“PJ Premium” on Ticketmaster?

JimmyV · March 2022

Sir Paul at Fenway had $3,500 seats on the field. It was the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen.

Pearl Jam topped that price a few weeks later.

Get_Right · March 2022

Poncier said:

Get_Right said:

cmalisze said:

JH6056 said:

pjl44 said:

Yeah, issuing fully transferable Ten Club tickets couldn't possibly lead to any undesirable unintended consequences

No one is suggesting fully transferable Ten Club tix. What was said above is, if you're gonna charge me $2,000.00 per ticket, make it transferable.

EXACTLY this. Once I buy something it is mine and I should be able to do with it as I wish. Anytime I hear someone complaining about scalping whether it be merch or tickets I say to them....sell me your house for exactly what you paid then......they shut up real quick. Tickets like anything are a commodity. What teams....bands....events.....fail to realize by controlling the secondary market on goods you are only hurting yourself. I can list tons of examples of negative repercussions to attempting to controlling the market around you. These events at certain prices need a market for people to buy and sell or else they simply wont get sold. The Cali shows are a great example.

$300 tickets are more and more common. Sucks, yes, but some of the comments remind me of my grandfather, "I remember when gas a nickel a gallon."

Perfect!

Vedd Hedd · March 2022

mattcoz said:

Vedd Hedd said:

JP218404 said:

Cropduster-80 said:

JP218404 said:

This slot could be worst. Look what Eric church just did to his fans

That one is worthy of an uproar. This PJ stuff is a non issue people blowing way out of proportion.

PJ announced with the tour announcement that this was going to happen. It’s not a surprise and it was done for a specific reason

100%! All was expected. Ya got a ticket on this run just be happy wherever the damn seat it.

Eddie do this for a Cubs game!?!!

I remember Eddie saying specifically they would not be doing shows in October "for a while" when the Cubs were good.

That's called good planning. Scheduling a show during the Final Four when you're a North Carolina fan? Not so much.

Agreed.

mattcoz · March 2022

Poncier said:

mattcoz said:

Poncier said:

mattcoz said:

Poncier said:

mattcoz said:

Poncier said:

mattcoz said:

bbiggs said:

pjl44 said:

bbiggs said:

cmalisze said:

Pearl Jam Fans Furious over Band Charging "Scalper" Ticket Prices (ticketnews.com)

Worth a read.

"In its recent earnings report Live Nation cited the increased use of platinum pricing as a key driver of its record-breaking revenue."

Interesting.

Isn't that obvious? The entire point is pulling money out of the secondary market into the primary.

Of course it is obvious. Some are suggesting the windfall of cash is all about snagging a bunch of fan club tickets and keeping those prices low though. That is a part of it, but the bottom line is about making more money. And that's fine. Just call it what it is.

It's about Ticketmaster making money, yes. It's the deal that the band needs to make to keep Ticketmaster happy so that they agree to provide as many low priced tickets to the fan club as possible. It can be both things. In the end, does the band make more money? Honestly, I don't know, maybe. But, that extra money is what would have gone to the ticket resellers instead. Why is that better? If the band makes some extra money, which they can use to pay their employees well and to offset their carbon emissions, and we get to keep our low priced fan club tickets, that seems like a win-win.

So, you think Pearl jam is making no extra scratch off PJ Premium tickets?
Want to buy this bridge I own in Brooklyn?

Try reading past my first sentence.

You said you don't know if the band is making more money off PJ Premium.
Simply put: They are.

Maybe you're right, in fact you probably are, but you claimed that I thought they didn't, and I did not say that. I only said I don't know because that's the only truthful thing I could say. I don't know, and neither do you.

Sorry for coming across that way. Not my intent.
But as I said in my post above this one, the band definitely makes money off platinum tickets, all artists do, unless Pearl Jam decided to be the exception and let Ticketmaster keep all the added profit.

Yes, of course, on each individual platinum ticket they make more money than off of a face value ticket. But the question is, do they make more money overall? If the money they make on platinum tickets is to offset not making as much on the rest of the face value tickets, as they told us from the beginning, it's possible they don't make any more. It's never that simple though.

Possibly true. But when tickets pop up at $5,000 each it's a bad look.
Just bump every ticket on the tour a reasonable amount ($10, $20 whatever makes the numbers work), keep restricting resale by using mobile tickets with only F2F transfer (I know MSG and Denver would be an issue but all other shows you basically quash most of the secondary market), and it doesn't come across like you are gouging fans. Especially this band and all they said in the past about ticket prices and Ticketmaster.
Just a very bad look in my insignificant opinion.

Agreed, it's a bad look when people look up tickets and that's all they see, which is why naming it PJ Premium instead of Platinum made it worse. That had to be part of the negotiation. Before Platinum, people would have seen no tickets at all, it just would have been sold out. The band didn't look bad, but it wasn't any better for fans either as they would have just had to pay the inflated prices to resellers instead. I doubt the band really cares how it looks though. If they think they made the best deal possible, and they're the ones that end up looking bad, I can see them being fine with that.

brarble · March 2022

Poncier said:

JR86440 said:

People who complain about premium have never tried to run a business. There are sooooo many costs that go into running a business that people don’t see. It’s not as simple as multiplying 20k seats by $100 and dividing by 6 band members… counting Boom of course! Benefits for employees, liability insurance, salaries, rent, taxes, travel, crew, etc. Plus they need to Maher a profit. It’s not a non profit organization. $100 for 95% of the crowd for a band of PJ’s caliber is dirt cheap in my mind. And they aren’t the chili peppers who play 18 songs. Either need to accept premium or accept $150 tickets. Add in the fact that they have families to support I feel what they are doing is more than reasonable

Yet they have managed to run their business without doing PJ Premium for 30 years until now. Just moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate as time has gone on. Are you saying that the business model they used for 3 decades was faulty?

My hunch is that given inflation, the "moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate" method you describe would put tickets at around $150-$200 range (vs the $108 they're charging). Since so many ppl probably got refunds in 2020 and are now attempting to buy again, I'm guessing that PJ wanted to keep prices looking like they did in 2020 for the vast majority (and defray the difference with a few Premium seats) vs doubling the price for everyone.

And while I do love the old model... even this current model (mostly low cost tickets + a smattering of premium) is honestly not that bad compared to most other artists. If we're ranking all bands/artists on a spectrum of "fair pricing policies", even the "PJ Premium" method is better and more fair than 99% of the other bands out there. Honestly can't think of a single band or artist that has kept prices this low.

Most of these arenas seat around 17,000 ppl. I'm seeing about 50-100 Premium seats per show. I hate dynamic pricing as much as the next guy, but it's wild to me that ppl are getting this angry about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets while not appreciating that the other 99.5% are by far the lowest most reasonable you will find in any band/artist of Pearl Jam's level.

cmalisze · March 2022

brarble said:

Poncier said:

JR86440 said:

People who complain about premium have never tried to run a business. There are sooooo many costs that go into running a business that people don’t see. It’s not as simple as multiplying 20k seats by $100 and dividing by 6 band members… counting Boom of course! Benefits for employees, liability insurance, salaries, rent, taxes, travel, crew, etc. Plus they need to Maher a profit. It’s not a non profit organization. $100 for 95% of the crowd for a band of PJ’s caliber is dirt cheap in my mind. And they aren’t the chili peppers who play 18 songs. Either need to accept premium or accept $150 tickets. Add in the fact that they have families to support I feel what they are doing is more than reasonable

Yet they have managed to run their business without doing PJ Premium for 30 years until now. Just moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate as time has gone on. Are you saying that the business model they used for 3 decades was faulty?
My hunch is that given inflation, the "moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate" method you describe would put tickets at around $150-$200 range (vs the $108 they're charging). Since so many ppl probably got refunds in 2020 and are now attempting to buy again, I'm guessing that PJ wanted to keep prices looking like they did in 2020 for the vast majority (and defray the difference with a few Premium seats) vs doubling the price for everyone.

And while I do love the old model... even this current model (mostly low cost tickets + a smattering of premium) is honestly not that bad compared to most other artists. If we're ranking all bands/artists on a spectrum of "fair pricing policies", even the "PJ Premium" method is better and more fair than 99% of the other bands out there. Honestly can't think of a single band or artist that has kept prices this low.

Most of these arenas seat around 17,000 ppl. I'm seeing about 50-100 Premium seats per show. I hate dynamic pricing as much as the next guy, but it's wild to me that ppl are getting this angry about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets while not appreciating that the other 99.5% are by far the lowest most reasonable you will find in any band/artist of Pearl Jam's level.

It isn't about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets......it is about a persona created over nearly 30 years and then obliterated in one business transaction in 2022. That is the point. The hypocrisy rings loud as can be.

ddeschler · March 2022

You're not seeing all the tickets TM has held back. I wish it was just 50-100/show. That might not be so bad. If they sell this wave of PJ Premium, there is another wave of PJ Premiums behind them. We saw this with Ed's tour. When Platinum didn't sell, they dumped a large inventory of some of the best seats days before the show (and sold many tickets below face, undercutting F2F sales).

Vedd Hedd · March 2022

cmalisze said:

brarble said:

Poncier said:

JR86440 said:

People who complain about premium have never tried to run a business. There are sooooo many costs that go into running a business that people don’t see. It’s not as simple as multiplying 20k seats by $100 and dividing by 6 band members… counting Boom of course! Benefits for employees, liability insurance, salaries, rent, taxes, travel, crew, etc. Plus they need to Maher a profit. It’s not a non profit organization. $100 for 95% of the crowd for a band of PJ’s caliber is dirt cheap in my mind. And they aren’t the chili peppers who play 18 songs. Either need to accept premium or accept $150 tickets. Add in the fact that they have families to support I feel what they are doing is more than reasonable

Yet they have managed to run their business without doing PJ Premium for 30 years until now. Just moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate as time has gone on. Are you saying that the business model they used for 3 decades was faulty?
My hunch is that given inflation, the "moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate" method you describe would put tickets at around $150-$200 range (vs the $108 they're charging). Since so many ppl probably got refunds in 2020 and are now attempting to buy again, I'm guessing that PJ wanted to keep prices looking like they did in 2020 for the vast majority (and defray the difference with a few Premium seats) vs doubling the price for everyone.

And while I do love the old model... even this current model (mostly low cost tickets + a smattering of premium) is honestly not that bad compared to most other artists. If we're ranking all bands/artists on a spectrum of "fair pricing policies", even the "PJ Premium" method is better and more fair than 99% of the other bands out there. Honestly can't think of a single band or artist that has kept prices this low.

Most of these arenas seat around 17,000 ppl. I'm seeing about 50-100 Premium seats per show. I hate dynamic pricing as much as the next guy, but it's wild to me that ppl are getting this angry about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets while not appreciating that the other 99.5% are by far the lowest most reasonable you will find in any band/artist of Pearl Jam's level.

It isn't about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets......it is about a persona created over nearly 30 years and then obliterated in one business transaction in 2022. That is the point. The hypocrisy rings loud as can be.

I dont quite get your point. You are saying they should lose money on the tour based on some persona?
Or are you saying charge EVERYONE more, so that there are no premium seats?

rmwatson · March 2022

aisleseats said:

rmwatson said:

aisleseats said:

rmwatson said:

aisleseats said:

Poncier said:

JR86440 said:

People who complain about premium have never tried to run a business. There are sooooo many costs that go into running a business that people don’t see. It’s not as simple as multiplying 20k seats by $100 and dividing by 6 band members… counting Boom of course! Benefits for employees, liability insurance, salaries, rent, taxes, travel, crew, etc. Plus they need to Maher a profit. It’s not a non profit organization. $100 for 95% of the crowd for a band of PJ’s caliber is dirt cheap in my mind. And they aren’t the chili peppers who play 18 songs. Either need to accept premium or accept $150 tickets. Add in the fact that they have families to support I feel what they are doing is more than reasonable

Yet they have managed to run their business without doing PJ Premium for 30 years until now. Just moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate as time has gone on. Are you saying that the business model they used for 3 decades was faulty?

This is the point a lot of ppl keep overlooking. Platinum pricing is something that didn't even really exist until maybe 10 years ago. Prior to that, every band/artist in history successfully toured without it and just charged a fixed price for tickets. Many artists (including some even bigger than PJ) still do. I get that costs associated with touring have increased. But the increase in ticket prices over the years have reflected that.
So those of you who are making excuses for and defending PJ for caving in can go try to sell that BS elsewhere. Because I'm not buying it.

Do you believe that Ticketmaster sits there at the negotiation and says "Sure Pearl Jam management, have all these fan club seat allocations, and also, have non-transferable tickets so that bots cant gobble them up, oh, and also, let us run a verified fan for you to limit the market even more to your direct fan base and hopefully not scalpers, AND we are going to do all of this for nothing in return, we will even sell the regular tickets at a cheap cost for all" It is not how that business, or the world, works. Business contracts and about give and take - the business of Pearl Jam takes A LOT for the 10Club, and for the verified fan - the give is ultimately the Premium seats and that system. I mean, they explicitly state as much in their tour announcement. I really don't get what people don't understand about it. And if they werent dealing with Ticketmaster and LiveNation, we wouldn' be seeing them live at all - so please don't argue that.

Do I need to remind you that the vast majority of these were rescheduled shows and the contracts had been negotiated long ago? They didn't need this shit then and they didn't need to cave to it now.

Ugh - Do you think Ticketmaster sat there and said " Hey Pearl Jam management, I know your fans have been sitting on tickets for over two years, but here is what we are going to do. We are going to let you keep all those tickets that were sold at a lower price two years ago, and still hold the show in our venue where prices to put on shows have jumped nearly 20%. And, you know all those fans that turned in tickets - we are going to give all those back to you and let you sell them at a lower cost as well. We don't mind eating it on this one. And, lets do the same with the 4 new shows you have booked - we dont have any need to recoup any losses from the last two years. I really wish we would have written in our contract two years ago some sort of Force Majeure clause." I can guarantee you they had Force Majeure language - contracts from two years ago meant next to nothing when negotiating next steps for the rescheduled shows.

Do you really think that in March 2020, when TM/LN had lost ALL of their business, they really sat down and told Pearl Jam that they'd only let them reschedule their shows if they paid them a shit ton more money?

Absolutely yes - I would bet my left arm that TM was able to void their original contracts due to the unforeseen, drastic effects of Covid - and then there was surely aggressive negotiation from both sides after that, one for PJ to keep as much as they could, while at the same time securing all that they could for their fans at the new shows, two for TM to recoup what they could, while not losing the revenue a PJ tour brings - simple business really, not at all building rockets here

patkelly12 · March 2022

ddeschler said:

You're not seeing all the tickets TM has held back. I wish it was just 50-100/show. That might not be so bad. If they sell this wave of PJ Premium, there is another wave of PJ Premiums behind them. We saw this with Ed's tour. When Platinum didn't sell, they dumped a large inventory of some of the best seats days before the show (and sold many tickets below face, undercutting F2F sales).

This is true. I have been monitoring MSG all day and there are new ones since last night. And that's something given the original sell date for this concert was 2 years ago and I would have thought returns were minimal. I haven't looked at Vegas but it is probably worse.

JimmyV · March 2022

ddeschler said:

You're not seeing all the tickets TM has held back. I wish it was just 50-100/show. That might not be so bad. If they sell this wave of PJ Premium, there is another wave of PJ Premiums behind them. We saw this with Ed's tour. When Platinum didn't sell, they dumped a large inventory of some of the best seats days before the show (and sold many tickets below face, undercutting F2F sales).

Yep. Ed's tour was a shit show in that regard. Doubtful those numbers of tickets exist for the rescheduled shows, but Camden and Vegas? We'll see.

cmalisze · March 2022

Vedd Hedd said:

cmalisze said:

brarble said:

Poncier said:

JR86440 said:

People who complain about premium have never tried to run a business. There are sooooo many costs that go into running a business that people don’t see. It’s not as simple as multiplying 20k seats by $100 and dividing by 6 band members… counting Boom of course! Benefits for employees, liability insurance, salaries, rent, taxes, travel, crew, etc. Plus they need to Maher a profit. It’s not a non profit organization. $100 for 95% of the crowd for a band of PJ’s caliber is dirt cheap in my mind. And they aren’t the chili peppers who play 18 songs. Either need to accept premium or accept $150 tickets. Add in the fact that they have families to support I feel what they are doing is more than reasonable

Yet they have managed to run their business without doing PJ Premium for 30 years until now. Just moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate as time has gone on. Are you saying that the business model they used for 3 decades was faulty?
My hunch is that given inflation, the "moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate" method you describe would put tickets at around $150-$200 range (vs the $108 they're charging). Since so many ppl probably got refunds in 2020 and are now attempting to buy again, I'm guessing that PJ wanted to keep prices looking like they did in 2020 for the vast majority (and defray the difference with a few Premium seats) vs doubling the price for everyone.

And while I do love the old model... even this current model (mostly low cost tickets + a smattering of premium) is honestly not that bad compared to most other artists. If we're ranking all bands/artists on a spectrum of "fair pricing policies", even the "PJ Premium" method is better and more fair than 99% of the other bands out there. Honestly can't think of a single band or artist that has kept prices this low.

Most of these arenas seat around 17,000 ppl. I'm seeing about 50-100 Premium seats per show. I hate dynamic pricing as much as the next guy, but it's wild to me that ppl are getting this angry about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets while not appreciating that the other 99.5% are by far the lowest most reasonable you will find in any band/artist of Pearl Jam's level.

It isn't about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets......it is about a persona created over nearly 30 years and then obliterated in one business transaction in 2022. That is the point. The hypocrisy rings loud as can be.

I dont quite get your point. You are saying they should lose money on the tour based on some persona?
Or are you saying charge EVERYONE more, so that there are no premium seats?

Define "losing money." Aside from their actual music their persona is likely why many fell in love with them, I would imagine. I am saying don't criticize scalpers/scalping and then condone it only when it benefits you. I would be all for consistent tiered pricing. GA $$$ lower level $$ upper level $. If the band/TM has a number to reach there are many ways to obtain it. The "elite" mentality of PJ Premium is NOT the mentality the band exhibited during the years of establishing their persona....you know when Stone and Jeff went to Congress...

Pearl Jammers Testify Before Congress : Pop music: Before a House panel, members of the Seattle band allege monopolistic practices by Ticketmaster, whose chief executive counters the charges. - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

OceansJenny · March 2022

uglybabo said:

I’ve seen it mentioned but I think the one adjustment needed is that the PJ premium seats need to be transferable.

If I buy a fan club ticket for $125-150, and I can sell it for face if I can’t go, there’s a good chance it’ll sell and at worst I’m out $150.

But if I buy a premium seat for $2000+ and my only recourse is to list at $2000+ There’s a good chance it won’t sell, and I’ll lose $2000+.

Ticketmaster/the band has their $2000, that they consider market value, so what I do with that ticket shouldn’t matter to them.

Easy change would be to allow face or lower on F2F. There is no reason to limit the bottom except to give TM an edge on selling on their tickets. Consumer gets screwed.

OceansJenny · March 2022

Real question is how many fans are being alienated by the shuts outs and platinum sticker shock? If I was a casual fan and logged on to see $5,000 tickets I might not bother next time a tour is announced. Maybe TM doesn’t care if they get their max return each time but you think the band would care.

ddeschler · March 2022

I hate TM manufacturing scarcity, by only showing a portion of the PJ Premium tickets they are holding back. It messes with your head, and can cause desperate decision making. If you think these are the last good tickets, you may irrationally pay $1,000+ for a good seat. That's not "market pricing." That's mindfuckery and monopoly pricing.

Vedd Hedd · March 2022

cmalisze said:

Vedd Hedd said:

cmalisze said:

brarble said:

Poncier said:

JR86440 said:

People who complain about premium have never tried to run a business. There are sooooo many costs that go into running a business that people don’t see. It’s not as simple as multiplying 20k seats by $100 and dividing by 6 band members… counting Boom of course! Benefits for employees, liability insurance, salaries, rent, taxes, travel, crew, etc. Plus they need to Maher a profit. It’s not a non profit organization. $100 for 95% of the crowd for a band of PJ’s caliber is dirt cheap in my mind. And they aren’t the chili peppers who play 18 songs. Either need to accept premium or accept $150 tickets. Add in the fact that they have families to support I feel what they are doing is more than reasonable

Yet they have managed to run their business without doing PJ Premium for 30 years until now. Just moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate as time has gone on. Are you saying that the business model they used for 3 decades was faulty?
My hunch is that given inflation, the "moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate" method you describe would put tickets at around $150-$200 range (vs the $108 they're charging). Since so many ppl probably got refunds in 2020 and are now attempting to buy again, I'm guessing that PJ wanted to keep prices looking like they did in 2020 for the vast majority (and defray the difference with a few Premium seats) vs doubling the price for everyone.

And while I do love the old model... even this current model (mostly low cost tickets + a smattering of premium) is honestly not that bad compared to most other artists. If we're ranking all bands/artists on a spectrum of "fair pricing policies", even the "PJ Premium" method is better and more fair than 99% of the other bands out there. Honestly can't think of a single band or artist that has kept prices this low.

Most of these arenas seat around 17,000 ppl. I'm seeing about 50-100 Premium seats per show. I hate dynamic pricing as much as the next guy, but it's wild to me that ppl are getting this angry about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets while not appreciating that the other 99.5% are by far the lowest most reasonable you will find in any band/artist of Pearl Jam's level.

It isn't about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets......it is about a persona created over nearly 30 years and then obliterated in one business transaction in 2022. That is the point. The hypocrisy rings loud as can be.

I dont quite get your point. You are saying they should lose money on the tour based on some persona?
Or are you saying charge EVERYONE more, so that there are no premium seats?

Define "losing money." Aside from their actual music their persona is likely why many fell in love with them, I would imagine. I am saying don't criticize scalpers/scalping and then condone it only when it benefits you. I would be all for consistent tiered pricing. GA $$$ lower level $$ upper level $. If the band/TM has a number to reach there are many ways to obtain it. The "elite" mentality of PJ Premium is NOT the mentality the band exhibited during the years of establishing their persona....you know when Stone and Jeff went to Congress...

Pearl Jammers Testify Before Congress : Pop music: Before a House panel, members of the Seattle band allege monopolistic practices by Ticketmaster, whose chief executive counters the charges. - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

I dont think that "elite" is necessarily the mentality.

I think the options were "Raise prices significantly across all levels to cover TM's requests" or "Keep some prices moderate, while allowing TM to keep some back and charge more, and in the process, the band gets more too"

I am ok with that.

Also, yeah, I think things change over the course of 30+ years. They did their time drudging through clubs, paying for their own travel and booking, charging 20 bucks a ticket, etc. They lasted, and they are a massively popular band whom everyone wants to see, and they dont have the energy or desire to tour 80 dates a year.

Vedd Hedd · March 2022

OceansJenny said:

Real question is how many fans are being alienated by the shuts outs and platinum sticker shock? If I was a casual fan and logged on to see $5,000 tickets I might not bother next time a tour is announced. Maybe TM doesn’t care if they get their max return each time but you think the band would care.

As a fan of other bands, seeing Platinum on nearly every other band I go to see, it would not phase me. I always check my favorite bands and I always see those ridiculous prices, but I keep coming back and trying to get lower cost tickets.

Vedd Hedd · March 2022

ddeschler said:

I hate TM manufacturing scarcity, by only showing a portion of the PJ Premium tickets they are holding back. It messes with your head, and can cause desperate decision making. If you think these are the last good tickets, you may irrationally pay $1,000+ for a good seat. That's not "market pricing." That's mindfuckery and monopoly pricing.

this

cmalisze · March 2022

Vedd Hedd said:

cmalisze said:

Vedd Hedd said:

cmalisze said:

brarble said:

Poncier said:

JR86440 said:

People who complain about premium have never tried to run a business. There are sooooo many costs that go into running a business that people don’t see. It’s not as simple as multiplying 20k seats by $100 and dividing by 6 band members… counting Boom of course! Benefits for employees, liability insurance, salaries, rent, taxes, travel, crew, etc. Plus they need to Maher a profit. It’s not a non profit organization. $100 for 95% of the crowd for a band of PJ’s caliber is dirt cheap in my mind. And they aren’t the chili peppers who play 18 songs. Either need to accept premium or accept $150 tickets. Add in the fact that they have families to support I feel what they are doing is more than reasonable

Yet they have managed to run their business without doing PJ Premium for 30 years until now. Just moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate as time has gone on. Are you saying that the business model they used for 3 decades was faulty?
My hunch is that given inflation, the "moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate" method you describe would put tickets at around $150-$200 range (vs the $108 they're charging). Since so many ppl probably got refunds in 2020 and are now attempting to buy again, I'm guessing that PJ wanted to keep prices looking like they did in 2020 for the vast majority (and defray the difference with a few Premium seats) vs doubling the price for everyone.

And while I do love the old model... even this current model (mostly low cost tickets + a smattering of premium) is honestly not that bad compared to most other artists. If we're ranking all bands/artists on a spectrum of "fair pricing policies", even the "PJ Premium" method is better and more fair than 99% of the other bands out there. Honestly can't think of a single band or artist that has kept prices this low.

Most of these arenas seat around 17,000 ppl. I'm seeing about 50-100 Premium seats per show. I hate dynamic pricing as much as the next guy, but it's wild to me that ppl are getting this angry about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets while not appreciating that the other 99.5% are by far the lowest most reasonable you will find in any band/artist of Pearl Jam's level.

It isn't about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets......it is about a persona created over nearly 30 years and then obliterated in one business transaction in 2022. That is the point. The hypocrisy rings loud as can be.

I dont quite get your point. You are saying they should lose money on the tour based on some persona?
Or are you saying charge EVERYONE more, so that there are no premium seats?

Define "losing money." Aside from their actual music their persona is likely why many fell in love with them, I would imagine. I am saying don't criticize scalpers/scalping and then condone it only when it benefits you. I would be all for consistent tiered pricing. GA $$$ lower level $$ upper level $. If the band/TM has a number to reach there are many ways to obtain it. The "elite" mentality of PJ Premium is NOT the mentality the band exhibited during the years of establishing their persona....you know when Stone and Jeff went to Congress...

Pearl Jammers Testify Before Congress : Pop music: Before a House panel, members of the Seattle band allege monopolistic practices by Ticketmaster, whose chief executive counters the charges. - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

I dont think that "elite" is necessarily the mentality.

I think the options were "Raise prices significantly across all levels to cover TM's requests" or "Keep some prices moderate, while allowing TM to keep some back and charge more, and in the process, the band gets more too"

I am ok with that.

Also, yeah, I think things change over the course of 30+ years. They did their time drudging through clubs, paying for their own travel and booking, charging 20 bucks a ticket, etc. They lasted, and they are a massively popular band whom everyone wants to see, and they dont have the energy or desire to tour 80 dates a year.

For me "elite" = "premium."
To be clear, I am not actually mad with the band or the 10c for doing whatever it is they wish to do. More power to them. They deserve it. We all wish to be in their position in our careers.
However, the hypocrisy in the overall circumstance is too overwhelming. To not be able to see it is to have blind loyalty, in my opinion.

Get_Right · March 2022

cmalisze said:

Vedd Hedd said:

cmalisze said:

brarble said:

Poncier said:

JR86440 said:

People who complain about premium have never tried to run a business. There are sooooo many costs that go into running a business that people don’t see. It’s not as simple as multiplying 20k seats by $100 and dividing by 6 band members… counting Boom of course! Benefits for employees, liability insurance, salaries, rent, taxes, travel, crew, etc. Plus they need to Maher a profit. It’s not a non profit organization. $100 for 95% of the crowd for a band of PJ’s caliber is dirt cheap in my mind. And they aren’t the chili peppers who play 18 songs. Either need to accept premium or accept $150 tickets. Add in the fact that they have families to support I feel what they are doing is more than reasonable

Yet they have managed to run their business without doing PJ Premium for 30 years until now. Just moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate as time has gone on. Are you saying that the business model they used for 3 decades was faulty?
My hunch is that given inflation, the "moderately increasing ticket prices at a fair and reasonable rate" method you describe would put tickets at around $150-$200 range (vs the $108 they're charging). Since so many ppl probably got refunds in 2020 and are now attempting to buy again, I'm guessing that PJ wanted to keep prices looking like they did in 2020 for the vast majority (and defray the difference with a few Premium seats) vs doubling the price for everyone.

And while I do love the old model... even this current model (mostly low cost tickets + a smattering of premium) is honestly not that bad compared to most other artists. If we're ranking all bands/artists on a spectrum of "fair pricing policies", even the "PJ Premium" method is better and more fair than 99% of the other bands out there. Honestly can't think of a single band or artist that has kept prices this low.

Most of these arenas seat around 17,000 ppl. I'm seeing about 50-100 Premium seats per show. I hate dynamic pricing as much as the next guy, but it's wild to me that ppl are getting this angry about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets while not appreciating that the other 99.5% are by far the lowest most reasonable you will find in any band/artist of Pearl Jam's level.

It isn't about the 0.5% of overpriced tickets......it is about a persona created over nearly 30 years and then obliterated in one business transaction in 2022. That is the point. The hypocrisy rings loud as can be.

I dont quite get your point. You are saying they should lose money on the tour based on some persona?
Or are you saying charge EVERYONE more, so that there are no premium seats?

Define "losing money." Aside from their actual music their persona is likely why many fell in love with them, I would imagine. I am saying don't criticize scalpers/scalping and then condone it only when it benefits you. I would be all for consistent tiered pricing. GA $$$ lower level $$ upper level $. If the band/TM has a number to reach there are many ways to obtain it. The "elite" mentality of PJ Premium is NOT the mentality the band exhibited during the years of establishing their persona....you know when Stone and Jeff went to Congress...

Pearl Jammers Testify Before Congress : Pop music: Before a House panel, members of the Seattle band allege monopolistic practices by Ticketmaster, whose chief executive counters the charges. - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

You are missing the point and PJ lost that battle if you recall. The days of fixed prices for the entire event are gone. It is market based pricing through TM now. It is actually quite smart even though it is the fan that loses out. There is nothing "elite" about it. It is a monopoly in motion. The same monopoly is squeezing every artist out there. This has been going on for many years in different forms. It will only get worse until there is competition in the market.

“PJ Premium” on Ticketmaster?

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