Ticketmaster now reserving the best seats for themselves

Get_Right

it is a combination of all of those factors, venue holds, VIP/sponsor allotments, club/season ticket offers. etc. But make no mistake, TM has the exclusive right to sell the tickets at most venues and the majority of tickets are under their control.

pjl44

SHZA said:

High Fidelity 2000 said:

mpedone said:

Ticketmaster has won.

I get tired of people saying everything is Ticketmaster. The band's management signed off on this. They sign off on 10% of the tickets being sold for "premium" prices to rip off fans at 4-5 times the cost. Why would they sell all those good seats for $185 to the ten club members when they can sell them for $1000 to stupid desperate people who log on and find that's all that's left when they get through the queue? It's a scam. The band AND ticketmaster are in on it. The band is making more money, too.
Don't believe me? The Cure toured without premium seats, and everything was affordable with their top ticket prices being around $130, lawn $25, t shirts were $25. And somehow they did this for every show on a huge tour all last summer. It was probably hard but it can be done, but management (I'm guessing) doesn't want to do it. Weak.

Mostly true but the Cure charged up to $400 for front row seats at some venues. To use that model PJ would have to get rid of the pit. 10c members would go ballistic if they ever did that. 

Aka The Good Ol' Days

pjl44

A lot of things have changed in the last 25 years. Costs and technology probably make planning and negotiating trickier. It would be way easier for them to just send everyone a presale code and say good luck. There are bumps but I can't imagine trying to get decent Pearl Jam tickets if they approached sales like most other bands.

Get_Right

pjl44 said:

A lot of things have changed in the last 25 years. Costs and technology probably make planning and negotiating trickier. It would be way easier for them to just send everyone a presale code and say good luck. There are bumps but I can't imagine trying to get decent Pearl Jam tickets if they approached sales like most other bands.

Yes, costs have gone up, but technology has made it easier for TM to monitor and control the release and selling price of every ticket. They use an algorithm to set premium prices, and you can see that when you look at the pricing. Move a few rows closer to the stage, or a closer section and the prices are higher.

Lerxst1992

kosteva2 said:

Lerxst1992 said:

BF25394 said:

It's always Dolan's fault. We should count our blessings that JD and the Straight Shot aren't the openers for the tour.

Seating chart is a bit of a joke. It’s because there are so many club seats now at the garden as compared to four years ago, but still it’s absurd for them to be in love with that damn arena. So many other options here in NY yet the band insists on rewarding Knick and rags fans.

One would have hoped SOMEONE in the band would look at that seating chart and say fix it or we are going to Belmont, Brooklyn, or NJ.

They’re obviously going to be sold as premium tickets.  They (MSG, Ticketmaster, Pearl Jam) can get way more than the $185/ they’d get from selling as a 10C seat.  When they played MSG in Sept 2022 secondary market get in prices I think were running $300-500 upper level, $800-1000 lower.  Can’t fault them for taking advantage of the market.  For those that hit in lottery for MSG $185/ for a floor/lower level seat is a steal.

Hard to turn down MSG.  Great sound.  Energy there in the arena unmatched anywhere else.  Whole different level than Barclays or whatever they’re calling the arena in Newark these days.  It’s always a premium ticket for bands that like to play there (Pearl Jam, Phish, etc).

PJ told us in the tour announcement that up to 10% will be premium priced. Those sections look like more than 10% but I agree it will likely be a factor. They had premium last time and I recall ten club had some of those sections.

Lerxst1992

kosteva2 said:

Lerxst1992 said:

BF25394 said:

It's always Dolan's fault. We should count our blessings that JD and the Straight Shot aren't the openers for the tour.

Seating chart is a bit of a joke. It’s because there are so many club seats now at the garden as compared to four years ago, but still it’s absurd for them to be in love with that damn arena. So many other options here in NY yet the band insists on rewarding Knick and rags fans.

One would have hoped SOMEONE in the band would look at that seating chart and say fix it or we are going to Belmont, Brooklyn, or NJ.

They’re obviously going to be sold as premium tickets.  They (MSG, Ticketmaster, Pearl Jam) can get way more than the $185/ they’d get from selling as a 10C seat.  When they played MSG in Sept 2022 secondary market get in prices I think were running $300-500 upper level, $800-1000 lower.  Can’t fault them for taking advantage of the market.  For those that hit in lottery for MSG $185/ for a floor/lower level seat is a steal.

Hard to turn down MSG.  Great sound.  Energy there in the arena unmatched anywhere else.  Whole different level than Barclays or whatever they’re calling the arena in Newark these days.  It’s always a premium ticket for bands that like to play there (Pearl Jam, Phish, etc).

I enjoyed your comment but do not agree with the sound, since they built the bridges, the sound in the 200s is below average. One show, think it was RHCP a few years ago, the sound was terrible. It sounded better on YT the next day. Fine in the 100s but nothing special. I agree with the energy, but that seating map is unfair to PJ fans. And Knick and rangers fans get tickets without being PJ fans. It’s a terrible decision looking at that map and considering how tough it is to get tix here.

those 2022 prices were based on their curious decision to play only two shows east of the Mississippi. They tell us they care about the fans, yet set up a tour that specifically targeted its ny fans for price gouging. Hopefully this year the secondary market is better with seven east shows but we’ll see.

The upper deck $175 prices is driving the huge amount of price complaints on the forum this week. In NY that’s a bargain, everywhere else, not so much.

 

spankyMP

Lerxst1992 said:

kosteva2 said:

Lerxst1992 said:

BF25394 said:

It's always Dolan's fault. We should count our blessings that JD and the Straight Shot aren't the openers for the tour.

Seating chart is a bit of a joke. It’s because there are so many club seats now at the garden as compared to four years ago, but still it’s absurd for them to be in love with that damn arena. So many other options here in NY yet the band insists on rewarding Knick and rags fans.

One would have hoped SOMEONE in the band would look at that seating chart and say fix it or we are going to Belmont, Brooklyn, or NJ.

They’re obviously going to be sold as premium tickets.  They (MSG, Ticketmaster, Pearl Jam) can get way more than the $185/ they’d get from selling as a 10C seat.  When they played MSG in Sept 2022 secondary market get in prices I think were running $300-500 upper level, $800-1000 lower.  Can’t fault them for taking advantage of the market.  For those that hit in lottery for MSG $185/ for a floor/lower level seat is a steal.

Hard to turn down MSG.  Great sound.  Energy there in the arena unmatched anywhere else.  Whole different level than Barclays or whatever they’re calling the arena in Newark these days.  It’s always a premium ticket for bands that like to play there (Pearl Jam, Phish, etc).

PJ told us in the tour announcement that up to 10% will be premium priced. Those sections look like more than 10% but I agree it will likely be a factor. They had premium last time and I recall ten club had some of those sections.

10% may be platinum. 10% maybe vitalogy foundation. 20-30% may be club/season ticket holder/corporate accounts etc. 30-40% may be 10C. 10-30% may be public onsale?

pjl44

Get_Right said:

pjl44 said:

A lot of things have changed in the last 25 years. Costs and technology probably make planning and negotiating trickier. It would be way easier for them to just send everyone a presale code and say good luck. There are bumps but I can't imagine trying to get decent Pearl Jam tickets if they approached sales like most other bands.

Yes, costs have gone up, but technology has made it easier for TM to monitor and control the release and selling price of every ticket. They use an algorithm to set premium prices, and you can see that when you look at the pricing. Move a few rows closer to the stage, or a closer section and the prices are higher.

Right but the ease of which anyone can do that similarly on other platforms creates a problem at scale. It's either do this or piss money away.

pjl44

Reselling was a much smaller problem and easier to combat when we were sending in postcards

pjl44

Every tour I brace myself for this finally being the year where they're tired of the headaches. I really appreciate all of the effort Ten Club puts into this.

Luckytwn1

pjl44 said:

Every tour I brace myself for this finally being the year where they're tired of the headaches. I really appreciate all of the effort Ten Club puts into this.

I've been a member for 30 years now and they are fantastic. But let's also be serious here, this year's 10C membership is $35. Let's say there's 200,000 current members, which is almost certainly low. That's $7 million a year for the band. Most importantly, money that comes in every year, even years they don't tour or put out music.

And on top of that, all the merchandise that they sell only to members. They're not giving that up over a few headaches. The tickets are far and away the main reason people join the fan club.

pjl44

Luckytwn1 said:

pjl44 said:

Every tour I brace myself for this finally being the year where they're tired of the headaches. I really appreciate all of the effort Ten Club puts into this.

I've been a member for 30 years now and they are fantastic. But let's also be serious here, this year's 10C membership is $35. Let's say there's 200,000 current members, which is almost certainly low. That's $7 million a year for the band. Not to mention, the merchandise on top of that they sell only to members. They're not giving that up over a few headaches. The tickets are far and away the main reason people join the fan club.

I tend to agree with you and hope that does indeed provide a high degree of motivation to keep it rolling

BF25394

Luckytwn1 said:

Eddieredder said:

This is nothing new. Since the beginning of time the following get their ticket alottment. Before any kind of sale goes on. 

venue
promoter
band
misc (credit card company, sponsors, season tix holders)

And people have been reselling their alottment forever too.

Its all negotiated to a point. But at the end of the day TM is the venue and promoter in most cases. Don't like the deal? Then you can't play here. Its pretty simple. But also, the band has to agree to the terms. They also don't really have a choice or alternative. 

Ticketmaster/LN has no ownership interest in either The Forum or MSG. The Forum is owned by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and as others have noted, Dolan owns The Garden. It's not like AEG which owns Crypto.com arena and then promotes shows there. 

Yes, I thought I pointed this out in my prior message regarding changing ticketing policies but I realize now that I didn't: the Forum's ownership changed between the 2019 arrangement of the 2020 tour (that was postponed for two years) and the 2023 arrangement of the 2024 tour.

kosteva2

Lerxst1992 said:

kosteva2 said:

Lerxst1992 said:

BF25394 said:

It's always Dolan's fault. We should count our blessings that JD and the Straight Shot aren't the openers for the tour.

Seating chart is a bit of a joke. It’s because there are so many club seats now at the garden as compared to four years ago, but still it’s absurd for them to be in love with that damn arena. So many other options here in NY yet the band insists on rewarding Knick and rags fans.

One would have hoped SOMEONE in the band would look at that seating chart and say fix it or we are going to Belmont, Brooklyn, or NJ.

They’re obviously going to be sold as premium tickets.  They (MSG, Ticketmaster, Pearl Jam) can get way more than the $185/ they’d get from selling as a 10C seat.  When they played MSG in Sept 2022 secondary market get in prices I think were running $300-500 upper level, $800-1000 lower.  Can’t fault them for taking advantage of the market.  For those that hit in lottery for MSG $185/ for a floor/lower level seat is a steal.

Hard to turn down MSG.  Great sound.  Energy there in the arena unmatched anywhere else.  Whole different level than Barclays or whatever they’re calling the arena in Newark these days.  It’s always a premium ticket for bands that like to play there (Pearl Jam, Phish, etc).

I enjoyed your comment but do not agree with the sound, since they built the bridges, the sound in the 200s is below average. One show, think it was RHCP a few years ago, the sound was terrible. It sounded better on YT the next day. Fine in the 100s but nothing special. I agree with the energy, but that seating map is unfair to PJ fans. And Knick and rangers fans get tickets without being PJ fans. It’s a terrible decision looking at that map and considering how tough it is to get tix here.

those 2022 prices were based on their curious decision to play only two shows east of the Mississippi. They tell us they care about the fans, yet set up a tour that specifically targeted its ny fans for price gouging. Hopefully this year the secondary market is better with seven east shows but we’ll see.

The upper deck $175 prices is driving the huge amount of price complaints on the forum this week. In NY that’s a bargain, everywhere else, not so much.

 

Fair point on sound in upper part of the 200s.  Lower bowl, floor, lower 200s, and even chase bridge really good sound compared to most modern arenas.

bootlegger10

It was a really good run for 30 years.  Now, in exchange for more fan club tickets, the band is letting some of the best seats go to non-10c fans while still maintain the floor for fan club (and thus the best seats in the house).  

I don't see much to gripe about here.  Many, many of you wouldn't have had the 6 sections closest to the stage anyway.  And for those that would, we had it really great for 30 years. 

Lerxst1992

bootlegger10 said:

It was a really good run for 30 years.  Now, in exchange for more fan club tickets, the band is letting some of the best seats go to non-10c fans while still maintain the floor for fan club (and thus the best seats in the house).  

I don't see much to gripe about here.  Many, many of you wouldn't have had the 6 sections closest to the stage anyway.  And for those that would, we had it really great for 30 years. 

There’s two sets of fans, those in the Phil, NY corridor (Fenway solves Bos demand) and everyone else. For all the problems we have here getting tickets, and how easy it’s been for others to get tickets the last two tours in other regions, looking at the NY seating map, unfortunately there’s a lot to gripe about. Those eight sections push everyone farther back, and it looks like fewer ten c tix than last time.

Lerxst1992

spankyMP said:

Lerxst1992 said:

kosteva2 said:

Lerxst1992 said:

BF25394 said:

It's always Dolan's fault. We should count our blessings that JD and the Straight Shot aren't the openers for the tour.

Seating chart is a bit of a joke. It’s because there are so many club seats now at the garden as compared to four years ago, but still it’s absurd for them to be in love with that damn arena. So many other options here in NY yet the band insists on rewarding Knick and rags fans.

One would have hoped SOMEONE in the band would look at that seating chart and say fix it or we are going to Belmont, Brooklyn, or NJ.

They’re obviously going to be sold as premium tickets.  They (MSG, Ticketmaster, Pearl Jam) can get way more than the $185/ they’d get from selling as a 10C seat.  When they played MSG in Sept 2022 secondary market get in prices I think were running $300-500 upper level, $800-1000 lower.  Can’t fault them for taking advantage of the market.  For those that hit in lottery for MSG $185/ for a floor/lower level seat is a steal.

Hard to turn down MSG.  Great sound.  Energy there in the arena unmatched anywhere else.  Whole different level than Barclays or whatever they’re calling the arena in Newark these days.  It’s always a premium ticket for bands that like to play there (Pearl Jam, Phish, etc).

PJ told us in the tour announcement that up to 10% will be premium priced. Those sections look like more than 10% but I agree it will likely be a factor. They had premium last time and I recall ten club had some of those sections.

10% may be platinum. 10% maybe vitalogy foundation. 20-30% may be club/season ticket holder/corporate accounts etc. 30-40% may be 10C. 10-30% may be public onsale?

Platinum, Vitalogy and public onsale tickets are all shows, but the NY ( and LA) maps look very different than the other shows. What is unique about NY, the immense amount of Club seats now at the garden for two hugely popular sports teams there. This may be one of a handful of arenas in the world that has this unique ticketing issue (2 big teams with a ton of luxury club seats). The majority of 100 level seats not behind the nets are now club seats, and they have privileges.

PJNB

Lerxst1992 said:

bootlegger10 said:

It was a really good run for 30 years.  Now, in exchange for more fan club tickets, the band is letting some of the best seats go to non-10c fans while still maintain the floor for fan club (and thus the best seats in the house).  

I don't see much to gripe about here.  Many, many of you wouldn't have had the 6 sections closest to the stage anyway.  And for those that would, we had it really great for 30 years. 

There’s two sets of fans, those in the Phil, NY corridor (Fenway solves Bos demand) and everyone else. For all the problems we have here getting tickets, and how easy it’s been for others to get tickets the last two tours in other regions, looking at the NY seating map, unfortunately there’s a lot to gripe about. Those eight sections push everyone farther back, and it looks like fewer ten c tix than last time.

It is unfortunate with the elimination of the best seats in the house for MSG. That does not mean there are less seats available though. For all we know 10C received more seats this go around compared to previous years. Seat maps give no indication on how many seats are available for each section. 

Get_Right

PJNB said:

Lerxst1992 said:

bootlegger10 said:

It was a really good run for 30 years.  Now, in exchange for more fan club tickets, the band is letting some of the best seats go to non-10c fans while still maintain the floor for fan club (and thus the best seats in the house).  

I don't see much to gripe about here.  Many, many of you wouldn't have had the 6 sections closest to the stage anyway.  And for those that would, we had it really great for 30 years. 

There’s two sets of fans, those in the Phil, NY corridor (Fenway solves Bos demand) and everyone else. For all the problems we have here getting tickets, and how easy it’s been for others to get tickets the last two tours in other regions, looking at the NY seating map, unfortunately there’s a lot to gripe about. Those eight sections push everyone farther back, and it looks like fewer ten c tix than last time.

It is unfortunate with the elimination of the best seats in the house for MSG. That does not mean there are less seats available though. For all we know 10C received more seats this go around compared to previous years. Seat maps give no indication on how many seats are available for each section. 

Correct. And the pit is all 10C. Seems like a higher percentage of tickets, just not the best seats.

Merkin Baller

PJNB said:

Lerxst1992 said:

bootlegger10 said:

It was a really good run for 30 years.  Now, in exchange for more fan club tickets, the band is letting some of the best seats go to non-10c fans while still maintain the floor for fan club (and thus the best seats in the house).  

I don't see much to gripe about here.  Many, many of you wouldn't have had the 6 sections closest to the stage anyway.  And for those that would, we had it really great for 30 years. 

There’s two sets of fans, those in the Phil, NY corridor (Fenway solves Bos demand) and everyone else. For all the problems we have here getting tickets, and how easy it’s been for others to get tickets the last two tours in other regions, looking at the NY seating map, unfortunately there’s a lot to gripe about. Those eight sections push everyone farther back, and it looks like fewer ten c tix than last time.

It is unfortunate with the elimination of the best seats in the house for MSG. That does not mean there are less seats available though. For all we know 10C received more seats this go around compared to previous years. Seat maps give no indication on how many seats are available for each section. 

So far I’m 6/6 on ticket requests in the premium tickets era… I can’t complain about that. Yeah, I’m further back from the stage than I was 8 years ago, but I’ll take further away over not in the building at all. 

Let’s see how my Fenway request turns out.