Scalpers And Their Bots

Want to buy a good seat at a concert? Then prepare to fight off the bots! Yes, in the battle for a great ticket, your chances of winning are growing smaller and smaller, thanks to the custom computer programs used by the big scalpers to scarf up all the good seats before you can even enter your credit card information.

According to Ticketmaster, bots are used to buy 60% or more of the best tickets available, and the company's not happy about it. The problem is, it's a grey area as to whether purchasing tickets this way is legal or not. According to an article in the New York Times, last month Ticketmaster sued 21 people in a New York court for fraud and copyright infringement related to using bots to buy tickets. Three years ago, four men from WiseGuy Tickets were indicted on conspiracy and wire fraud charges, but got off with only probation and community service.

Ticketmaster has hired a team a computer investigators to try to combat the bots, but even though they can usually identify them, they don't actually stop them from buying tickets, only slowing them down to give a regular human a chance. Still, that doesn't mean that you'll ever get a real chance to buy that great ticket anyway, since it's a common industry practice for the venue or promoter to place a hold on a block of the best seats for sponsors or industry people, or even sell them themselves for a large markup.

With ticket prices so high and with all the extra "convenience charges" tacked on, now the consumer has to suffer the indignity of not getting a chance to buy the ticket he desires as well. It's a scalpers market, and the bots are in charge.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Interested in the Music 3.0 archives? Buy The Music 3.0 Guide To Social Media for the best of over 800 posts.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Why Direct Ticketing Is A Tough Sell

I think if you asked 100 concert goers if they liked using Ticketmaster to purchase tickets you'd get at least 99 "no" replies. After all, we all hate convenience fees and the fact that the ticket brokers get all the good seats first (not to mention the ridiculous service charge for printing your own ticket). So why can't acts just do direct ticketing themselves, and bypass the electronic ticketing services?

It turns out that's not an easy thing to do, as outlined by Louis C.K., who after some tribulation, seems to have pulled it off.

It turns out that most of the really prime venues have deals already in place with Ticketmaster, so they're contractually obligated to use them for every event. Louis found a way around it though, and found a number of theaters who would play ball, so they effectively are taking a chance on each other.

The next thing is that the secondary ticket market (meaning ticket brokers) is thriving and no one wants to upset the applecart. LCK once again tries to get around that by setting a flat rate of $45 for each ticket that can be purchased by a credit card directly from his site. What is new is that LCK holds the right to cancel any ticket if it's found that it's been resold, which could leave the secondary market dead in its tracks. In effect, he's just trying to cut out the middlemen who buy the tickets with the express idea of flipping them for a profit, maybe even from thousands of miles away.

That said, it's a tough way to do business by bucking the system. Being an artist is tough and most don't want to add another layer of complexity to their already complex lives. You have to hand it to Louis CK for looking out for his audience and trying his best to do the right thing though.

On another closely related subject, after much complaining about $13 beers, LiveNation has instituted a new $5 beer policy. As with everything in the concert business these days, it's important to read the fine print before you purchase.

* it's only good for certain shows
* it requires a $13 purchase with an $8 rebate
* it requires purchase of Miller Lite or equivalent
* it requires pre-qualifying $40 premium parking pass

It's too much to expect any kind of deal from a big faceless corporation like LiveNation. Unfortunately, this is what the live music business has become.

-----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

String Cheese Incident Takes On Ticketmaster

We all hate paying convenience charges when buying concert tickets. It's hard not to feel ripped off when you're suddenly asked to pay as much as a 50% premium on the face value of your ticket. There is sometimes a way around that though; buy your tickets at the box office where sometimes those fees are waved, instead of from Ticketmaster.

That's what the jam band String Cheese Incident did recently at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles in order to supply their fans with the cheapest tickets possible. The band gave 50 friends about $20k in cash to each buy 8 tickets apiece (the maximum number allowed). The band then advertised those tickets online and sold them to fans for only the face value and the cost of shipping.

The fact of the matter is that most bands already get about 8% of the tickets that they can sell at face value or give away, but SCI wanted more and was refused, so they responded with a grass roots workaround.

But here's the thing about convenience charges, as Bob Lefsetz laid out so well in his newsletter (he's a skeptic of the situation, by the way); that's how both the venues and the promoters stay in business. With acts demanding 90+% of the gate, there's not much money left, and sometimes the superstar acts even demand some of those convenience charges as well.

While SCI could have just lowered it's guarantee in exchange for more face-value tickets, that's not the way the business is built these days. It would take the power of a Live Nation to change the current pricing policies, but we all know how unlikely that's going to happen. In the meantime, it's at least nice to see a band think about their fans a little.

You can read more about this in a New York Times article, and on the Lefsetz newsletter.

-----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The Concert Industry Is Feeling The Heat

The concert industry has always felt recession proof. The theory was that in bad times, people still purchase entertainment to take their minds off their troubles. This may be so, but last year the concert industry found that there's a limit to how much they can spend, regardless of the entertainment.

"2010... was the single largest year-over-year decline in the history of the live event business, straight up, in the 35 year history of Ticketmaster and I think anywhere else," said Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard in a recent  interview with Topspin CEO Ian Rogers.  "You have to take a step back and say, 'Why? What is the fan telling us that isn't right about the business?'"   

I guess Nathan hasn't purchased a ticket to an event lately. Not only are events of all types overpriced, but the extra "convenience" charges are a serious impediment to people purchasing. I know I personally won't buy any ticket that if I have pay a convenience charge on.

"We've got a fan experience problem, first and foremost. There are things about buying the ticket that suck.  There are things about going to the show that suck. Price is still an issue for fans."

OK, let's start by not charging for printing out your own ticket (this is such a ridiculous charge it defies logic). How about instituting paperless ticketing to keep the scalpers out of the business (none of the lame excuses of why it doesn't work hold water)? How about an all-in-one ticket that includes parking and beverages? How about a discount if you choose one of these?

It's great that Ticketmaster is aware of these problems, but let's see them finally do something about it. Don't hold your breath though, they don't care about you, only their shareholders. This is another example that proves that any company in the entertainment sector that goes public ends up being bad for the public. You can't dictate creativity in any part of the entertainment business from the boardroom.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for daily discussion of music, recording, and production tips and tricks.