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Disgusting new ticketmaster trend!


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This may have been discussed elsewhere, but I found this a fascinating snap-shot at the current ticket situation/dilemma:

 

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/the-man-who-broke-ticketmaster

 

It also answers the question about why I've found myself striking out so often lately on tickets.

 

A couple of interesting takeaways from this article go to points made in this thread: 1) Scalpers specifically target the artists that set the lowest prices (or rather have the largest difference between face-value and market-value). 2) There's another critical (conspiracy-type) question about whether artists (or even Ticketmaster itself) bypass the primary market altogether, holding back tickets and selling directly to resellers (and thereby avoiding back-lash), that goes largely un-commented upon. When you have the primary and secondary markets running through the very same site, this becomes very dicey. 3) No one really has the answer here.

Wow that U2 story is crazy interesting read

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I do not hold to a dollar threshold for tickets. I have little interest in seeing big acts (not many that I want to see) in big venues (not a fan of large indoor arenas, sheds, or stadiums), so I do not often pay more than $50 for tickets. Since big venues are a two hour drive away, it works out pretty well. That leaves me going to concerts at venues that hold 300-2000 people.

 

Would I go see the Stones at a smallish, 8000 seat arena? You bet. Not happening, though. Do I have an interest in seeing them several hours away in a 70000 seat stadium? Nope. Got that out of my system 25+ years ago.

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^I'm on the flipside I am 30 minutes from NYC and hour and a half from Philly. There is an overabundance of shows every day of the year. It is hard to pick and choose sometimes. I see everyone I have even slight interest in seeing live because I like live music. I would have a very hard time passing up a band I like big venue or not however I do enjoy the smaller shows usually more..

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for #2, some artists DEFINITELY hold back tickets to sell on the secondary market.

 

they don't want the stigma of high ticket prices that make them look greedy, but they also don't want scalpers pocketing $ that (rightfully) belongs to them.

 

This is true. Acts like Katy Perry automatically have a chunk of the best seats re-allocated to places like Stub Hub, which LiveNation/Ticketmaster also owns. The prices are jacked up accordingly, but instead of a middle man/scalper, Katy Perry is the "person" selling you those tickets directly. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Depeche Mode did something for a presale that I hadn't seen before: sign up early & get a place in "line" and increase your spot in "line" when you preorder their new record. I jumped from 3,045 to 305 after I made that purchase and was given a specific presale time of Monday 12:30pm. I spent $99 for a seat at Mohegan Sun. I won't get into DM skipping Boston on almost every tour in the last dozen years....

I figured that I'd update this and say that my tickets arrived earlier than the new record which doesn't make any sense. My tickets arrived on Friday March 17th which was the release date for the record. I got the record in the mail on Tuesday March 21.

 

I enjoyed the new record and I was surprised at how short it was. I have no recollection of their last album's name. I remember enjoying it at the time & never playing it again after I saw them in 2013.

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  • 4 months later...

Bruce Springsteen - 39 shows on Broadway over an 8 week period this fall.

 

Tickets through Ticketmaster: $75 - $850

 

$850!!!! *chokes*. I wonder what the ticketmaster service charge is for an $850 ticket?

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Seems like service charges are flat fees regardless of ticket price, no? $75 ticket service charge will be the same as that for $850.

Not in my experence, no. I recently paid a $22.50 service charge for a $79.50 ticket (28%) and a $12 service charge on a $25 ticket (48% !!!!!!!!!).

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Def not JW...at least not in NYC...its more a percentage of the ticket price. At MSG for Clapton for instance as I had two different tickets in different sections the $75 ticket had a $17 sc and the $195 had a $35 service charge on it!!

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Def not JW...at least not in NYC...its more a percentage of the ticket price. At MSG for Clapton for instance as I had two different tickets in different sections the $75 ticket had a $17 sc and the $195 had a $35 service charge on it!!

And obviously even NYC is not consistent in percentages from show to show, or even for different price points for the same show. The service charges on your Clapton tix were 23% and 18%, respectively, both less than the percentages I mentioned above, which are both also for NYC shows and purchased within the past two months.

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The $25 ticket is for a balcony seat at the Beacon Theater for Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie (tomorrow night, actually). I flat out refused to pay $120 or whatever it was for orchestra. I grumbled when my "$25" ticket turned out to really be $37, although that is still a reasonable price. Just say it's $37 up front for pete's sake!

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  • 3 weeks later...

"And you don’t just have to buy the album once; you can buy the album many times across different retailers and get a boost each time. Which means you can buy Reputation on Taylor Swift’s site, you can buy it at Walmart.com, you can buy it at Target.com, you can buy it on iTunes, and each time you’ll receive a boost. The “pre-order and purchase boosts” are limited to 13 total across retailers."

 

*rolls eyes*

 

And even after you buy your 13 copies of her album, you're still not guaranteed a ticket.

 

Good thing I'm not a Taylor Swift fan, because I wouldn't be one any longer after reading this.

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^saw that the other day..maybe she is low on cash! Yeah this continues the trend of squeezing people who aren't uber wealth out of shows...I feel bad for kids who are fans and parents who can't afford to take the family out for the one or two shows a year they go to.

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  • 2 months later...

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