Buying gig tickets
Discussion
It's impossible now, I seem to remember a time you would have a few weeks before gigs sold out. Only the very biggest acts would sell out in a minutes, now it seems that everybody out there is a ticket tout.
Take the presale for Florence and the Machine this morning, the website crashed under the load and now the tickets are popping up on ebay. £25 for the original face value and this tosser wants £125 for 2!!!
And should you be 'lucky' enough to get a ticket to the gig, it seems that most people aren't even interested in being there and listening to the music. They are there to say they 'were there' and spend most of the night talking to mates drinking over priced, warm, weak beer. Or they are there to get smashed beyond belief and not remember the gig they paid shed loads of money to go and see...
Take the presale for Florence and the Machine this morning, the website crashed under the load and now the tickets are popping up on ebay. £25 for the original face value and this tosser wants £125 for 2!!!
And should you be 'lucky' enough to get a ticket to the gig, it seems that most people aren't even interested in being there and listening to the music. They are there to say they 'were there' and spend most of the night talking to mates drinking over priced, warm, weak beer. Or they are there to get smashed beyond belief and not remember the gig they paid shed loads of money to go and see...
It is a joke and makes some people a lot of money.
One of the best ways to get tickets now is to turn up on the night and there is usually people waiting to go in, not touts, who want to get rid of tickets when mates haven't turned up usually at face value. Also wait until fairly late before turning up and the touts outside will reduce their prices massively just to make some money, usually miss the support but guaranteed to see the main act. Doesn't always work but if it doesn't hit the pub with the money saved instead.
One of the best ways to get tickets now is to turn up on the night and there is usually people waiting to go in, not touts, who want to get rid of tickets when mates haven't turned up usually at face value. Also wait until fairly late before turning up and the touts outside will reduce their prices massively just to make some money, usually miss the support but guaranteed to see the main act. Doesn't always work but if it doesn't hit the pub with the money saved instead.
Try www.scarletmist.com - if you register tickets may be available on the day - at face value or less.
Also for many bands there are often pre-sales via fanclubs / websites.
O2 priority is another way to get tickets before they go on general sale (obviously only available to o2 customers....)
For those that haven't already seen it - here is a good explanation as to why touting is allowed by ticket agencies...
Also for many bands there are often pre-sales via fanclubs / websites.
O2 priority is another way to get tickets before they go on general sale (obviously only available to o2 customers....)
For those that haven't already seen it - here is a good explanation as to why touting is allowed by ticket agencies...
trent reznor said:
The ticketing marketplace for rock concerts shows a real lack of sophistication, meaning this: the true market value of some tickets for some concerts is much higher than what the act wants to be perceived as charging. For example, there are some people who would be willing to pay $1,000 and up to be in the best seats for various shows, but MOST acts in the rock / pop world don't want to come off as greedy pricks asking that much, even though the market says its value is that high. The acts know this, the venue knows this, the promoters know this, the ticketing company knows this and the scalpers really know this. So...
The venue, the promoter, the ticketing agency and often the artist camp (artist, management and agent) take tickets from the pool of available seats and feed them directly to the re-seller (which from this point on will be referred to by their true name: SCALPER). I am not saying every one of the above entities all do this, nor am I saying they do it for all shows but this is a very common practice that happens more often than not. There is money to be made and they feel they should participate in it. There are a number of scams they employ to pull this off which is beyond the scope of this note.
NIN gets 10% of the available seats for our own pre-sale. We won a tough (and I mean TOUGH) battle to get the best seats. We require you to sign up at our site (for free) to get tickets. We limit the amount you can buy, we print your name on the tickets and we have our own person let you in a separate entrance where we check your ID to match the ticket. We charge you a surcharge that has been less than TicketMaster's or Live Nation's in all cases so far to pay for the costs of doing this - it's not a profit center for us. We have essentially stopped scalping by doing these things - because we want true fans to be able to get great seats and not get ripped off by these parasites.
I assure you nobody in the NIN camp supplies or supports the practice of supplying tickets to these re-sellers because it's not something we morally feel is the right thing to do. We are leaving money on the table here but it's not always about money.
Being completely honest, it IS something I've had to consider. If people are willing to pay a lot of money to sit up front AND ARE GOING TO ANYWAY thanks to the rigged system, why let that money go into the hands of the scalpers? I'm the one busting my ass up there every night. The conclusion really came down to it not feeling like the right thing to do - simple as that.
Nothing's going to change until the ticketing entity gets serious about stopping the problem - which of course they don't see as a problem. The ultimate way to hurt scalpers is to not support them. Leave them holding the merchandise. If this subject interests you, check out the following links. Don't buy from scalpers, and be suspect of artists singing the praises of the Live Nation / TicketMaster merger. What's in it for them?
I read somewhere else that up to 20% of all tickets are never offered at face value - they are only available through touts.The venue, the promoter, the ticketing agency and often the artist camp (artist, management and agent) take tickets from the pool of available seats and feed them directly to the re-seller (which from this point on will be referred to by their true name: SCALPER). I am not saying every one of the above entities all do this, nor am I saying they do it for all shows but this is a very common practice that happens more often than not. There is money to be made and they feel they should participate in it. There are a number of scams they employ to pull this off which is beyond the scope of this note.
NIN gets 10% of the available seats for our own pre-sale. We won a tough (and I mean TOUGH) battle to get the best seats. We require you to sign up at our site (for free) to get tickets. We limit the amount you can buy, we print your name on the tickets and we have our own person let you in a separate entrance where we check your ID to match the ticket. We charge you a surcharge that has been less than TicketMaster's or Live Nation's in all cases so far to pay for the costs of doing this - it's not a profit center for us. We have essentially stopped scalping by doing these things - because we want true fans to be able to get great seats and not get ripped off by these parasites.
I assure you nobody in the NIN camp supplies or supports the practice of supplying tickets to these re-sellers because it's not something we morally feel is the right thing to do. We are leaving money on the table here but it's not always about money.
Being completely honest, it IS something I've had to consider. If people are willing to pay a lot of money to sit up front AND ARE GOING TO ANYWAY thanks to the rigged system, why let that money go into the hands of the scalpers? I'm the one busting my ass up there every night. The conclusion really came down to it not feeling like the right thing to do - simple as that.
Nothing's going to change until the ticketing entity gets serious about stopping the problem - which of course they don't see as a problem. The ultimate way to hurt scalpers is to not support them. Leave them holding the merchandise. If this subject interests you, check out the following links. Don't buy from scalpers, and be suspect of artists singing the praises of the Live Nation / TicketMaster merger. What's in it for them?
Don't get me started on people talking and constantly going in and out to buy beer during a gig. It's unbelievable these days and mainly because of this cretinous behaviour im extrememly selective about what acts i go to see now. In other words, ill only go to see acts I really value seeing rather than the attutude of 'yeah what the hell it might be good' because these pricks ruin it, which is a shame considering ive seen some great shows by going along on the off chance.
A friend of mine has a live recording af a Simon and Garfunkel gig from the 60's, there is NO talking from the audience during the performance WHATSOEVER, they are literally hanging on every word. Not so these days and its much worse then it ever used to be. If you can't do without 5 pints during a 2hr show then go to AA, don't ruin my evening by spilling beer all over me and pushing past me constantly to get your f
king booze. Same for those that can't shut up. One day it will likely end it coming to blows.
The problem is magnified though for acts that are very popular and/or percieved as cool because you get people who aren't into music but like the OP said, want to go back to the office the naxt day and say they were there, so they behave like they're in the pub during the show. Morons.
Not that these things wind em up at all...
A friend of mine has a live recording af a Simon and Garfunkel gig from the 60's, there is NO talking from the audience during the performance WHATSOEVER, they are literally hanging on every word. Not so these days and its much worse then it ever used to be. If you can't do without 5 pints during a 2hr show then go to AA, don't ruin my evening by spilling beer all over me and pushing past me constantly to get your f
king booze. Same for those that can't shut up. One day it will likely end it coming to blows.The problem is magnified though for acts that are very popular and/or percieved as cool because you get people who aren't into music but like the OP said, want to go back to the office the naxt day and say they were there, so they behave like they're in the pub during the show. Morons.
Not that these things wind em up at all...
Edited by neilr on Wednesday 27th January 16:49
The key to it is playing the touts and the re-sellers at their own game. By far the best way to get tickets for gigs now is from the touts, wait until 5-10 mins before a bad goes on stage and then hit the touts; you have the whip hand then!
If you are using the re-sellers dont even consider buying tickets until the day of the gig. I do this all the time now and I certainly havent paid over face value for tickets and a fair few have been got for less than face value.
If you are using the re-sellers dont even consider buying tickets until the day of the gig. I do this all the time now and I certainly havent paid over face value for tickets and a fair few have been got for less than face value.
Twit said:
The key to it is playing the touts and the re-sellers at their own game. By far the best way to get tickets for gigs now is from the touts, wait until 5-10 mins before a bad goes on stage and then hit the touts; you have the whip hand then!
If you are using the re-sellers dont even consider buying tickets until the day of the gig. I do this all the time now and I certainly havent paid over face value for tickets and a fair few have been got for less than face value.
Yeah, you can sometimes bad a bargain doing that. A mate does it fairly often..saw AC/DC for £20 and Foo Fighters for £10..(£50 face value for each ticket).If you are using the re-sellers dont even consider buying tickets until the day of the gig. I do this all the time now and I certainly havent paid over face value for tickets and a fair few have been got for less than face value.
And regards the other earlier comment about getting bumped into at a gig...perhaps the seats upstairs would suit you better.
Mojooo said:
Just dont try it at the O2, I got stung ebcause they dont allow touts there at all so didnt get a last mintue ticket. there were literally fans there begging others for tickets.
Yeah, forgot about that. It's very strange to get to a gig venue and not see touts anywhere.There are a few of them I've seen for years and years. There's one chap, who has about 3 teeth, that I always get a friendly "hello" from.
As suspected most of the major websites crashed this morning when I tried to buy tickets for Florence and the Machine and by the time they were back up they'd all sold out. However, ebay is doing a fine trade.
My brother and I are going to pop down the night of the gig and see how low we can drive the touts when the gig is about to start, thanks for that tip, have never really tried it before.
My brother and I are going to pop down the night of the gig and see how low we can drive the touts when the gig is about to start, thanks for that tip, have never really tried it before.
theboyfold said:
As suspected most of the major websites crashed this morning when I tried to buy tickets for Florence and the Machine and by the time they were back up they'd all sold out. However, ebay is doing a fine trade.
My brother and I are going to pop down the night of the gig and see how low we can drive the touts when the gig is about to start, thanks for that tip, have never really tried it before.
If you register now for scarletmist you will should be lucky on the day of the gig...My brother and I are going to pop down the night of the gig and see how low we can drive the touts when the gig is about to start, thanks for that tip, have never really tried it before.
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