Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

[RaceBoarder]

It's either
a) no
or
b) yes, and it's his usual schtick of dog-eat-dog capitalism where the rich get to trample everyone else and hovey gets to just blissfully ignore it because he's got his.

B is the common defense here. People that have the means simply say that they got their seats, so who cares.

Exactly. Garth Brooks did this where it wasn't transferable and the prices were set by Garth. Like $60 a pop for every ticket. No resale value. Literally solved overnight by a guy who sold out something like eight shows at the X in St. Paul. So it's not like the demand wasn't there either.

This comes back to the "fan experience". If venues are packed with people who want to be there and create an electric atmosphere, promotors can slowly increase prices as demand rises due to "experience", a factor that a promotor as to invest literally ZERO cost into. Tickets will sell.

With non-transferrable tickets, TM can still double dip on their fees while still being "ethical":

Example: Event is July 1. Tickets go on sale Jan 1. Tickets are $120 out the door ($100 ticket + $20 fee) If you buy tickets and find you can't make the date, you can "return" your ticket and receive a $100 refund. TM can keep the $20 since that is to cover their system & operation cost. They can then dump "returns" back in the system and sell them to new fans. This can continue up to the event date.

There is still profit to be had. It's just not $TEXAS. Also, sure, some fans will complain about losing the $20. But that is their fault for not fulfilling their end of the deal. Adding any sort of "return" option is a new feature that eases their obligation and will be realized over time.

 

[dxmnkd316]

I'd be ok with a 20% restocking feee if I couldn't make it.

 

[rufus]

It's not just the actual hardware/methods that are fueling this blaze...

It's mostly the fact that A) For stuff like this, roughly 30-40% of the building gets sold to people who have ZERO interest in actually using the tickets. and B) TicketMaster takes their cut on that original sale and then makes $TEXAS a 2nd time when the tickets are then resold on the secondary market at 2-5x the face value on their resale platform.

Having worked with these systems, this can very easily be combatted. Tickets can simply be made non-transferrable. That will solve 85% of the problems. But this cuts out a ton of "gravy" profits that have little/no cost to TM.

I re-sold a ticket this past summer because I couldn't make the show. Ticketmaster would not allow you to list it while there were still seats available, and once I was able to list it, they wouldn't allow you to list it for below what the original cost plus charges were. Thay got more money that way.

 

[SJHovey]

It's either
a) no
or
b) yes, and it's his usual schtick of dog-eat-dog capitalism where the rich get to trample everyone else and hovey gets to just blissfully ignore it because he's got his.

You know, I’d love to commute to work in a Bentley Bacalar, but I find it grossly unfair that I can’t buy one for $20,000. Once you figure out a way for people to be more cheaply tortured by Ms Swift’s warbling, work on that problem for me, will you?

 

[RaceBoarder]

You know, I’d love to commute to work in a Bentley Bacalar, but I find it grossly unfair that I can’t buy one for $20,000. Once you figure out a way for people to be more cheaply tortured by Ms Swift’s warbling, work on that problem for me, will you?

I just laid out a plan to reduce costs by 30%.

The market is artificially manipulated.

 

[Handyman]

Lol please. He doesn't even compare to the demand that Swift commands.

Really...5 minutes after tickets went on sale they skyrocketed on the TM site to $650 for nosebleeds. IN MINNESOTA. During the presale.

Of course they also weren't stupid enough to sell the whole tour on the same day...TM and Swift really screwed the pooch.

I won't lie watching all the people say "i am literally skipping class and i cant get through" was kind of awesome. Twitter was aflame!

Oh and FUCK TICKETMASTER!

 

[St. Clown]

Anecdotal, but it seems that TicketMaster has royal pizzed-off everyone in the 25-45 age range in the past two months with their fuckery and price gouging of both Blink-182's and Taylor Swift's 2023 tours.

I wonder if they may have finally made a fatal step too far here...

Sometimes it’s actually the act causing the ticket prices and making it look like TicketMaster’s fault.

https://youtu.be/-_Y7uqqEFnY

 

[Handyman]

It should be noted it isn't all TM with the weird availability and selling to non-fans. A lot of artists are part of it too and make bank on it. Pretty sure Bieber fans threw a fit this summer over that very thing. Artists gift a ton...

And non-transferable tickets suck. They can be a real hassle if things go sideways. There should always be a way to transfer tickets.

There is no great answer sadly...

Oh and FUCK TICKETMASTER!

 

[Handyman]

Sometimes it’s actually the act causing the ticket prices and making it look like TicketMaster’s fault.

https://youtu.be/-_Y7uqqEFnY

Bingo. They aren't innocent in all of this.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Really...5 minutes after tickets went on sale they skyrocketed on the TM site to $650 for nosebleeds. IN MINNESOTA. During the presale.

Of course they also weren't stupid enough to sell the whole tour on the same day...TM and Swift really screwed the pooch.

I won't lie watching all the people say "i am literally skipping class and i cant get through" was kind of awesome. Twitter was aflame!

Oh and FUCK TICKETMASTER!

She has two shows at USB and they're all going for that or more. Several third deck seats were at 2k when I checked at 4.

 

[LynahFan]

I had a friend from Seattle who had been to more than 200 pro sports events by the time he graduated high school. He hated Ticketmaster so much that he……got a job there. He literally wanted to see if there was any possible way to beat the system. After a year, he concluded that there wasn’t, even with inside info, so he gave up and went into aerospace instead.

 

[SJHovey]

I just laid out a plan to reduce costs by 30%.

The market is artificially manipulated.

No you didn't. You speculated that 30% of the people who bought tickets have zero interest in attending the show, and you suggested that they shouldn't be allowed to buy tickets. I think that's a hilarious argument.

After the Springsteen tickets came out and he caught some heat in the press about the prices, I heard a radio show where listeners were invited to call in and comment on the ticket sales and prices. Jeebus, it was a hour of literally the same biatch. "I've been a Springsteen fan since the '70's. I've been to a hundred and fifty of his concerts. It's BS that ticketmaster doesn't let us "real" Springsteen fans in to buy tickets before all of these people who have no interest at all in his music. Blah, blah, blah."

Someone who has zero interest in Taylor Swift music (that would be me) has exactly the same right as dx and the rest of the middle school girl crowd (or their daddies) to buy those tickets.

The prices are high for two reasons, and only two reasons. First, there is pent-up demand for concerts after the pandemic and so people are willing to pay more. Second, people are willing to buy tickets and speculate that they will go up in value, or that they'll be able to sell them for more than they paid for them. They are probably not wrong.

 

[cF[Authentic]]

b) yes, and it's his usual schtick of dog-eat-dog capitalism where the rich get to trample everyone else and hovey gets to just blissfully ignore it because he's got his.

Second, people are willing to buy tickets and speculate that they will go up in value, or that they'll be able to sell them for more than they paid for them. They are probably not wrong.

shocking...

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Technology destroyed the music industry (Napster, anyone?). Thus, concerts have become the big money sink. Pretty much why I don't like to go to concerts anymore but it was a big part of my youth. Every time I do go to a concert with me and my significant other it's a 500 dollar drop usually. Pretty much the same reason I hate live sports. Too expensive. Hell, even the TV version is getting overpriced.

 

[Handyman]

I guess I get lucky I see shows all the time and rarely is the price gouged. But then I'm willing to walk away if the price sucks like Springsteen.

 

[SJHovey]

I guess I get lucky I see shows all the time and rarely is the price gouged. But then I'm willing to walk away if the price sucks like Springsteen.

Absolutely. I'd love to go back to the Masters again. I'm just not willing to pay the price. I'd love to go to a Super Bowl once. Same thing.

But I don't begrudge people who are willing to pay the price, or the person selling the tickets.

 

[Proud2baLaker]

I guess I get lucky I see shows all the time and rarely is the price gouged. But then I'm willing to walk away if the price sucks like Springsteen.

I honestly cant remember if any show I have ever seen have been through Ticketmaster. Its always been straight through the venue or some other smaller Ticketmaster type service that at least on the surface hasn't appeared to be an absolute fuck show (never had any problems or super crazy fees; but I have also never had to worry about transfer or sell back or anything). Sounds like I have dodged a bullet.

 

[cF[Authentic]]

I think the problem is that re-selling tickets is now a business rather than a convenient option for people when plans change.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

;n3769202]I think the problem is that re-selling tickets is now a business rather than a convenient option for people when plans change.

Tickets have gone pure capitalism. And there is nothing anyone can really do about it. It fits right in with Twitter and everything else that Information Technology has destroyed. Law, and morals have not kept up with Technology.

 

[RaceBoarder]

No you didn't. You speculated that 30% of the people who bought tickets have zero interest in attending the show, and you suggested that they shouldn't be allowed to buy tickets. I think that's a hilarious argument.

After the Springsteen tickets came out and he caught some heat in the press about the prices, I heard a radio show where listeners were invited to call in and comment on the ticket sales and prices. Jeebus, it was a hour of literally the same biatch. "I've been a Springsteen fan since the '70's. I've been to a hundred and fifty of his concerts. It's BS that ticketmaster doesn't let us "real" Springsteen fans in to buy tickets before all of these people who have no interest at all in his music. Blah, blah, blah."

Someone who has zero interest in Taylor Swift music (that would be me) has exactly the same right as dx and the rest of the middle school girl crowd (or their daddies) to buy those tickets.

The prices are high for two reasons, and only two reasons. First, there is pent-up demand for concerts after the pandemic and so people are willing to pay more. Second, people are willing to buy tickets and speculate that they will go up in value, or that they'll be able to sell them for more than they paid for them. They are probably not wrong.

No. I stated that 30% of the building is sold to "corporate" accounts. Those accounts get 1st crack at the tickets, even before presales and other offerings to the general public. These accounts buy tickets to EVERY event that a building hosts. You can bet that any company who owns naming rights has a significant amount of tickets allocated to them. You also have the presenting sponsors of the building's main tenants (whomever that may be).

Since these are totally corporate accounts the prices are artificially inflated (like Business class flights, or the trendy, downtown steakhouse where every other meal is placed on a corporate card).