tickets released today for tonight's show. Again.
Really its a novel and cool concept making tickets available to the public at face value to a sold out show.
Why in the world would I care where someone else sits at an arena rock concert? "Won't someone think of the neglected rich who can't buy their way up front for this one band?" Maybe start a 501(c)(3) and advocate?
Should mention that in the tour that led to this discussion- Tool - the 2nd sold out LA show had extremely reasonably priced lower level tickets the day before the show after the band released a fresh supply of tickets. This was after most lowers were $400+ after the show originally sold out.
When multiple shows are played and ticket supply is not limited to a private club, the market has a chance to adjust. And fans didn't need to make their buying decisions in 1998.
The Ten Club ticketing situation is only a problem for you or people in your situation. It's not an objective problem so no one cares. The band is happy and the fans sitting in those seats are happy. No one is losing sleep over the guys who want to buy their way up front and can't.
Really its a novel and cool concept making tickets available to the public at face value to a sold out show.
Nothing novel about it. Production releases, seats held back by some combination of band/promoter/venue for band guests, VIPs and such. (And sometimes once the stage is erected they realize some seats they thought would be blocked aren't so they can now sell those) Usually they don't use everything they hold and once they know what they aren't using they just miraculously pop up for sale on TM. And these are always good to great seats. Happens for almost every show (including PJ), has always been the case. Just a matter of knowing about it (which most of the public don't) and looking at the right time. It's how I get a lot of my tickets. If I don't get anything I'm satisfied with during an on sale then I just monitor the show for a release, and pay particular attention the last 2 weeks or so. Sometimes it doesn't happen till day of show, but if you're diligent in checking you will find something the vast majority of the time.
Comments
FWIW here is the TM message for the upcoming Wilco show. This is fairly common for shows I look to attend.
"Tickets will not be emailed or available to print."
Those lower level Tool tickets that were $400 are now $356. The promoter ( the company that owns Ticketmaster) is monitoring the market and adjusting the process based on purchasing . I can not think of a fairer system.
If Tool performs at a particular city once every 4 years on average, why is it not completely fair for fans to save $9 per month for good seats to a premium event?
This, of course, would be impossible to do for a privately ticketed event like a PJ show unless someone invents a time machine.
I’d like to see a system where you pay to join a fan club and get tickets to 1 show as part of that. Maybe even have an opportunity to get additional tickets for buying merchandise or pre-ordering albums. Do something like the lottery for the remaining tickets and, if there are any left, let a broker sell those. You could have an ID with a barcode (or something similar), where the ticket is loaded onto that so it can’t be resold. This way, true fans are most likely to be at the shows and the band gets the money.
Glasgow S.E.C.C. 2000
Shepherds Bush 2009 - M.E.N 2009 - London O2 2009
Boston 2010 - Newark 2010 - MSG1+2 2010 - Dublin 2010 - Belfast 2010
London 2010
Manchester 1+2 2012 EV Manchester 2012 EV London 31/7/2012
Philly 1+2 2013 - Hartford 2013
Berlin 2014 Leeds 2014
Fenway 2 2016
EV London 1+2 2017
London 1+2 - Berlin 2018
Again, as I have stated earlier in the thread, Ticketmaster is the promoter for the vast majority of shows.
Live Nation is the largest concert promoter in the country. They have exclusive deals with most major artists and venues.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010. They keep 2 separate names for 2 branches of the same company.
That may be the venue, not sure where your show is.
But the TD Garden is trying to go all mobile. Bruins & Celtics tix are now all mobile. Not sure if they have done it 100% for concerts yet, last show I went to there was in 2018 and I got a hard ticket for that.
We are heading in that direction unfortunately. There needs to be some exceptions made, though it doesn't seem like it, there are still folks who don't carry a smart phone (we heard from them last year here, and PJ made arrangements for those cases).
And I don't know how difficult it is to transfer the mobile tickets say out of a season ticket account. If you have Bruins season tix, likely you wouldn't go to every game and would give some games to friends and family or if a business has them they give them to clients. An easy task when you just have to give them the printed ticket, or even an email pdf file, can get more complicated transferring the mobile ticket (Black Keys LA fiasco for example).
Yeah there was a time and not that long ago, where tickets would go on sale for a show a couple months before the show, sometimes even less.
I recall when Great Woods (now the Xfinity Center after several corporate name changes over the years) first opened in Mansfield MA in the mid 80's. The first decade or so there would be a big announcement in the spring, usually late April or early May of the lineup for the summer...then tickets would go on sale over a number of days for the various shows, and some more shows would be added later. Never had to buy tickets for a show that was a year away, or 10 months away or anything close. Longest wait would be maybe 4 months.
Now its commonplace for the shows to go on sale way in advance (Green Day/Weezer summer tour for next year went on sale over a month ago)
Thou don' know how much interest they earn as banks basically pay nothing these days. But it forces fans to spend the money way in advance, and make a decision about their availability to attend a year out.
That Wilco show was at radio city. I find tickets on my phone time consuming and clunky. I had seats very close and walked in during the opener. The phone automatically goes into full bright mode when showing ticket to ushers and being close to the stage it seemed distracting. Most TM shows seem to push me to get the e ticket.
Like I said the TD Garden is attempting to do Bruins & Celts all mobile. Interestingly I just out of curiosity checked for tix for the Bruins game today at 1:00. It defaults as mobile but gives you the option to choose will call if you prefer. However for a game a few weeks away I checked and mobile is the only option.
For concerts however it appears that while mobile is the setting it defaults to, you can change to pdf, regular mail or UPS. So for now only forcing mobile for the B's & C's, but definitely trying to steer everyone that way for other shows.
It's surprising to me that they don't push harder, actually. For most shows it's still free to have the hard tickets sent. The times that they do charge, it's 2 bucks. I thought for sure they would have made it more cost prohibitive at this point. Really thankful that they haven't!
I remember back when they first introduced "print at home" and mail was still free, but you could print them at home for a fee of $2.00 or $2.50...let's see have you print them on hard stock and mail them to me for free or have me print them on my regular paper using my ink for 2 bucks...easy choice.
Took them years to smarten up on that one.
How is market pricing not infinitely fairer than a private fan club sale?
Artist 1: Wants to get tickets in fans' hands at reasonable prices. Seniority-based seating keeps a bunch of scalpers from joining and pulling the best seats.
Artist 2: I don't have the energy to deal with ticket distribution. Go get us the most money you can while getting the most people in the room.
PJ actually did a good job keeping out scalpers by distributing tickets at the last minute and with the digital ticket no transfer policy.
When artists don't charge market value for their tickets, the fact is that the scalping industry does. The noble venture of leaving money on the table so that 'true fans' get in doesn't exist in the real world, because when the artists leave money on the table, the scalpers pocket it by charging at or above market value, and 'true fans' suffer. Why some think it's superior to have scalpers pocketing market value instead of artists is completely beyond me, as is why some think it's immoral for artists to claim these funds instead of scalpers.
I listen to a podcast about politics where they often say how in any policy, there are always winners and there are always losers. Consistent pricing policies favour a lucky few who get to buy tickets well below market value, and disservice an unlucky mass who will choose to buy tickets at or above market value, as well as the artists who forfeit much of their revenue to subsidize fixed-price tickets and to deliver revenue to scalpers. Dynamic first-sale pricing policies disservice those who had 'trigger fingers' and were able to quickly buy concert tickets, and favours those who formerly would have bought at or above market value through the resale market as well as the artists who are able to recoup a greater chunk of the revenue share.
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
When multiple shows are played and ticket supply is not limited to a private club, the market has a chance to adjust. And fans didn't need to make their buying decisions in 1998.
Otherwise, if you have to make arrangements well ahead of the show, be prepared to pay ridiculous prices for tickets.
Got it.
When supply can't meet demand, suppliers raise prices. If the suppliers don't raise the prices, the scalpers do. This has been happening for years when bands price their tickets under market value. In either case, the cumulative amount of money spent on the concerts are likely in the same ballpark. I'm actually so much less okay with scalpers making that profit and me getting into a show for less because I've got a good set of trigger fingers (which I do), than I am paying market rates and more revenue going back to the artists and venues and yes - even Ticketmaster.
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
This new system denies the consumer of a direct transaction without someone, or some company shoving their way into the position of middleman. No additional value is gained for the consumer and in my case, if denied the opportunity to not deal with a scalper, individual or corporate, I just won't go to shows. No money from me for concessions or merch. The band, venue, TM and promoter get nothing.
I fully understand the new system and why it is what it is. I just don't like it and won't contribute to it.
I only care about myself getting the best seats each and every tour, which drives up prices for everyone else by limiting supply. And certainly I dont care about someone else's right to an opinion or to speak.
More face value Tool tickets released today for tonight's show. Again.
Really its a novel and cool concept making tickets available to the public at face value to a sold out show.
It's how I get a lot of my tickets. If I don't get anything I'm satisfied with during an on sale then I just monitor the show for a release, and pay particular attention the last 2 weeks or so. Sometimes it doesn't happen till day of show, but if you're diligent in checking you will find something the vast majority of the time.