Ticketmaster Verified Fan is a joke

Get_Right

tylerj said:

Verified Fan is one of the best things to happen to Ticketmaster in a long time. It looks at a user's past history of whether or not they sell or actually go to shows. For artists that use it for large scale tours, it's been a godsend. I've never been denied and the process is so much smoother than before when actual bots would get majority of the tickets.

 Is everyone going to get tickets that want one, especially for a limited, high demand shows? No, but you can blame EV and PJ for not having as much tour dates too blame for that. I guarantee if there was a 25-30 tour date most ppl would get tickets.

Is it perfect? No cause you're still dealing with Ticketmaster monopoly ( thank you Obama DOJ). Sounds like you're more upset about Platinum, which is BS. 

But it's been really funny to watch ppl who have obviously never used Verified Fan before get pissed about it and show their ignorance. This post is one of the best examples. 

This is actually correct. Fans were able to get decent tickets at face through the verified fan sale. Much better than two years ago or whatever.  The reality is that it is tough to get tickets for EV or PJ because they have a huge fan base and do not play a lot of shows. Perhaps the fans are more naive than ignorant, but agree it is kinda funny reading the posts and people cannot tell the difference between the 10C lottery (tickets today), verified fan, and platinum sale processes. You need to be on top of your game to get these tickets.

tdawe

Get_Right said:

"Ed, we can give you an allotment for a 10c sale, and we can sell at face value to 10c only in a verified fan sale. That accounts for 15% of the tickets and that is more than than we give to any other artist.  We get to sell the remaining tickets any way we like."

Pretty sure that is how it goes down.  Compromises to ensure that the 10C gets an allotment of the best seats.  It's not complicated, and yes, not great for the consumer if you can't get a 10c ticket.  TM/LN have a monopoly and its been rigged for some time, I am still amazed that the DOJ allowed that merger to happen.

If that’s really how it goes down - and it sounds pretty close to me - then these last few days should make us all appreciate once again the fact that Pearl Jam got what appeared to be about 50% of the spring 2020 tour tickets set aside for 10C.

mcgruff10

I would say that Trey/Phish are pretty much equal to Ed/Pearl Jam.  Mike Watt?  Ugh no.

tdawe

jpgoegel said:

Ahhhh I wondered if this was how it worked.  I resold two or three events that were pre-pandemic reschedules.   Oh well, such is life, would make sense why I did not get VF

tylerj said:

Verified Fan is one of the best things to happen to Ticketmaster in a long time. It looks at a user's past history of whether or not they sell or actually go to shows. For artists that use it for large scale tours, it's been a godsend. I've never been denied and the process is so much smoother than before when actual bots would get majority of the tickets.

 

I don’t really know how “Verified Fan” works in practice, but if this is indeed how it goes I’ll need to rethink my ticket buying strategies, to Ticketmaster’s clear detriment. My approach for the last number of years has been to buy tickets to anything I might want to go to, usually months in advance, then once the date approaches I see if I want to (or even can) go or not, and if not I just sell them for what I paid (doing my best to even out the fees if I can).

If this is costing me even a marginal shot at Pearl Jam or other Verified-Fan level concerts, I’ll definitely shift over to buying only tickets for shows I really want to go to, and hitting up the secondary market shortly before show time for the rest. 

Merkin Baller

mcgruff10 said:

I would say that Trey/Phish are pretty much equal to Ed/Pearl Jam.  Mike Watt?  Ugh no.

I looked at the net worth of each band too; there's a wider gap between the bands than there is the two front men... according to google PJ has an estimated net worth of $300M, twice as much as Phish's estimated $200M. 

(if what I'm seeing on google is correct)

mcgruff10

Merkin Baller said:

mcgruff10 said:

I would say that Trey/Phish are pretty much equal to Ed/Pearl Jam.  Mike Watt?  Ugh no.

I looked at the net worth of each band too; there's a wider gap between the bands than there is the two front men... according to google PJ has an estimated net worth of $300M, twice as much as Phish's estimated $200M. 

(if what I'm seeing on google is correct)

Phish sells out shows everywhere and charges way less for tickets.  I mean they played a bakers dozen of sold out shows at msg, pj couldn't sell out four nights at the spectrum. (night one was not sold out).

apirk72

Clapper said:

Mike Watt and Trey Anastasio as comparisons?  The clown show that is our fan base continues.    

Trey would be a good comparison but Phish tours at least twice a year and you can usually count on Trey touring once or twice as well.  Where Pearl Jam a or Eddie does not tour nearly as much making their tickets more in demand.

Bentleyspop

It still amazes me how much misinformation and conspiracy theories there are out there in regards to concert ticket pricing.

If you think for one second that Ed,Kelly, and all the other touring musicians and management aren't aware of the ticket pricing then I've got an unopened blue Benaroya to sell you.

Merkin Baller

mcgruff10 said:

Merkin Baller said:

mcgruff10 said:

I would say that Trey/Phish are pretty much equal to Ed/Pearl Jam.  Mike Watt?  Ugh no.

I looked at the net worth of each band too; there's a wider gap between the bands than there is the two front men... according to google PJ has an estimated net worth of $300M, twice as much as Phish's estimated $200M. 

(if what I'm seeing on google is correct)

Phish sells out shows everywhere and charges way less for tickets.  I mean they played a bakers dozen of sold out shows at msg, pj couldn't sell out four nights at the spectrum. (night one was not sold out).

I don't disagree with you, I was a little surprised at the gap between both bands, but OTOH, PJ is a lot more commercial than Phish, so I guess it's not that much of a head scratcher. 

Get_Right

tdawe said:

Get_Right said:

"Ed, we can give you an allotment for a 10c sale, and we can sell at face value to 10c only in a verified fan sale. That accounts for 15% of the tickets and that is more than than we give to any other artist.  We get to sell the remaining tickets any way we like."

Pretty sure that is how it goes down.  Compromises to ensure that the 10C gets an allotment of the best seats.  It's not complicated, and yes, not great for the consumer if you can't get a 10c ticket.  TM/LN have a monopoly and its been rigged for some time, I am still amazed that the DOJ allowed that merger to happen.

If that’s really how it goes down - and it sounds pretty close to me - then these last few days should make us all appreciate once again the fact that Pearl Jam got what appeared to be about 50% of the spring 2020 tour tickets set aside for 10C.

Yup, you are correct. 50% sounds high, but I believe they do what they can to get as many good seats as possible, and unfortunately, that means TM can sell the remainder however they please.

Gern Blansten

Ticketmaster is bullshit. I logged in to a fan presale for foo fighters tickets and was presented with very few options for purchasing due to three seats being together in a lot of places. The system won't let you buy two tickets because it leaves a seat stranded. I'm convinced they do this early in the sale to try to get people to buy three tickets.

I said fuck it and logged back in several hours later and there were several open seats to choose from.

mcgruff10

Merkin Baller said:

mcgruff10 said:

Merkin Baller said:

mcgruff10 said:

I would say that Trey/Phish are pretty much equal to Ed/Pearl Jam.  Mike Watt?  Ugh no.

I looked at the net worth of each band too; there's a wider gap between the bands than there is the two front men... according to google PJ has an estimated net worth of $300M, twice as much as Phish's estimated $200M. 

(if what I'm seeing on google is correct)

Phish sells out shows everywhere and charges way less for tickets.  I mean they played a bakers dozen of sold out shows at msg, pj couldn't sell out four nights at the spectrum. (night one was not sold out).

I don't disagree with you, I was a little surprised at the gap between both bands, but OTOH, PJ is a lot more commercial than Phish, so I guess it's not that much of a head scratcher. 

I got you and agree.

Get_Right

Bentleyspop said:

It still amazes me how much misinformation and conspiracy theories there are out there in regards to concert ticket pricing.

If you think for one second that Ed,Kelly, and all the other touring musicians and management aren't aware of the ticket pricing then I've got an unopened blue Benaroya to sell you.

This is also correct. They know.

rey

Get_Right said:

tylerj said:

Verified Fan is one of the best things to happen to Ticketmaster in a long time. It looks at a user's past history of whether or not they sell or actually go to shows. For artists that use it for large scale tours, it's been a godsend. I've never been denied and the process is so much smoother than before when actual bots would get majority of the tickets.

 Is everyone going to get tickets that want one, especially for a limited, high demand shows? No, but you can blame EV and PJ for not having as much tour dates too blame for that. I guarantee if there was a 25-30 tour date most ppl would get tickets.

Is it perfect? No cause you're still dealing with Ticketmaster monopoly ( thank you Obama DOJ). Sounds like you're more upset about Platinum, which is BS. 

But it's been really funny to watch ppl who have obviously never used Verified Fan before get pissed about it and show their ignorance. This post is one of the best examples. 

This is actually correct. Fans were able to get decent tickets at face through the verified fan sale. Much better than two years ago or whatever.  The reality is that it is tough to get tickets for EV or PJ because they have a huge fan base and do not play a lot of shows. Perhaps the fans are more naive than ignorant, but agree it is kinda funny reading the posts and people cannot tell the difference between the 10C lottery (tickets today), verified fan, and platinum sale processes. You need to be on top of your game to get these tickets.

And if they didn't do the Verified Fan sale and just made it an open public sale, there would have been all kinds of issues with accessing the site, servers crashing, etc. which would have also caused major complaints.  Ultimately, it's going to take some good luck to score tickets to these shows (especially the ones at the smaller venues) regardless of how they are sold.  However, I do also understand the frustration of getting wait listed and feeling like you never even really had a shot at tickets.  Bottom line is there is no perfect solution for getting these tickets distributed.

The Platinum ticket thing is a whole other animal that I'm still trying to wrap my head around and come to terms with.

OceansJenny

JimmyV said:

OceansJenny said:

Sorry Trey Anastasio is no Ed. Or he plays more frequently I don’t know, but I doubt he has a similar following with hundreds posting about his band on a message forum and FB daily.

Sorry, Phish has a huge following. Trey is the front man and these tickets are for one of his side projects. Not my thing or my band, but it is fiction to claim these two things are not similar. 

My bad - should have googled the name first  I would say that’s a fair comparison. Phish certainly can sell out more than PJ.

I think it comes down to tour frequency then. When the boys were doing more shows it was never a problem getting tickets. Since they’ve scaled back it’s been a nightmare. Now EV wants to play a handful of shows and is taking market price. Not the greatest feeling in the direction they’re going.

CM189191

people pissed at TicketMaster over Olivia Rodrigo tix

sounds like they're fans got burned same as us

Verified Fans get waitlisted and couldn't get tix

now they're on resale for $1,000+/each


https://www.ticketnews.com/2021/12/olivia-rodrigo-fans-fume-over-sour-tour-ticketmaster-verified-fan-failures/

Douglas12373

OceansJenny said:

Sorry Trey Anastasio is no Ed. Or he plays more frequently I don’t know, but I doubt he has a similar following with hundreds posting about his band on a message forum and FB daily.

LOL this is wildly uninformed. Do a google search and tell me how many Phish online spaces you come across. A lot more than PJ. As a fan of both bands, I can tell you that the comparison is not as absurd as you seem to think. Also, you can rightfully claim that PJ has a broader potential fanbase due to the folks of my generation who remember 10 and nothing else, but those folks aren't going to see Ed solo

OceansJenny

Douglas12373 said:

OceansJenny said:

Sorry Trey Anastasio is no Ed. Or he plays more frequently I don’t know, but I doubt he has a similar following with hundreds posting about his band on a message forum and FB daily.

LOL this is wildly uninformed. Do a google search and tell me how many Phish online spaces you come across. A lot more than PJ. As a fan of both bands, I can tell you that the comparison is not as absurd as you seem to think. Also, you can rightfully claim that PJ has a broader potential fanbase due to the folks of my generation who remember 10 and nothing else, but those folks aren't going to see Ed solo

Yup I messed up - my bad!

I’ll remove the original.

Merkin Baller

So is this the wave of the future? 

No more lottery through the 10C? 

Indifference

Douglas12373 said:

OceansJenny said:

Sorry Trey Anastasio is no Ed. Or he plays more frequently I don’t know, but I doubt he has a similar following with hundreds posting about his band on a message forum and FB daily.

LOL this is wildly uninformed. Do a google search and tell me how many Phish online spaces you come across. A lot more than PJ. As a fan of both bands, I can tell you that the comparison is not as absurd as you seem to think. Also, you can rightfully claim that PJ has a broader potential fanbase due to the folks of my generation who remember 10 and nothing else, but those folks aren't going to see Ed solo

But PJ/EV fans have jobs.😬