Obviously lots of fans had difficulty getting tickets for the UK and European shows, whether they tried for the presale or the general sale. And seeing a pair of tickets sell for £560 on ebay this morning only adds to the disappointment.

 

In an effort to prevent such profiteering from "non-fans", some musicians have taken to making the tickets "will call only" (picking up the tickets at the venue).

 

Do you think it would have been a good idea for Coldplay to make tickets for these shows "will call only"? Why or why not?

Glastonbury has tickets with your name and photo, that works fine

I'd vote 'yes' but I don't understand 'Will call only' (I get the general idea of course, but no idea why you would need to pick up the tickets from the venue).

 

Just insist on ID that matches the name on the ticket (purchaser only of course, not everyone in the party).

would that not cause massive queues and potential delays to the concert, with more people outside than in?

i def see it working in smaller venues, i think lcd soundsystem at terminal 5 was like that but it would be quite hard at MSG or the large stadiums

would that not cause massive queues and potential delays to the concert, with more people outside than in?

 

I think it would be a nightmare, as most people wouldn't pick them up until they got to the venue for the show. It would also then be more costly for the venue, as they'd need added staff to manage all that and maybe added security (assuming there would even be a way to line up that many people outside of a venue). And you know what that means... higher ticket prices. And scalpers would still find work arounds anyway.

 

Bottom line is, ticket scalping is a business, and I think it would be really, really challenging to find a way to put an end to what is essentially supply and demand-driven commerce.

 

But I think that there has to be a way to make things more "fair". I know of a small venue here in the States - a winery that does a really nice Summer concert series, and they have a special "pre-sale" where you can buy tickets with really expensive dinners, etc. I asked them about that this year, thinking it would be worth it if you get really good seats, and she told me the section that they get tickets from for this promotion, and it was one of the worst sections. On the shows I've bought tickets for, I go to Ticketmaster and F5 the site until it opens for sale, and the best I've ever gotten that was is center section 3rd row. But the next day, a scalper will be reselling the entire front row on StubHub for 4-10X face value. It's not even possible to buy an entire row through the Ticketmaster site, so obviously that raises a lot of questions... Is Ticketmaster reselling them? Is there some employee or something that knows how to game their system? Who knows. But something is up, above and beyond fair/open market for buying tickets.

 

Jason

Something has to be done, but I doubt that will be a good solution, as it will be impossible to control whether everyone has their own tickets. Maybe a small sample of the concertgoers should be tested at the entrance to see if the ID matches the tickets, but doing that for everyone would be simply chaotic.

The problem is quite simple...

 

eBay touters will only profit when there isn't enough supply to meet the demand. Now... The events team behind Coldplay and the O2 royally screwed fans over here by announcing only ONE SINGLE DATE in London and other capital cities across Europe.

 

I have seen bands like Snow Patrol fill out the O2 with more dates than that... So what gives?

 

Running an EXTREMELY poor set of dates like is just a touts paradise and that's why we've seen the ridiculous amounts the poor fans are having (or in most cases can't afford) to shell out.

 

If London for instance had been given 3-4 dates at least then demand would go down, therefore prices on eBay would go down.

 

When you consider one venue has to cater for potentially the entire South of England in just one day, that was a massive mistake. There must be reasoning behind this... Either that or the O2 clearly aren't interested in the money.

 

It's poor events planning like this that create this terrible scenario where touts are born, wanting to profit from other peoples misfortune. £700 or so for a pair of Coldplay tickets when all the tout needed to do was click a few buttons on Ticketmaster... Who wouldn't do it??

 

The solution is simple:

 

- Create enough supply for demand.

- Make ticket reselling for profit illegal.

 

To make reselling illegal the motion has to go through parliament. For the government to even consider looking at the proposal the petition stated here will need to reach 100,000 signatories.

 

You can of course write to your MP and ask for them to bring this into parliament, however I know this has been brought up before and dismissed (even going to the select committee at one stage for review). I remember a couple of years ago when the Ticketmaster CEO was questioned about touting and gave GetMeIn.com as a reply to the issue (which as we all know is legalised touting).

 

EDIT:

You can see Ticketmaster's response to touting back in 2007 on page 79 (ev.28) of the CMS select publication here. There are some interesting case studies they performed with stats on how bad the ticket touting situation was back then... Just imagine the scale of the problem now!

 

Good luck anyway people with fighting the system. I feel bad for all the kids especially who have never seen Coldplay play before who were denied tickets by this shambles.

I think it would be a nightmare, as most people wouldn't pick them up until they got to the venue for the show. It would also then be more costly for the venue, as they'd need added staff to manage all that and maybe added security (assuming there would even be a way to line up that many people outside of a venue). And you know what that means... higher ticket prices. And scalpers would still find work arounds anyway.

 

Bottom line is, ticket scalping is a business, and I think it would be really, really challenging to find a way to put an end to what is essentially supply and demand-driven commerce.

 

But I think that there has to be a way to make things more "fair". I know of a small venue here in the States - a winery that does a really nice Summer concert series, and they have a special "pre-sale" where you can buy tickets with really expensive dinners, etc. I asked them about that this year, thinking it would be worth it if you get really good seats, and she told me the section that they get tickets from for this promotion, and it was one of the worst sections. On the shows I've bought tickets for, I go to Ticketmaster and F5 the site until it opens for sale, and the best I've ever gotten that was is center section 3rd row. But the next day, a scalper will be reselling the entire front row on StubHub for 4-10X face value. It's not even possible to buy an entire row through the Ticketmaster site, so obviously that raises a lot of questions... Is Ticketmaster reselling them? Is there some employee or something that knows how to game their system? Who knows. But something is up, above and beyond fair/open market for buying tickets.

 

Jason

 

Jason - The reason you see this happen is because a lot of prime tickets (front-centre rows, boxes, etc) are handed out to people who are involved with the production of the gig, the people who work for the band label, journalists, influential media types, etc. Often is the case that they will receive these for free and have absolutely no intention or liking for the band / artist playing and will therefore resell their tickets for profit. These tickets are often not regulated and look just like the ones me and you receive in the post...

 

The last pair of tickets I bought off eBay were from someone who worked in A&R for the label. He had around 10 on sale when I bought...

 

Sports matches in particular are horrifically bad for this practice with entire blocks of the stadium held back just for business types...

Jason - The reason you see this happen is because a lot of prime tickets (front-centre rows, boxes, etc) are handed out to people who are involved with the production of the gig, the people who work for the band label, journalists, influential media types, etc. Often is the case that they will receive these for free and have absolutely no intention or liking for the band / artist playing and will therefore resell their tickets for profit. These tickets are often not regulated and look just like the ones me and you receive in the post...

 

The last pair of tickets I bought off eBay were from someone who worked in A&R for the label. He had around 10 on sale when I bought...

 

Sports matches in particular are horrifically bad for this practice with entire blocks of the stadium held back just for business types...

 

Great points.

 

Now that you mention it, I know someone high up in promotions for a sports arena, and he has blocks of prime tickets for every event, and it spills over into music concerts as well. I just know that he doesn't sell them on the Internet, etc., so it didn't come to mind. His are more for "good will".

 

He's actually told me stories before where he will go into an elevator at the arena, and say "hello" to the other people there for the game, and if only like one person is friendly enough to say 'hi' back and talk with some enthusiasm about the event, he'll look at their tickets, see that they have the "nose bleed" seats way up at the top, and say, "want to trade for these, straight across?" and give them front row seats behind the player's bench. :lol:

 

Jason

I think that they should have to show ID or something because I'm sick of all those people who make money out of it and it was even worse last year when other people were making money out of a charity gig.

I would not like to wait in a will call line for anything.

I have been to a couple of Arena concerts that have been "ticketless." You bring your email confirmation, and show ID when they scan your ticket at the door. Your whole party must enter together because everyone is on one printout but only the purchasers name is on it. Lines weren't any longer than usual, takes longer to go through security then to match ID. It worked well and they were big arena shows here in the Los Angeles area. Because ticketmaster did this, it was possible to return tickets for a refund, too.

 

 

 

 

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DP

 

 

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One local venue uses ticketless system. You buy your ticket on line or over phone and then they scan your ID or credit card when you enter. Just as fast as scanning a ticket. Only down side is all members of your party have to be present when you enter.

what it actually needs is government to take a stand and make ticket touting illegal.

 

surely its in everyone's benefit for the people going to pay face value. if you're not paying £500 for a ticket you potentially have £450 spare cash to buy other things like merch, food, drink etc.

 

how many people who end up buying on ebay etc end up having to forgo any extras they may want?

 

so the official peeps win because more merch gets bought, the venue wins because it sells more food/drink, and the government wins because all of the above are taxed.

 

and the fans win because they only get officially ripped off! :lol:

It is illegal here, but not enforced very often. Maybe outside a venue on day of show, but on the internet, it's a free for all. Then of course Ticketmaster is connected to the over priced on line resale sites which always manage to get the best seats to sell at inflated prices. I wonder how that happens. :dozey:

It is illegal here, but not enforced very often. Maybe outside a venue on day of show, but on the internet, it's a free for all. Then of course Ticketmaster is connected to the over priced on line resale sites which always manage to get the best seats to sell at inflated prices. I wonder how that happens. :dozey:

 

Yip.

 

Frankly I'm not against people selling the tickets for more in and of itself, actually I think it shouldn't be illegal. Free market for all. If people are willing to pay that much, then technically the band should be charging that much for some of the tickets (I know I'll get ripped for that comment, but I'm just stating that from a simple supply/demand standpoint).

 

But the problem as you mention Angie, the current system really isn't free market for all... there are insiders who have the hookup with the distributors (Stub Hub apparently doesn't, but we all know they do wink wink). So there's currently no such thing as a level playing field. If everyone including the third party re-sellers were on the same level, we wouldn't see nearly as much of this, I don't think. And you'll notice that a lot of the listings on ebay are "businesses", and reselling those tickets on ebay is all they do.

and if we're being really honest, its not so much the people who buy the tickets and resell them for a profit. its the number of corporate freebies that are given away and then sold on by the people receiving them. I wonder how much more space there'd be in the venues if you could stop the resale of those tickets?

If everyone got together and refused to buy scalper tickets, then these scalpers will go out of business. Then they will try to sell the tickets in front of the concert or sporting event. Refuse to buy them till they try to get rid of them for face value or lower price. There are less scalpers here because people quit buying from them. But everyone has to be in this together for this to work. The worst that could happen is sold out and not many people there and investigations will happen to stop this.