Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Okay--it's been a while since I've been to a concert. Last one was Wheat, Bleu, and Toad the Wet Sprocket at Myrtle Beach in March, I believe, but tix were paid for by my inlaws--before that, oh, I don't even recall--probably GWAR or Pop Will Eat Itself, shows where the parking fee is almost as much as the door price, and where you don't sit down till you get back in your car.
But out of curiousity, I looked up to see Huey Lewis was playing here in August. I saw him way back in 89 or 90, and wouldn't mind seeing him again.
So: checked out the prices on Ticketbastard, er, master.com...
Looks like the only seats left are actually seats, not lawn.
45.00 [for a band that has released 2 original albums in ten years.]
Plus 4.00 'Building Facility Charge,' whatever that is [I would think that falls under 'overhead,' and would be added into the ticket price.
Plus 9.15 [9.15!!] 'Convenience Charge.' For that much convenience, they need to play the concert in my backyard!
PLUS a minimum of 2.50 delivery--and that is for printing the tickets ON MY PRINTER! Actually, sorry, 'Standard Mail' is 'no additional charge' [how generous, they're giving me a stamp and an envelope.]

Again, I haven't been to a big, popular, stadium show since probably the second Lollapalooza, and I was a dumb kid with lots of disposable income at the time, but still---is it just me, or is that ridiculous? I'm surprised they don't tack on a charge for 'Internet Ticket Purchase Fee' since Ticketmaster has to host a website.

Is this a fluke, or is this about average? When did Ticketmaster and the venues get so obvious about their, um, 'servicing' us? Is there a reason for all these charges, other than 'they can'? And ironically, many venues now are named after companies who pay millions in sponsorship fees--which would help keep consumer's prices stable, I would have thought.

Oh, and I'm sure there's a charge for parking, and don't get thirsty or hungry at a show--we went one time, to a little hole in the wall, two beers cost 9.00 [one was a Foster's oilcan, but still.] The ticket to the show cost 8.00.

No wonder MP3 and P2P is so big nowadays--after seeing a concert, you can't afford to buy a CD. And I am a capitalist, and I don't begrudge someone making money off their talent or skills [hmm, how much does Mr Lewis and the News get of those ticket prices and fees?], but I'm also all for setting a fair price.

Am I just showing my crankiness here, or is this ridiculous? And yes, this was one random concert picked out, maybe it is not representative--I hope not. But I couldn't make myself buy tickets where there is total of a 29% surcharge [plus sales taxes, probably.]

I feel your pain. I see lots of shows, and there are lots I have to not go to, simply because I can't see paying 6+ bucks in charges on a 15 dollar ticket.. Makes seeing small bands expensive even.

Bands make their money on tours, not on their cds anymore.. Just shows you why...

I think ticketmaster is the worst, but that's life for now. :(

I've been to hundreds of shows and never paid more than 5 - 10 bucks to get in. Well - back in the late 80's and early 90's, I went to the occasional New Order or REM or Depeche Mode concert, but back then Ticketmaster only charged a buck extra. I've also been to some Lalapalooza type shows (long before lalapalooza came around), Beastie Boys, etc... and had to use ticketmaster or Dillards Box Office or whatever - fee was only a buck. I remember that pissing me off. There's no way I'd pay that much to see a band.

As stated earlier most of the money artists make comes from concerts (or soda commericials if you are a rapper and do not do concerts ;)). Record label employees take most of the album revenue.

The reason that a beer is nine dollars is the same reason that a soda is 5 dollars at a movie theatre. The owners of the actual venue see very little of the profit from the ticket sales. Therefore, they need to try to recoop money through concession stands and other "extras."

As for Ticketmaster, they are evil and should burn in hell. They are taking a huge percentage of money for doing almost nothing. I wish Pearl Jam could have stopped them, but I guess some monopolies are ok in the eyes of the FTC :mad:.

This is why I love ticketweb.com
They service smaller clubs and venues (Bowery Ballroom here in NYC) and their service charge has never been more than $2 per ticket.

Now if only Radiohead could do a one month stand there to accomodate all the people who will see them at a Stadium show, there'd never be a reason to use Ticketbastard again.

ticketweb.com? Never heard of them... I'll check that out.

Ticketmaster has caused me NOT to go to a lot of shows. Period.

Maybe if some other bands would have shown some guts and backed up Pearl Jam in the mid-90's when they took on Ticketmaster, this wouldn't be happening.

well, i should add that most shows I've been to didn't require the purchase of tickets.

God, I hate TicketMaster and all their incidental charges.


by the way, dtcarson - I thought I was the only who gave a damn about Pop Will Eat Itself.... :thumbsup:

The "building facility charge" sounds what like my local venue is doing. Instead of charging for parking, and gouging you for $5-$10 for each carload of 3 or 4 people, they instead charge $3-5 per person as a "convenience charge."

I'm sorry to hear about the high prices you're getting gouged for on Huey Lewis. For the last 2 years when he's hit the outdoor theater here, I was able to get free tix (well, free plus the $3 "building facility charge"). Amazingly enough, he's not performing anywhere in my state this summer.

Trigger:
well, i should add that most shows I've been to didn't require the purchase of tickets.

That makes it even worse in comparison--I went to college in Athens, GA, and a 20-dollar stop at the ATM would get you in the door for one show, maybe even two; a couple beers at the show; a pizza on the way home, and still have change left over. Granted, some of these shows were Four Guys From Down The Street, but I did see some more well-known bands [well, well-known for alternative] for those prices, like GWAR, Rollins [both music and spoken word], Mojo Nixon, Run DMC, etc. [the Butthole Surfers played at one of those places the year before I got there : (] Plus, to me, a show where you are five feet from the stage is actually worth more than one where you are out in a lawn and need binoculars or tv monitors to see the singers. It's not the same, I've always loved smaller shows. In fact, my wife [girlfriend at the time] would use 'Well, we always go to your shows!' as an argument as to why we should plunk down 30 bucks to see someone--I would say, But the last five shows we went to didn't even cost that much in total! But we went anyway [Def Leppard, believe it or not, right after Slang came out. Pretty good, actually.]

12thmonkey: I've actually only been able to see them once, but it was one of the most awesome shows I've ever seen. Right up front, small [~1500 people] venue, incredibly energetic, plus the music, of course, kicks ass. I definitely tune in to Radio PWEI ; )

JestersTear: Unfortunately, in part due to the high prices, and those insulting charges, I won't be attending the show--so while I do miss out on a great show, Mr Lewis, the band, and Ticketbastard miss out on their money and my applause. But I'm sure someone will buy my tickets, so they won't notice a difference anyway....

FYI, Ticketweb was bought by Ticketmaster.

it's too bad politicians don't really care about their constituents. if ticketmaster isn't anti-trust i don't know what is.

hey, what can you do? You want to see it, you pay the piper, I don't complain anymore, that's just how it is...Pearl Jam tried valiantly, but they alone could not change such a mammoth industry when nobody else would go with them...instead those spineless others (cough, REM) gave them a pat on the back and sent them on the way to be fed to the lions...I despise Ticketmaster too, but its too small on the governments lists of the things to do..they would rather keeping feeding big corporations (ticketmaster) coffers while the smucks get the leavings...oh yeah "trickle down"

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

It looks like there may finanly be some heat on Ticketmaster after the Taylor Swift debacle crashing the site recently.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/...-cnntm-vpx.cnn

Taylor Swift ticket snafu caused by Ticketmaster abusing its market power, Senate antitrust chair says

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/business/ticketmaster-taylor-swift-amy-klobuchar-letter/index.html


I would be overjoyed if this monopoly was broken up.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Ticketmaster can go straight to hell for all I care. Tried to pick up $30 tickets to TSO, ended up being close to $70 each by the time fees were done. More fees than the ticket price? Fuck right off.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

(On the other side of the coin).

I have to wonder if the artists/bands actually secretly support the arrangement they have with ticketmaster.

Essentially the bot scalpers are paying upfront and taking on all the risk in buying up all those tickets in the opening seconds, while ticketmaster (and eventually the artists/bands) lock in all the revenue paid by the scalpers.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

There’s a lot of truth to that. And it’s exactly how the relationship worked before everything went digital. Now Ticketmaster has so much data available to them that they can make better decisions regarding risk and pricing strategies.

The other benefit is that they are designed to take the blame when consumers get pissed. They even said as much before Congress about a decade ago.
Notice how everybody always blames Ticketmaster and not the artist? Do you really think Taylor Swift’s team, having more leverage in negotiations than any other artist, didn’t have huge sway over how tickets would get distributed? But nobody is blaming her, they’re taking their frustrations out on Ticketmaster. Meanwhile this is great publicity for Taylor. Every news story paints her as being this huge, high demand artist who’s breaking servers all over the country (further increasing demand and FOMO). After they back channel the remaining tickets at the current prices, she will get more press when she demolishes the previous record for highest grossing tour.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

And (as I posted in the Taylor Swift thread, Taylor is quick to lay all of the blame on Ticketmaster for the cluster fuck

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Yet never mentions them by name ;)

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

I thought Artist made more from merch sales than ticket. Sure if I sell out a venue that is cool, but if 75 of those 100 were bought by a scalper who isn't able to resale then only 25 people are actually there to buy my merch. I don't know if this is true for artist like Taylor Swift but it's absolutely true for metal bands

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Ticketmaster responds :

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Looks like a group of fans is suing TM, right now I am a bit ticked off at ticket master, there is a presale going on right now for Buddy Guy and due to dynamic pricing some tickets are listed at over 300.00 the website for the venue clearly states the tickets range in price form 75-125. :grumble:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/05/busin...uit/index.html

Also, it looks like congress is doing an investigation, not sure it amounts to an inquiry but the justice department is starting an antitrust investigation.


https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/media...ess/index.html

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Can't see the fan lawsuit going anywhere. At no time were you guaranteed to get a ticket regardless of Ticketmaster's policies. Not getting a ticket is not an injury remedied by law. Might as well sue Best Buy because you weren't able to get a XBox in the black friday rush.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

This is just a fabulous article from The Ringer, both about the Ticketmaster outrage, the Taylor fiasco, and as a larger picture of the music industry as a whole. It’s long, but worth the read.

Is Live Music Broken? It’s Not Just Ticketmaster, It’s Everything.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

All irrelevant. People get upset when they don't score tickets. Not this, that, or the other. Figure out how to sell 3 million tickets for 1 million seats and problem solved. Until then people are going to have a grievance.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Did you read the article? They address that point specifically

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

the man is a genius. :lol: -rolleyes- Seriously have to wonder WTF they were thinking doing all dates and venues on one day and not going with at least an east coast, middle states and west coast schema. Just a stupid move.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

As I said, the best thing they could have done is gate-kept the online lobby to only those who had a valid pre-sale code. The fact that anybody or any Bot could wait in the lobby totally overwhelmed the system. If that lobby was limited to the million people who had a valid pre-sale code would have kept the system from crashing.
I am still amazed that I got phenomenal seats for the Vegas show within ten minutes of them going on sale for PSL owners. It was exactly the same time as the Capitol One sale, but maybe because I had a different link, I got very lucky

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

What is the origin of the outrage? "I didn't get tickets". How much outrage is coming from people who got tickets but are furious over the price, service fee, system failures? Are people who got tickets suing?
I'm sorry, but in the Taylor Swift case, it comes off as more of an entitlement issue. People need to learn you don't get everything you want in life.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

I think you need to look at it separately. For those who just wanted to buy tickets but didn't get a pre-sale code, then sure. Those who were lucky enough to get a pre-sale code should have been able to buy a ticket. Ticketmaster knew exactly how many tickets were available for pre-sale and determined how many Fan Verified codes would be issued. There's no reason to send out several times the number of codes than tickets available, because even if many who got the codes decided not to use them (extremely unlikely), they could still sell those tickets at the Capitol One or later the General ticket sale (which as it turned out never even happened).
If they had limited the number of Fan Verified pre-sale codes to a reasonable number, and more importantly, if they made it so that only those with valid pre-sale codes could enter the waiting room, things would have gone a lot smoother and those with the codes would have had a fair chance to buy the tickets.
I know a lot about this because my daughter got a pre-order code, entered the lobby and waited five hours to get a chance to buy tickets. She ended up with very expensive VIP package seats, but we did get something at least.

One follow up note : There were apparently some unsold seats still after they cancelled the General sale. Those tickets were made available to certain people who were gifted pre-sale codes and couldn't get tickets. I think that was the only fair solution and I'm glad a few more fans got to buy tickets.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Was it communicated by Swift or Ticketmaster that receiving a code would guarantee you tickets? I was under the impression it moved you up in line but still didn't guarantee you tickets. With a six ticket limit they would have had to limit codes to 333,000.
How fast were the pre codes gobbled up? If the number of precodes had been reasonably limited, and were gone real fast, wouldn't we still be where we are now with people upset about not getting a code?

I want to be fair here. But when I see videos of people crying over not getting tickets, like Ticketmaster killed their dog, I get the impression that there is absolutely nothing that would satisfy these people, outside of getting a ticket. No system would have been fair enough.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

The pre-sale codes weren't "gobbled up", they were sent to a select few of the millions who registered for a chance to get one. I talked to a bunch of people who signed up for a chance to get one. None of us did, besides my daughter (whose chances got "boosted" because she bought an album through Taylor's merch store).
No there wasn't a guaranty that the code would get you tickets, but it's a limited code with access to pre-sale. So it wasn't unreasonable to expect to be able to get a shot at tickets, considering how relatively few were sent out (at least compared to the number of applecants)

Per Ticketmaster's post :

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Ticketmaster hearing kicked off about 20 minutes ago:
Live updates: Ticketing industry testifies after Ticketmaster's Taylor Swift concert debacle (cnn.com)

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Read some recaps of the hearing today. It's hilarious to me that Live Nation basically says there is nothing they can do about bots and scalpers. I think anyone with an ounce of tech savvy could come up with some ideas. And they also say that ticketing is super competitive right now, which I can't believe is something Live Nation actually said on the record.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

I saw a compilation of Senators doing Taylor Swift lyric-based puns. It was painful

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

It was a crooked industry for decades...and it's still a crooked industry.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

Yeah - that showed me the politicians really don't give a shit. They're just paying lip service to their constituents while continuing to take payoff money and laughing.

Re: Ticketmaster--where's the outrage?
 

While TM certainly sucks as is a near-monopoly, the issue isn't just them, you know - it's the whole system that is rotten, right down to many of the performers and their agents and promoters.