But the way this presale has been / is being handled is HORRIBLE and unprofessional. There are no excuses for this other than laziness, passing the buck, and artistic over dependence and reliance on corporations which do not care about music, the concert experience, or fans.

 

I have read comments by folks who are saying "give them a chance this is a big undertaking!" BOOLSHET!

 

Last year Prince had the highest grossing tour, playing over 90 shows, all at arenas/stadiums. And he managed presales through his website quite effectively.

 

Here is what he did:

 

1. First, he took ownership of the presale process himself. Which means he did not rely on record companies, ticketmaster, musictoday, concertmaps, or any other promotional company.

 

For earlier tours, he had used a password presale option through Ticketmaster. However, this proved unreliable for two main reasons: (1) passwords were getting traded, sold, and horded by scalpers; and (2) passwords did not guarantee that his fans were getting the best seats in the house, since Ticketmaster, promoters, record companies, venues, American Express and others would usually grab up the best seats before they are even in the pool for sale.

 

2. He charged a nominal membership fee which required each site member to sign up, associate their account with a name, address, and credit card.

 

The fee was a one-time $25 for lifetime membership. By linking each membership to one name, address, and credit card, it ensured that purchases were done by THAT member, and made it possible to enforce ticket purchasing limits and enforce will call pick up by the member.

 

Currently, Coldplay's site only requires you to enter an email address to log-in. What exactly does this ensure? Nothing. Anyone can have an email address. You can't even go into your user "profile" and change your email address if you need to.

 

3. His site sold presale tickets themselves in advance of any public sale or presale elsewhere. Here's how it worked:

 

- Before the sale of any show, his site would make a presale available.

- At the end of the presale, his site would PULL those tickets from the pool of general sale tickets, beginning with the BEST SEATS.

- AFTER the seats were pulled (marked as "Artist Comps") the rest were then made available to ticketmaster, promoters, others.

- All tickets could only be picked up by purchaser WILL CALL the night of the show, which severely limited scalping.

 

**The only caveat that upset some people was that you did not get your assigned seat the day you purchased your ticket. HOWEVER seats were assigned in the order of purchase (first come first serve) during the presale block.**

 

So it worked like this, for example. Let's say for Prince's NYC Madison Square Garden show, during the presale 500 tickets were bought. That means his site PULLED the first/best 500 seats from the arena BEFORE they were made available to anyone else. Fans that bought presale tickets were then assigned seats from that 500 block on a first come first serve basis, depending on when they bought their tickets during the presale.

 

And when I say FIRST / BEST seats, I mean starting from orchestra pit, row 1, seat 1 couting out 500 seats.

 

At Prince's shows fans / members got better seats than any "stars" or "VIPS" who were used to a "hook up" because those seats were guaranteed to members of his site.

 

 

 

 

This system worked out very well with little complaints. It was the result of several attempts by Prince to take control of all aspects of his business affairs, and after trying other methods. He had used Ticketmaster for a while for presales, but at one soundcheck when he realized that his members seats were scattered around the venue, he said "OH NO, Y'all are supposed to be upfront" and he started doing the sales himself.

 

Bypassing Ticketmaster for presales, also meant that fan members did not have to pay any Ticketmaster fees (usually $15 - $20) for "processing" their tickets.

 

Basically Prince sold the tickets himself through a presale, and then bought those seats out from the venue before they could sell any tickets. They had no choice but to provide the best seats.

 

And *THAT* my friends is how it should be done.

 

And *THAT* is why there is no excuse for other artists to not do the same. All it requires is INDEPENDENCE and GOOD BUSINESS sense. But when you rely on others to handle yours, you will get what you get.

 

After 25 years Prince learned this the hard way. Hopefully Coldplay will not take that long.

 

Coldplay, make trade FREE and FAIR--take control of your business, handle yours, and do the presale YOURSELF.

i totally agree, coldplay presale is screwed.

I wish people would just stop moaning for one minute! God, it's NOT the end of the world if you don't get a ticket!

 

And personally I think the Prince way is a bad way. CHARGING people to be a member of a fan club? What if fans haven't got the money to join? What if fans haven't got regular access to a computer. Just because you've been a member of a website for longer doesn't make you a bigger fan!

 

There's always going to be people not getting tickets, that's just how it goes.

 

I think personally, it's the mods and staff at Coldplay.com who are the ones who have been treated poorly, not the fans. Hundreds of bitchy, angry emails, threads and PM's from fans who shart shouting if they're not answered within TWO minutes. Poor Debs!

 

Coldplay are popular, not everyone can get a ticket. It's just tough luck!

And personally I think the Prince way is a bad way. CHARGING people to be a member of a fan club? What if fans haven't got the money to join?

 

Erm the $25 is slightly over the $20 processing fee you would have to pay to ticketmaster, so that "not enough money" excuse is BUNK.

 

 

What if fans haven't got regular access to a computer. Just because you've been a member of a website for longer doesn't make you a bigger fan!

 

This WHOLE thing is done on computer--coldplay membership, ticketmaster sales--so again BUZZZZZZ.

 

 

I think personally, it's the mods and staff at Coldplay.com who are the ones who have been treated poorly, not the fans. Hundreds of bitchy, angry emails, threads and PM's from fans who shart shouting if they're not answered within TWO minutes. Poor Debs!

 

There is no reason for rudeness, I agree. But much of the bad feelings could be avoided if the system was better developed and explained. And if the emails were sent out when they said they were sent out.

 

Coldplay are popular, not everyone can get a ticket. It's just tough luck!

 

Again BZZZZZZZ. Prince sold out ALL 90+ arena shows last year for the highest grossing tour of the year. And he didn't need an opening act! But guess what ALL MEMBERS who wanted to, got tickets during the presale! At some of his shows, fan members occupied the entire floor section and 1 tier of the arena.

 

Considering that purchasing a ticket thru ticketmaster would cost an add'l $20 for "processing fee" and the $25 membership was well worth it.

I guess I haven't been involved so am not as frustrated.

 

I recognise it was the wrong way to do it, I guess I was just trying to point out that this is their first tour being as huge and in demand as they are and have to learn from their mistakes.

 

I understand it's annoying but don't think they set out ro purposely screw the fans :idea2:

I guess I haven't been involved so am not as frustrated.

 

I recognise it was the wrong way to do it, I guess I was just trying to point out that this is their first tour being as huge and in demand as they are and have to learn from their mistakes.

 

Although I didn't get a chance at presales for their tour earlier this year, and am still waiting to see what happens with this 06 tour (if anything), I'm just as happy to put on their cd and bop around my house :)

 

So I'm not really speaking out of frustration, but just pointing out that what they are trying to do with the presale is not so revolutionary or "new"--it has been done before by others, with sometimes better results, and they could benefit from studying those other examples before embarking on something like this.

 

 

I understand it's annoying but don't think they set out ro purposely screw the fans :idea2:

 

I don't either. But I do think it is in their interest (as it is for most artists) to take more control over their business affairs. The music biz is filled with stories of artists who let other people handle their business only to get the short end of the stick.

Using a lottery system, as they have, is bound to cause frustration, as there will be fans shut out. However, there have been some VERY sloppy aspects to this pre-sale:

 

1/ The 'Talkthetour' site was a ridiculous way to start. The band invited nearly 900,000 people to 'unveil' the venues for the tour, a percentage of which would have been 'new' fans. This diluted existing fans' chance to get the pre-sale tickets.

 

2/ The e-mail stating that you won the lottery should have been sent out at a set local time for all venues. Using local time would have helped to spread the computer load. Also, based on modern computer systems to suggest that this couldn't be done at once is just bullshit. People who didn't win should have received an e-mail stating that they didn't win. This could have gone out at a different local time if necessary.

 

3/ The e-mail which announced the unique password for Houston and OKC had the sites mixed up. Minor one, you may say! However, to not state on the same e-mail WHEN the pre-sale for these two shows are is inexcusable.

 

Other bits and pieces:

 

1/ Confusion over Tampa, Orlando and Cleveland dates.

2/ Having TWO Chicago dates in the drop down list for registering for the lottery.

3/ Not CLEARLY stating when the pre-sale dates are for the shows. If there is any element of doubt from the band, management, etc. DON'T post it!

 

1/ The 'Talkthetour' site was a ridiculous way to start. The band invited nearly 900,000 people to 'unveil' the venues for the tour, a percentage of which would have been 'new' fans. This diluted existing fans' chance to get the pre-sale tickets.!

This has nothing to do with the topic, but I just really hate the term "old" fan as opposed to "new". Even though I'd classify as an old fan and saw Coldplay in 2002 and 2003 when it cost me like $15 bucks to see them play, but I still find it really arrogant to give favor to someone because they've known about you longest. Who the heck cares, a fan is a fan is a fan.

 

I do agree that these pre-sales have been very messy. I did the presale thing back in 2003 and got wonderful seats. But it seems they have kept this same format, which obviously needs to change since Coldplay have grown to be a huge success worldwide, and they need to accomodate all (or most of) the fans that come with that. With that said, I've been shut-out in this presale and will have to hassle it in Ticketmaster. :embarrased: I do wish they'd change the format. It's horribly done and no one can deny it.. :embarrased:

1/ The 'Talkthetour' site was a ridiculous way to start. The band invited nearly 900' date='000 people to 'unveil' the venues for the tour, a percentage of which would have been 'new' fans. This diluted existing fans' chance to get the pre-sale tickets.[/quote']

 

Oh ya, if I were a band I'd definatley be trying to avoid attracting new fans. Who wants that. Silly Coldplay, always trying to get people to listen to their music.

 

1/ The 'Talkthetour' site was a ridiculous way to start. The band invited nearly 900,000 people to 'unveil' the venues for the tour, a percentage of which would have been 'new' fans. This diluted existing fans' chance to get the pre-sale tickets.!

This has nothing to do with the topic, but I just really hate the term "old" fan as opposed to "new". Even though I'd classify as an old fan and saw Coldplay in 2002 and 2003 when it cost me like $15 bucks to see them play, but I still find it really arrogant to give favor to someone because they've known about you longest. Who the heck cares, a fan is a fan is a fan.

 

I do agree that these pre-sales have been very messy. I did the presale thing back in 2003 and got wonderful seats. But it seems they have kept this same format, which obviously needs to change since Coldplay have grown to be a huge success worldwide, and they need to accomodate all (or most of) the fans that come with that. With that said, I've been shut-out in this presale and will have to hassle it in Ticketmaster. :embarrased: I do wish they'd change the format. It's horribly done and no one can deny it.. :embarrased:

 

I didn't mean to imply any arrogance with regards to 'old' vs 'new' fans. It just seemed that the way it was done was very hokey, and put a big strain on the system.

1/ The 'Talkthetour' site was a ridiculous way to start. The band invited nearly 900' date='000 people to 'unveil' the venues for the tour, a percentage of which would have been 'new' fans. This diluted existing fans' chance to get the pre-sale tickets.[/quote']

 

Oh ya, if I were a band I'd definatley be trying to avoid attracting new fans. Who wants that. Silly Coldplay, always trying to get people to listen to their music.

 

Touche :D I didn't phrase it very well, did I?

 

Anyway, they'll be getting loads of publicity now due to how badly the pre-sale has gone!

I'm glad I got out when I did! :)