Saturday, October 06, 2007
In the Race to Buy Concert Tickets, Fans Keep Losing
New York Times: "“All hell broke loose with Hannah Montana,” said Justin Allen, the chief deputy attorney general in Arkansas. “The tickets were gone in 12 minutes and when people turned around, they were selling at online sites for sometimes as much as 10 times the face value.”"
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14 comments:
I went through something like this once. I went to buy early tickets to a show, and the only place I could find them was on a ticket resell site. I found out later I'd WAY overpaid for them, which was sad... oh well. Live and learn I guess.
I have absolutely no doubt that companies like RMG are taking full advantage of ticketmasters services. I have a good family friend that is an administrator for the allstate arena in Chicago. It is absolutly ridiculous how many tickets are released to family and staff. Anywhere from the production manager to the guy that sells popcorn on the third floor! I also find the idea of releasing tickets close to the date very contriving. Is money really driving people to to these things? Come on!
This really bothers me that corrupt companies can't let people who want to see a show see a show they have to make money off of how desperate people are to see their favorite performers. Last year I tried to buy Radiohead tickets which went online at 10:00 and were all gone before 10:01 I think there needs to be a new system for how to sell tickets, possibly they could only let one person buy X amount of tickets.
It's just nuts to see how manipulative and greedy people can be. It would be really sad to see theatre tickets get to a point like this.
I don't know about anyone else, but this just screams to me that our priorities are out of wack. I'm glad to see that some parents are using this as a learning experience, but for the rest of them who actually pay WAY too much for a ticket, can you please ask yourself, "is this really worth it?" Cause I sure as hell don't think so.
I know that in Illinois that it is considered illegal to be outside the venue selling tickets for more than face value however for face value it is legal.
I wonder why these brokers aren't held up to these same standards. I know that it is often a good way to get some extra cash, but ultimately the only people who are getting hurt are the fans. The artists aren't getting any more of the profits.
I agree with Bart and the article. The fact is that people who love music are the ones who keep losing when people jack ticket prices up. The fact is that all of the methods that Ticketmaster tries to use to prevent scalping don't work. Something definitely needs to be done...I'm glad that the states are attempting to get the law involved.
I'm not really sure there is any type of perfect method for stopping this problem. People and companies will buy tickets and then resell them at a higher amount because the audiences are willing to pay for them out of desperation. As much as it sucks, it is economics, right? It just depends how important those Hannah Montana tickets are to those parents...
While it does seem unfair that ticket resellers can get away with it, I have to wonder just how much regulation can or should occur? This really does come down to a question of state regulation or free enterprise. While it seems unfair and as though there should be a new system, I agree that to some extent this is the way our economy works, whether we like it or not. From a business standpoint, it really is laws of supply and demand, and we have to accept that inflation is going to occur on some level. I feel like a bad liberal saying this, but there is something to be said for letting the economy work itself out.
However, I agree that this says more about the consumers' priorities than the producers. It's definitely a cultural statement and an entire market that I generally choose to stay out of. I totally agree that the tickets are not worth the money...which is sad, because in the big picture, it means giving up a level of performance art because of finacial reasons. I don't like that art should be this inaccessible, even if it is Hannah Montana. Maybe we do need to rethink the system.
I agree it would be nice if something was done, but I don't know if anything should/could be done. People will always find loop holes and ways to cheat the system so increasing rules and regulates might just make things unpleasant for everyone else. Limiting tickets to physical sales is one idea - but that would probably not go over very well with those dependent on internet sales. Even though I get most of my tickets online I still get physical tickets from a box office when ever possible.
This is why I haven't ever gone to a show that doesn't sell tickets at the door for less than 20 dollars.
People do this because they can. They do it because people will pay hundreds of dollars to see some tool with a guitar.
First off, i am just glad that i listen to less known groups and musicians. i can certainly understand the frustration that these fans are going through, but at the same time i don't think that complaining will get you very far. i mean we live in a capitalist culture where the objective is to make money, and these companies could care less about the hundreds of customers that they are upsetting in this ONE sale that will bring them in thousands of dollars. the comanies know that there are other shows and that a "determined" customer will do what ever is necessary to see the show. if you don't get a ticket all they really have to say is, "you should have tried harder."
It's kind of sad how this has started happening with online vendors of tickets. It just makes me think of last year when the PS3 and Wii were launched. Nearly half the PS3s that sold went up on eBay...and I remember that one of the people in line behind me for one of the 24 Wiis that came to Bestbuy was definitely just going to sell it as she kept asking questions about what kind of games we thought would be good and what accessories we thought we were going to get. I felt bad for number 25 in line who only found out after staying all night that he was being superseded by a reseller.
This is like scalping to the extreme. The speed at which tickets can get sold now over the internet is astounding. I had no idea how complex the legal ramifications could be for the ticket resale sites, however. There are times when I would think just making people stand in a good old fashioned line at the box office is worthwhile. It removes the confusion and the shadiness. Just look at sales for the next big game systems -- people wait outside at ungoldly hours in fairly civilized lines. An old concept, but a functional one.
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