Withholding Tickets

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I saw on one of the news programs yesterday that the reason it is so hard to get concert tickets when sales open to the general public is because a lot of tickets are being withheld for groups. The withheld tickets are used for special guests, fan club presales, credit card presales, etc. 50--90% of tickets are being withheld for these groups. Justin Beiber was listed as the worst, with 92% of his concert tickets being withheld from the general public. At one concert, out of 12,000 seats, only 900 were available for the general public. The artists know about this and are ok with it.

How do you feel about withholding that many tickets for special groups?

 

[taitai]

Well, any tickets we don't get comped through work, we get as part of a pre-sale, so I am okay with it. I just see it as one more surcharge on the cost of the ticket.

 

[HelenePA]

most presales are a joke and you can easily find the password online.

 

[ironpig70]

I don't see an issue with it. Heck I have a Disney Visa and I get offers prior to the public all the time.

 

[rszdtrvl]

I don't attend many concerts but I think it is ridiculous.

Immediately after tickets go on sale they are sold out, but available for a higher price on Stub Hub, Ebay, etc. I am willing to bet a lot of the "special group" tickets are found on those type of sites.

(I also think that musicians should undergo mandatory drug testing before a concert and if any illegal substances are found in their blood stream prior to concerts that the concert be cancelled and all tickets refunded. That is just me though.)

 

[Chikabowa]

If you think about it, the practice makes sense.

Concert prices have gone through the roof! How else can one justify $200/ticket + fees to see a major artist if there isn't a "demand" for the ticket. It would look horrible for 12,000 seats to go on sale to Beiber and then only sell 1000 that first day. No kid wants to go see a "hot" artist who is now no longer cool...

So you sell your tickets at a high price, "sell out" quickly, and the buyer feels they have a great deal. And afterwards, when they release additional seats, people feel they "scored" tickets to a "sold out" concert.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I was in line when the windows went up one time. Window 2 over from mine went up a few seconds early. Very first guy in line got 20th row. For Boston in 1987.

Oddly enough, 10 minutes later, a girl in front of me got 3rd row.

 

[tvguy]

Seems like a huge holdback. I do know it's possible in this internet, ticket app world, that it is possible to order their tickets the second they become available, and for 10-thousand tickets to be sold in less than a minute.

 

[diamondpixienc]

I don't attend many concerts but I think it is ridiculous.

Immediately after tickets go on sale they are sold out, but available for a higher price on Stub Hub, Ebay, etc. I am willing to bet a lot of the "special group" tickets are found on those type of sites.

(I also think that musicians should undergo mandatory drug testing before a concert and if any illegal substances are found in their blood stream prior to concerts that the concert be cancelled and all tickets refunded. That is just me though.)

I wish there was a "LIKE" button on here ;0)

 

[FergieTCat]

Seems like a huge holdback. I do know it's possible in this internet, ticket app world, that it is possible to order their tickets the second they become available, and for 10-thousand tickets to be sold in less than a minute.

It was like this before the Internet. I remember the days of camping, at either box offices or Ticketmaster Outlets ('member those?) and still not being able to get seats down front.

Way back in the day, there was one promoter who asked ticket "brokers" to pay him a fee so they could have first dibs on the tickets.

Concert promoters have admitted that they hold back seats for record company VIPs, radio station contests, etc. A very small amount are held back for fan clubs, and even those aren't concentrated in the front. I find that you can usually find decent tickets closer to the day of a concert when the unused VIP tickets are turned back to the promoter. Not sure how many there would be with a very popular act, though.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

It was like this before the Internet. I remember the days of camping, at either box offices or Ticketmaster Outlets ('member those?) and still not being able to get seats down front.

Way back in the day, there was one promoter who asked ticket "brokers" to pay him a fee so they could have first dibs on the tickets.

Concert promoters have admitted that they hold back seats for record company VIPs, radio station contests, etc. A very small amount are held back for fan clubs, and even those aren't concentrated in the front. I find that you can usually find decent tickets closer to the day of a concert when the unused VIP tickets are turned back to the promoter. Not sure how many there would be with a very popular act, though.

That was one of the tips in the report - wait until the last minute to get the withheld tickets that aren't being used. They also recommended joining any fan clubs that you can.

 

[FergieTCat]

That was one of the tips in the report - wait until the last minute to get the withheld tickets that aren't being used. They also recommended joining any fan clubs that you can.

The one fan club that I belong to (Barry Manilow) (I hang my head in shame) does not get tickets solely in the front. They are usually scattered among the first 20 rows. You do get to buy tickets before they go on sale to the general public, but it's not a guarantee. Also, fan clubs don't get access to all the tickets in the venue.

But it's better than nothing!

 

[RadioNate]

Eh. Yes tickets are held back. But fan club presales have been going on for years, same with credit card presales. However, ones those are over the tickets go into the general amount.

I'm not talking about VIP and free tickets. Sponsors and radio stations only account for a few hundred at a major show. But really there isn't as many of those as you think.

Then you have the seats people 'own' in an arena. Not just the upper level luxury boxes. Those tickets go to the owner and aren't sold to the general public.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I know it has been going on forever. But 92% of seats?

 

[thriving]

I 'get' the excitement of concerts, but I just can't see paying the crazy prices. It doesn't surprise me that this practice is so extreme. I remember a long, long time ago when tickets would go on sale...ok a LONG time ago...before the internet. And you would phone, hangup, redial, etc. to get through an hopefully pay a fortune for a decent seat. I wouldn't have been pleased about this then.

 

[Janepod]

The one fan club that I belong to (Barry Manilow) (I hang my head in shame) does not get tickets solely in the front. They are usually scattered among the first 20 rows. You do get to buy tickets before they go on sale to the general public, but it's not a guarantee. Also, fan clubs don't get access to all the tickets in the venue.

But it's better than nothing!

No shame in being a Fanilow! He is one of the few performers I've always wanted to see but haven't. Mainly because I can never find anyone who wants to go.

 

[RadioNate]

I know it has been going on forever. But 92% of seats?

But if the 92% isn't sold out during the presales, etc then they are released to the general public.

92% is extreme but it is obvious that people are taking advantage of the presales so it is working. They generally don't discount presale tickets. For many cases it isn't that hard to 'qualify' for the presale. I know a band that gives out all the presale codes in their 'newsletter.' It's all free. A lot of times it is easy to find a presale code online. Visa and American Express both have codes on occasion.

Fan Club stuff is different because you usually pay to join and then pay for packages. But i don't think there are as many of those as people think there are.

I worked in radio promotions for a long time. For big shows they don't get that many tickets...and they aren't usually good ones. They might get a pair or 2 of great seats but they rest are upper level.

I've never tried to by Bieber tickets. But I doubt they are giving away tons of tickets if they can sell them.

 

[Colleen27]

What bothers me are the professional brokers more than anything. There are few high-demand shows I'm interested in these days but I had one hell of a time getting Kid Rock tickets - every one of his 8 Detroit dates for this summer sold out in minutes, and I happened to be at WDW for the on-sale for the first release (before the extra shows were added) so my internet access stunk. But there were hundreds of tickets on StubHub before the general public on-sale and about a thousand for each date by an hour after the GP release, mostly priced around triple face value.

Radio station promos and employee ticket perks and other things like that have always existed, but the Internet has been a windfall for the professional ticket broker and as a fan who just wants to go to the show that annoys the heck out of me.

 

[RockAndRollBallerina]

(I also think that musicians should undergo mandatory drug testing before a concert and if any illegal substances are found in their blood stream prior to concerts that the concert be cancelled and all tickets refunded. That is just me though.)

Good luck with that one. Artists and musicians are freelance business people, they are responsible only for themselves. Record companies don't consider them to be "employees" of theirs just because they're tied to their label. The artists manager or management team doesn't have any control over them in that way either, in fact they work for the artist, the artist doesn't work for them.

 

[RadioNate]

Good luck with that one. Artists and musicians are freelance business people, they are responsible only for themselves. Record companies don't consider them to be "employees" of theirs just because they're tied to their label. The artists manager or management team doesn't have any control over them in that way either, in fact they work for the artist, the artist doesn't work for them.

Good for you for taking a logical response to that statement. I could only laugh at the ridiculousness of it.