Something has to be done
Discussion
I am not normally drawn in to these kinds of rants but on this occasion, something has pissed me off to that extent.
We all love going to event’s be them racing, concerts, sport and in this case, comedy. Tickets are given a price for a reason, it’s budgeted, everybody involved is getting their wages etc from them.
Now I am, probably like most of you, a big fan of the Izzard. He has quite a few dates coming up in November and December for his “Stripped” Tour. It hasn’t been that well publicised because, quite frankly, tickets sell themselves. I was pretty disappointed to see everything sold out, including the 4 extra dates that he added. The price was very reasonable to see probably the last tour he will do. What pisses me off is that these ticket exchange sites have s
t loads of tickets available from people selling them at 4 times the cost, £200 + per ticket. fk you, don’t buy a ticket if you don’t want to use it. Don’t try and make money from someone else’s talent (common in these days I know) and in the process, exploit someone else’s joy so you can make a quick buck to by your pregnant 15 year old girl friend a boob job so she can “have a career"
This happens across the board, and I am sure some of you have been pretty pissed off that you can’t really afford to see something you have always wanted to.
So why the fk do they not do something about it?
We all love going to event’s be them racing, concerts, sport and in this case, comedy. Tickets are given a price for a reason, it’s budgeted, everybody involved is getting their wages etc from them.
Now I am, probably like most of you, a big fan of the Izzard. He has quite a few dates coming up in November and December for his “Stripped” Tour. It hasn’t been that well publicised because, quite frankly, tickets sell themselves. I was pretty disappointed to see everything sold out, including the 4 extra dates that he added. The price was very reasonable to see probably the last tour he will do. What pisses me off is that these ticket exchange sites have s
t loads of tickets available from people selling them at 4 times the cost, £200 + per ticket. fk you, don’t buy a ticket if you don’t want to use it. Don’t try and make money from someone else’s talent (common in these days I know) and in the process, exploit someone else’s joy so you can make a quick buck to by your pregnant 15 year old girl friend a boob job so she can “have a career"This happens across the board, and I am sure some of you have been pretty pissed off that you can’t really afford to see something you have always wanted to.
So why the f
k do they not do something about it?
Sorry I just dont get the ticket or any speculator "leasure" item rants, be it tickets or cars. The finance and business world thinks it is fine to do this with currency, oil, gold or other assets, so why not tickets and cars? They are just assets. If you cant get in cheap then if you want to see/buy the item on offer pay the market rate. If you dont want to then dont and buy the DVD for Xmas.
Whilst I don't disagree with you, I can provide an alternative view:
The number of gigs I would have missed if it were not for ticket touts is immense, either I forgot to order the tickets or simply didn't know band xyz were playing, Go down on the night and buy a tickety from a tout. Ive never paid more than a tenner over face value and that was a one off. Its either been 3-4 quid or in loads of cases face value.
Some of the most memorable gigs i've been to I would have missed if I hadn't been able to buy from a tout. WOuld I pay 200 quid for a gig? no. No ones holding a gun to my head forcing me to pay the price, I make the choice to pay over the odds and thats that.
Having said that, theres a difference between traditional touts outside the gig and people trying to flog 50 quid tickets on the interweb for 200 quid.
The latest money grabbing craze for acts is of course to get you to join the fan club at some ridiculous fee in order to get 'preferencial' ticket sales in advance of the great unwashed. The Police wanted 100quid to join when they toured a while back, that is total exploitation of fans.
Dont even get me started on the acts that recently wanted things changed so thay could get a slice of the momey made in re-selling your ticket (yes arctic monkeys, im looking in your direction). Who the hell do you think you are, your part in the financial transaction for the ticket ended when it was sold, stop whining.
Esentially though, I agree with the OP, but touts can and do have their place and I wouildnt want to see them outlawed. Lets not forget, all the 'we want to protect the public' that we hear from the music industry is not about that at all, somewhere in a music industry office, a man in a suit has realised that theres a sale going on that's not netting him any money, THATS what they really mean.
The number of gigs I would have missed if it were not for ticket touts is immense, either I forgot to order the tickets or simply didn't know band xyz were playing, Go down on the night and buy a tickety from a tout. Ive never paid more than a tenner over face value and that was a one off. Its either been 3-4 quid or in loads of cases face value.
Some of the most memorable gigs i've been to I would have missed if I hadn't been able to buy from a tout. WOuld I pay 200 quid for a gig? no. No ones holding a gun to my head forcing me to pay the price, I make the choice to pay over the odds and thats that.
Having said that, theres a difference between traditional touts outside the gig and people trying to flog 50 quid tickets on the interweb for 200 quid.
The latest money grabbing craze for acts is of course to get you to join the fan club at some ridiculous fee in order to get 'preferencial' ticket sales in advance of the great unwashed. The Police wanted 100quid to join when they toured a while back, that is total exploitation of fans.
Dont even get me started on the acts that recently wanted things changed so thay could get a slice of the momey made in re-selling your ticket (yes arctic monkeys, im looking in your direction). Who the hell do you think you are, your part in the financial transaction for the ticket ended when it was sold, stop whining.
Esentially though, I agree with the OP, but touts can and do have their place and I wouildnt want to see them outlawed. Lets not forget, all the 'we want to protect the public' that we hear from the music industry is not about that at all, somewhere in a music industry office, a man in a suit has realised that theres a sale going on that's not netting him any money, THATS what they really mean.
Don't know if this is worth trying, but a friend who went to the (footie) World Cup in Germany found that 1/2 hr before a match tickets from touts were 200, 2 minutes before they were taking anything they could get - they aren't worht anything afterwards!
He took the risk of not getting one, but mostly got in for face value or less, missed the first 2 minutes, but it was worth it.
He took the risk of not getting one, but mostly got in for face value or less, missed the first 2 minutes, but it was worth it.
Yugguy said:
Couldn't they simply solve this by requiring photo id at the door proving you are the name on the ticket?
What's in it for them? It would also be a pain for genuine punters; if someone can't make it for whatever reason, why shouldn't they be able to give away or sell their ticket?
I agree that its immoral but also agree with what someone said above.
It is unlikely that they have enought tickets between the touts to make any realistic difference whatsoever to your chances of having got a ticket.
The tickets will still end up with true fans (which is the big one for me).
People like me who have jobs and are not pikey students who can spend all day sitting on hold on the phone at home get a chance to see things like this because of the touts.
It is unlikely that they have enought tickets between the touts to make any realistic difference whatsoever to your chances of having got a ticket.
The tickets will still end up with true fans (which is the big one for me).
People like me who have jobs and are not pikey students who can spend all day sitting on hold on the phone at home get a chance to see things like this because of the touts.
How is it immoral? This is just trading. Lots of companies do it.
You buy a good at a price. You sell it on at the price you can obtain for it. Market forces. If the traders couldn't sell on the ticket at a profit they wouldn't buy them.
To add to this the ticket "trader" is taking the risk that the ticket will not sell whereupon it is worthless.
I've bought tickets from "Touts" in the past. Brilliant service. I got front row seats to a concert I couldn't get tickets for any other way. The only thing I needed to give them was money. Since it was my favourite rock band I didn't begrudge paying over the odds for the ticket.
So I got seats. The trader earned some cash for his risk. The band got the cash they'd asked for. The venue got the cash THEY had asked for. How is this bad?
That and what if you were sick and wanted to sell on your tickets? Or even give them away? Hard to stop one without also stopping those two...
You buy a good at a price. You sell it on at the price you can obtain for it. Market forces. If the traders couldn't sell on the ticket at a profit they wouldn't buy them.
To add to this the ticket "trader" is taking the risk that the ticket will not sell whereupon it is worthless.
I've bought tickets from "Touts" in the past. Brilliant service. I got front row seats to a concert I couldn't get tickets for any other way. The only thing I needed to give them was money. Since it was my favourite rock band I didn't begrudge paying over the odds for the ticket.
So I got seats. The trader earned some cash for his risk. The band got the cash they'd asked for. The venue got the cash THEY had asked for. How is this bad?
That and what if you were sick and wanted to sell on your tickets? Or even give them away? Hard to stop one without also stopping those two...
neilr said:
Whilst I don't disagree with you, I can provide an alternative view:
The number of gigs I would have missed if it were not for ticket touts is immense, either I forgot to order the tickets or simply didn't know band xyz were playing, Go down on the night and buy a tickety from a tout. Ive never paid more than a tenner over face value and that was a one off. Its either been 3-4 quid or in loads of cases face value.
Some of the most memorable gigs i've been to I would have missed if I hadn't been able to buy from a tout. WOuld I pay 200 quid for a gig? no. No ones holding a gun to my head forcing me to pay the price, I make the choice to pay over the odds and thats that.
Having said that, theres a difference between traditional touts outside the gig and people trying to flog 50 quid tickets on the interweb for 200 quid.
The latest money grabbing craze for acts is of course to get you to join the fan club at some ridiculous fee in order to get 'preferencial' ticket sales in advance of the great unwashed. The Police wanted 100quid to join when they toured a while back, that is total exploitation of fans.
Dont even get me started on the acts that recently wanted things changed so thay could get a slice of the momey made in re-selling your ticket (yes arctic monkeys, im looking in your direction). Who the hell do you think you are, your part in the financial transaction for the ticket ended when it was sold, stop whining.
Esentially though, I agree with the OP, but touts can and do have their place and I wouildnt want to see them outlawed. Lets not forget, all the 'we want to protect the public' that we hear from the music industry is not about that at all, somewhere in a music industry office, a man in a suit has realised that theres a sale going on that's not netting him any money, THATS what they really mean.
Fact is though, you wouldnt have missed those gigs in the first place if the touts hadnt bought them all up The number of gigs I would have missed if it were not for ticket touts is immense, either I forgot to order the tickets or simply didn't know band xyz were playing, Go down on the night and buy a tickety from a tout. Ive never paid more than a tenner over face value and that was a one off. Its either been 3-4 quid or in loads of cases face value.
Some of the most memorable gigs i've been to I would have missed if I hadn't been able to buy from a tout. WOuld I pay 200 quid for a gig? no. No ones holding a gun to my head forcing me to pay the price, I make the choice to pay over the odds and thats that.
Having said that, theres a difference between traditional touts outside the gig and people trying to flog 50 quid tickets on the interweb for 200 quid.
The latest money grabbing craze for acts is of course to get you to join the fan club at some ridiculous fee in order to get 'preferencial' ticket sales in advance of the great unwashed. The Police wanted 100quid to join when they toured a while back, that is total exploitation of fans.
Dont even get me started on the acts that recently wanted things changed so thay could get a slice of the momey made in re-selling your ticket (yes arctic monkeys, im looking in your direction). Who the hell do you think you are, your part in the financial transaction for the ticket ended when it was sold, stop whining.
Esentially though, I agree with the OP, but touts can and do have their place and I wouildnt want to see them outlawed. Lets not forget, all the 'we want to protect the public' that we hear from the music industry is not about that at all, somewhere in a music industry office, a man in a suit has realised that theres a sale going on that's not netting him any money, THATS what they really mean.
I foolishly joined a club to get preferential tickets. Cost me £40 to join the club, i got the tickets 1 day before they went on sale. I did this because I was away on business the day they went on sale and there was simply no way I would have been able to get on the phone at 9am.
I did get tickets at face value (+ ticketmaster's outrageous booking fees).
The most disappointing thing is the 'preferential' tickets are the worst effing seats in the house... upper tier and as far away from the stage as possible. What will make the day is if we get there and we're behind a pillar!!
What a fackin con... no choice in the allocation either.
So I now have 2 shi*t tickets that I will try and flog on - and try and get some better ones, no doubt at vastly inflated prices on seatwave!
Anyone want some Metallica Tickets - 02 London - 28th March 09? Yours for £900 the pair
I did get tickets at face value (+ ticketmaster's outrageous booking fees).
The most disappointing thing is the 'preferential' tickets are the worst effing seats in the house... upper tier and as far away from the stage as possible. What will make the day is if we get there and we're behind a pillar!!
What a fackin con... no choice in the allocation either.
So I now have 2 shi*t tickets that I will try and flog on - and try and get some better ones, no doubt at vastly inflated prices on seatwave!
Anyone want some Metallica Tickets - 02 London - 28th March 09? Yours for £900 the pair
Spiritual_Beggar said:
[Fact is though, you wouldnt have missed those gigs in the first place if the touts hadnt bought them all up
Not true. If there is a premium then these things are so oversubscribed that the above i just not the case.OP-a tip for you.
My dad got tickets for Eddie Izzard today. He saw that they were sold out. Went to ticket exchange-saw £200 per ticket and thought 'sod that' so he went on to Eddie Izzards site which linked to the ticket office in Truro Theatre where they still had tickets on sale. So although it seemed to be sold out he still bought tickets direct from the theatre for £30 ie face value.
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