|   Ticketmaster and scalpers suck (OT but passionately... | free-agent
Feb 20, 2003 1:40 PM | | pissed rant!!) Not to mention the dumbasses that pay the scalpers and keep them in business.
So, I decided I would take a friend to see the Audiosalve show in Seattle in March. I was part of their "street team" meaning I would get access to tickets via a pre-sale. Well, they sold out in a matter of minutes so no dice. I waited for the general public sale and they sold out immediately as well. So I decided to check out ebay about 30 minutes after it sold out and check to see what was happening. There were already about 40 pairs of tickets for sale. As of right now, tickets that have a face value of $29 are being sold for $100. Unbelieveable. I checked out some of the seller's other auctions and someof these people have hundreds of tickets for sale at asinine prices.
Why in the hell would ticketmaster/the band allow people to purchase up to 10 tickets for a huge band playing in a small venue? Why the hell do people continue to support these jackass scalpers? Why is this allowed on ebay when people get arrested outside of venues for scalping?
I miss the good ol days (pre-internet) when we would get a cooler of beer, head to the local SEARS the night before, and wait in line all night and party for tickets. We got tickets every time, and had a hell of a time doing it. |
| Not that you care... | Fat-tire
Feb 20, 2003 1:53 PM | | but I read that Lollapalozza is coming back, with Jane's Addiction headlining, and AudioSlave as a supporting act (not that you could get tix :-).
One observation here in Phx: audioslave limited sales to 4 tix per person, not 10. Tickets went on sale on the 8th, and as of today, they still have tickets.
I know what you mean by TicketMaster though. I saved almost $30 last month by going through the venue versus Ticketmaster to see RatDog. Half the reason I don't go to concernts anymore is becaus of stiniing Ticketmaster. |
| Not only that, but | K'Endo
Feb 20, 2003 1:54 PM | | The service charge is outrageous!! Going to a mountain film festival in North Vancouver tonight. Advance tickets were advertised as $15. Go to pick the tickets up and, whoops! There's a $5 ticketmaster "we're a monopoly and we can" charge added on, so twenny bucks total. That's a 33% service charge!!
Kn. |
| It's only "scalping" if....... | krank
Feb 20, 2003 2:19 PM | | the tickets are sold on the venue property. No matter what the price. If I buy a ticket for $50 and sell it for $1.00 on the property of the venue that the band is playing, not only would I be dumb, but that would be scalping. If I walk across the street and sell the tickets for more than what I paid for them, then it's legal. The reason a band allows people to buy multiple tickets.... Well, it ensures sales. If my band is playing somewhere and someone buys 30 tickets, then I just got paid. No matter if all 30 people show up. That's why some venues make the band "buy" tickets and have the band sell them at whatever price they want. That way the club makes money. Kinda like Ozzfest. Each band has to pay something like $10,000 to be on the tour. But they can make it back in ticket sales and accessories. |
| That logic makes sense for bands.... | free-agent
Feb 20, 2003 2:31 PM | | that don't have a huge following, but this is AUDIOSLAVE playing at the Paramount. It's obviously going to sell out no matter what, so why the hell do they need to encourage this sh!t by selling up to 10 tickets per person? It's absolutely ridiculous. |
| you would think..... | krank
Feb 20, 2003 2:58 PM | | But the problem is the fans, no one wants to wait in line for tickets anymore. So ticket agencies make bucks! Just like 7-11's. Look at how much a bag of chips cost at a convienence store, but people will always go there and 7-11 will always show a profit. If fans would quit going to the agencies, they would loose money and go out of business. I don't usually get tix from ticketmaster anymore. Plus not many cool bands, except The Reverend Horton Heat, come through Albuquerque very often. |
| sort of right I think? | The Weasel
Feb 20, 2003 2:34 PM | | If you sold your ticket for $1, yeah it'd be stupid, but not scalping. The way I understand is it becomes scalping when the sale is completed on venue property for more than 110% of purchase price. As I'm not really a concert goer, I'm not exactly positive though. I think the last show I saw was smashing pumkins. |
| According to the police officer that tried to arrest me...... | krank
Feb 20, 2003 2:40 PM | | I was told that the "re-sale" of a ticket on venue property is scalping. I was buying a ticket for $10 less than the printed amount. This was many years ago in Orange County, CA. Laws could be different in other places. |
| Here in Milwaukee.... | Chip
Feb 20, 2003 8:51 PM | | I've given God knows how many city tickets to scalpers outside venues here. It's only a city ticket around here... But, then again, I only ticket people selling, not the ones trying to buy... By definition here, to afford a city citation, ticket "selling" must take play within 100' of the venue.... Go figure for all the private vendors selling tickets in the classifieds and on the net. |
| Ticketmaster belongs in the Axis of Evil. . . | JS5280
Feb 20, 2003 2:21 PM | | The Ticketgouger monopoly disgusts me, 30%-50% mark up on tickets is fu#king ridiculous. Not to mention many of these venues are tax-payer supported yet we now pay "facility fees." What a total load of flaming dog $hit. Scalpers suck too. The only way to get rid of the scourge is don't give them your business. Go check out a local venue and support local bands or buy 2-4 of the band's CDs instead of 1 ticket to their show. Hope the internet and MP3s sink the whole coporate music distribution industry, bands and fans don't need them anymore. . .
Haven't figured out why no one has been able to challenge Ticketgouger successfully, how about a little government investigation into their monopolistic practices. . . |
| And is owned by Barry Diller who..... | Anonomous Worker
Feb 20, 2003 3:25 PM | | owns the USA Interactive empire. Ticketmaster survives because they provide venues an easy way to sell tickets without any extra expense to the venue. Since more and more venues rely on Ticketmaster to sell tix for them, ticketmaster further strengthens their hold and their monopoly.
I should know. I worked for one of the co's that Barry Diller owns. |
| ticketmaster can... | mtbikernate
Feb 20, 2003 3:37 PM | | rot for all I care. My old high school's performing arts center sells its tickets through ticketmaster. Outrageous prices to see a cheezy school play, even. |
| Doesn't Paul Allen also have something.... | free-agent
Feb 20, 2003 3:49 PM | | to do with owning Ticketmaster. I heard that he actually owns one of the small islands in the San Juan Islands as well. |
| related story: Climb Mt. St. Helens... | Titan
Feb 20, 2003 3:07 PM | | Similarly unfair story:
You're in Portland, free-agent, right? Ever try climbing Mt. St. Helens alone? As you may already know, there is a "lottery" conducted the night before you wish to climb if you weren't pre-registered many months before. (They only allow so many climbers on the trail in a given day.)
So, the masses fill out and submit their tickets, the raffle is held, and the chosen are called. Here is the kicker: If YOU are selected, your entire group (up to four) is allowed to climb. Makes sense, but it sure is unfair! As you can see, groups have up to FOUR times the odds of being allowed to climb as the solo person, and when selected, they fill up the remaining slots very quickly.
When I climbed two years ago, I was one of a handful of solo climbers who were turned away. (We should have formed into groups of four for the lottery!) I don't know what the moral of this story is, but I simply trudged off, camped, designed my own damn route, and climbed to the broken summit the next day, singing "This Land Is Your Land" the whole time.
I'm sure I had more fun my way. |
| That's interesting.... | free-agent
Feb 20, 2003 3:47 PM | | I went out for breakfast and bought my ticket while I was eating. I guess it was probably because my friend and I climbed it on a Tuesday.
Interesting, and scary story about St. Helens. On the way down we were using our backpacks as sleds. Well, I started cruising down this one small snowfield and got out of control speed. I went flying by my buddy and just missed some pretty jagged boulders. Just before I was about to go scraping across a small lava rock bed I turned to the side and pushed myself to my feet using the edge of the rocks as an anchor. To this day that was one of my scariest experiences. My legs were still shaking at the bottom of the hike! |
| yep... | Titan
Feb 20, 2003 4:18 PM | | Weekdays usually don't fill up. I forgot about that. My experience was on a weekend.
Scary ride you had! I've been in several "glissades gone awry", but none of those stories tops yours. |
| Hey bro... | OldSchool
Feb 20, 2003 4:51 PM | | For St. Helens, don't you bring an ice axe? There are techniques to self-arrest without one, but the axe makes it easier. People die from glissades gone awry....
What's your ride schedule this weekend? I've got a window Sunday after 10:00.
TTFN,
Tim |
| Stupid, I Know... | free-agent
Feb 21, 2003 8:31 AM | | but we weren't planning on doing any glissading. Spur of the moment, little kid kind of stuff. Luckily we were smart enough to only do it on short snow fields. I did my damndest to stop, digging in heels/hands, etc.
I have all road rides planned for this weekend. 3.5 hours tomorrow, and 2.5 hours on Sunday. I may be mtb'ing the following weekend though. Training is going really well. I'm feeling strong and look forward to heading out and testing the legs with you guys! |
| Just wait the scalpers out... | anon
Feb 20, 2003 4:36 PM | | ...until the day of or hour of the show.
Many scalpers show up at the show venue to buy up extra tickets and resell them. Just get there early and beat them at their own game. If you get any static from 'em, just kindly remind them that selling tickets for more than face value is illegal in the city of Seattle, then ask if they want to sell you such a ticket so they can get back to work. If they decline, keep workn' 'em.
Add some pre-show festivities to the mix and it can actually be fun.
Did this for Pavement @ the Showbox a few years ago. There was a scalper who had bought up to many tickets. We waited him out till after the opening band, got in at less than face value and had a hella fun time with the others waiting to get in. Turned out to be a great show with even an Eddie sighting. :D
If you end up getting skunked, go see The D4 @ The Crocodile which is a known venue for post "big show" cameos. Since it'll be much less to get in, you'll have plenty of beer money to further ensure a good time. :P
Another thought, maybe they'll add a date since it sold out so quickly. |
| Just wait the scalpers out... | Schecky
Feb 20, 2003 5:54 PM | | I'd agree. A great way to go.
Two of my best experiences:
1. Went to R.E.M. at an outdoor Amphitheater on a rainy night.
Got off work early due to the rain, and couldn't talk anybody into going with me.
Grabbed an umbrella, a trenchcoat and headed off.
Nobody was buying scalper tickets, so I got a $40 ticket for $10.
Got inside and it was pretty empty. We were able to move forward and the farthest that anybody was from the stage was 50 feet.
It rained the whole time.
The mood was amazing - people were sharing umbrellas, jackets, funny cigarettes, and bottles. Everybody was in high spirits.
When the band hit the stage they started with CCRs 'Who'll Stop The Rain'.
They were truly jazzed that we had shown up and ended up playing for about 3 hours. A magical show.
2. Drove up to a Debbie Harry/Ramones/TomTom Club show after she has started. We got 2nd row seats for face value. |
| Good idea, but I think... | free-agent
Feb 21, 2003 8:35 AM | | we are going to see Nashville Pussy instead. For some reason I have the desire to see a half naked female bass player blowing fire! Maybe I'll head to the Crocodile afterwards. That Pavement show must have been a great time! |
| What I can't understand... | Finch Platte
Feb 20, 2003 6:46 PM | | ... is the hoopla over Adios Lave. Pee ewe!
But I hear you about the service charge- I've been ranting about that for years. Hey! Guess what, I don't go to live shows any more.
fp |
| Isn't Ticketmaster, by definition, scalping tickets? | skiahh*
Feb 20, 2003 7:21 PM | | They basically buy them all up (or lock them up with a monopoly contract) and then resell them with HUGE markups - sometimes, as has been mentioned, at over a third more than face value?
That sounds like scalping to me. One of these days, I think I'm going to get a lawyer and start a class action suit against them for monopoly practices and scalping.
Anyone want in? |
| Not technically scalping.... | squeakr
Feb 21, 2003 7:15 AM | | Someone tried to sue them a few years back for the same thing and lost in court due to TM's service charge billing. To "scalp" technically one must be charging more than printed face value of the ticket. TM gets around this by charging face value with an added service charge (or handling fee) which was proven to be legal as long as they called it a service charge or handling fee. This way the consumer can't complain that they paid more than face value as TM has the service charge broken down on the pricing. Another great loophole of the system that causes the consumer to get ripped off. This is the same reason that some sell so cheap on E-BAY, they hike up the shipping and handling fees. The consumer initially thinks they are getting a bargain and willing to pay the "extra" fees which in the end bring the price higher than buying the same at a B & M and they loose the warranty and support alot of the time. Just my 2 cents. |
| So..... | Jive Tolkien
Feb 21, 2003 10:26 AM | | ...could a scalper outside a venue claim the markup is their "service charge" to avoid prosecution?
I've heard of people selling tickets on Ebay with something dumb like a cheap pen thrown in, that way they can word it so the buyer is bidding on the pen but getting the tickets free? |
| My first concert cost $6 | Ripzalot
Feb 21, 2003 8:22 AM | | and had 5 bands on the bill. Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush headlined. Ever since then the price of tix has gone up, and the quality of the music has gone down. ;) Seriously though, why even pay $30 to see a band play in a venue with terrible acoustics?
But hell yeah, camping out just to get the tix was fun. Then you had to camp out again to be the first one in the concert (general admission days). Boy it was great to be young and stupid once. |
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