iTunes Chart-Toppers (a/o February 21st):
This couldn't have happened to a more high-profile artist, at a worse time, or in a worse place. And now, New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell is promising action and the reintroduction of the BOSS Act, which calls for secondary market oversight and restrictions on companies like Ticketmaster.
The meltdown started Friday, when fans attempting to purchase tickets to Bruce Springsteen's upcoming 'Wrecking Ball' tour on Ticketmaster were frozen out - except, marked-up tickets were readily available on StubHub and other markup sites (and maybe even Ticketmaster's own secondary marketplace, TicketsNow.)
Which means that the actual, market-driven prices of these tickets were way higher than list, and in the absence of dynamic pricing, scalpers seized the opportunity. So here we go again: Ticketmaster quickly blamed an 'assault' from scalpers, who pounced on early supply and played the spread. "Early indications suggest that much of this traffic came from highly suspicious sources, implying that scalpers were using sophisticated computer programs to assault our systems and secure tickets with the sole intention of selling them in the resale market," Ticketmaster stated.
The resembles a situation in 2009, when fans trying to buy Springsteen tickets on ticketmaster.com were automatically shuttled to TicketsNow, despite the presence of regularly-priced seats. That led to a blowup involving thousands of pissed off fans, irate statements from Springsteen, and proposals for new (ie, BOSS) legislation. In both scenarios, there was a huge disparity between the price fans thought they should pay, and what they would actually play.
The perception-reality gap is perfect for a politician like Pascrell. "Whether today's problems are due to honest mistakes or dishonest market manipulation, regular folks who wanted a little entertainment were not able to get what they wanted at a fair price," Pascrell stated while announcing the re-introduction of the anti-scalping, ticketbuyer-friendly BOSS Act.
But despite the horrible rap that scalpers get, they're merely arbitragers seeking to capitalize on market inefficiencies. After all, situations like this don't happen when tickets are overpriced. But maybe that's a deceptively simple suggestion, especially given the prickly world of concert ticket sales, complex artist-fan relations, and endless backroom demands. Because as rational as something like dynamic, demand-driven pricing sounds, this isn't the airline industry.
gaetano Saturday, January 28, 2012
This whole thing is gonna explode soon.
I doubt The Boss is going to set up a string of 4 willcall only shows at Terminal 5 leading up to his big NYC show to appease unhappy fans though.
paul Saturday, January 28, 2012
I'll add more details on that. The bill (at least in the earlier form) called for greater transparancy in secondary ticket sales, and limitations on when a secondary ticketing site could purchase tickets (in the 2009 proposal, a ban for the first 48 hours, etc.)
The "BOSS" Act stands for "Better Oversight of Secondary Sales and Accountability in Concert Ticketing," and would also require companies like Ticketmaster to disclose how many tickets are being held back for special use, artist allocations, fan clubs, etc., while prohibiting primary sellers from re-selling tickets in the secondary market at more than face value.
EQL Saturday, January 28, 2012
@madktc Saturday, January 28, 2012
Classic case of supply and demand. I tried to get 2 together to the Coldplay Hollywood bowl shows and was blocked out 1 minute after they went on sale. Yesterday, I had the same thing happen for the DCFC/Youth Lagoon show at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. I had to get three tickets in three different seats as pairs were non-existent one minute after they went on sale.
Is the concert business absolutely booming or is this nefarious activity? or both?
Pissed off fan Saturday, January 28, 2012
They just need to do away with being able to print tickets. Any one, anywhere can buy a ticket for a show ANYWHERE, then just sell it for triple the price on stub hub.
Farley Grainger Sunday, January 29, 2012
Paul, you say "This resembles a situation in 2009, when fans trying to buy Springsteen tickets on ticketmaster.com were automatically shuttled to TicketsNow, despite the presence of regularly-priced seats. That led to a blowup involving thousands of pissed off fans . . . ." So, isn't Tickmaster a bad guy, advertising tickets at one price and then selling at a higher price when fans bite? Even though advertised-price tickets are actually available? Or is Ticketmaster just doing its capitalist thing -- no problem, fans just need to accept it?
paul Sunday, January 29, 2012
The 2009 meltdown had its differences from the latest situation, though in both cases, fans trying to buy regularly-priced tickets to a Springsteen concert were forced into the aftermarket.
Regardless of whether Ticketmaster is the bad guy here, it's hard for them to just 'ride the capitalist horse' and price things at where they see demand. Artists don't want to appear to be ripping fans off, fans feel entitled to lower-cost tickets, etc., and so all the emotional and psychological aspects come into the picture.
Whether that picture can ever be replaced with a truly dynamic ticket-buying marketplace will be interesting to see - in this scenario, the prices would just rise in relation to demand, just like an airline seat on Delta. But that means serious sticker shot for a lot of Bruce fans.
/paul
Susan Sunday, January 29, 2012
paul Monday, January 30, 2012
BK Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tickets show up on StubHub because promoters often reserve blocks of tickets for secondary sites. I once interviewed for a secondary ticketing company (not StubHub) where my job would have been to interface with promoters and venues to get blocks of tickets reserved for this particular site. Thankfully I did not get the job.
Additionally, many scalpers will post tickets online by section or zone that they don't actually have yet. These tickets are usually priced at WAY over face value, and the scalpers figure if anyone is stupid enough to buy, the scalper can just scalp them from somebody else, then mark them up even more for the end consumer.
Insider Friday, February 03, 2012
yeah, Stub Hub posted a job for some idiot off the street to deal with their inside jobs with the promoters. go make something else up. quit blaming the damn scalpers. they fish in the same pool as everyone else. this legislation should force TM to show their hand and to show all the fans how many seats are going to be sold to them and how many are held back and where they are going. right now TM or someone holds back all the good seats and then has the easy out of blaming the scalpers who have just as hard of a time getting tickets as you do. so the liberal asks, then why do the scalpers always have the good seats? BECAUSE whoever does wind up with the ticket will probably sell it to them to make some cash. get TM to play with an open hand and show all the holds. this will limit the holds and more tix will end up in the hands of real fans who won't sell them to scalpers.
Visitor Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Congressman will get right on it - just as soon as he contacts grandson to ask how to turn on his computer. I'm certain TM is quaking in their boots at this 'action'.
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