Ticket Master / Live Nation Merger

[TOverby]

Here comes the Math Police: actually it's only 25% -but that's still way high

[LWjetta]

Bastards.

There, I said it.

And I second it!

Tom

Third here

Here comes the Math Police: actually it's only 25% -but that's still way high

Detective Tom O
I included the other mysterious fee of 2 bucks on my ticket to arrive at my 30 odd % markup on $42.50
EXCEL says $42.50*0.33=$14.02 Of course I agree way too high.
lwj

[tntracy]

Here comes the Math Police: actually it's only 25% -but that's still way high

25% of the total after the fees are added in; 33% of the "base" admission price before the fees (which is how LWJ calculated it)...

Tom

[LWjetta]

Read this article from CNN Money.
"Ticketmaster Charges a Concert Killer"
Also, Ticketmaster is going to a "paperless" ticketing system.
For example, if you live in Boston, and you have bought tickets as a gift for friends to attend a concert in say NYC. You are "SOL" as you must be present in NYC for them to scan the actual credit card used to make the purchase.

This article gives a lot of horror stories dealing with Ticketmaster.
http://cnnmoneytalkback.blogs.cnnmoney. ... rt-killer/

lwj

[Disco Stu]

Also, Ticketmaster is going to a "paperless" ticketing system.
For example, if you live in Boston, and you have bought tickets as a gift for friends to attend a concert in say NYC. You are "SOL" as you must be present in NYC for them to scan the actual credit card used to make the purchase.

Ugh. This is even worse than the charges. It effectively screws things up for fans like me who may attend several shows on a tour but are unsure of which ones until the entire tour has been announced (Dylan is notorious, lately, for announcing a few shows at a time and not announcing more until they've already gone on sale). With eBay and everything, it's pretty easy to deal with...if I decide not to go to a show, I just resell my ticket (often for a little less than I paid, but no big deal). Conversely, if I decide to go to a show at the last minute (as often happens), I can find a ticket pretty easily.

I'm sure they're justifying this move as a way to stick it to the "evil" scalpers; the problem is that they're essentially establishing their own monopoly to gouge fans.

Tom, I really appreciate that you and Lu are concerned about the fees and everything. I know there are limitations as to what you can do for us, but it's nice to know you care.

[paul_from_losangeles]

I'll add my own experience from last night:
Dave Rawlings Machine, featuring Gillian Welch, at the Troubadour:

Ticket Price: 24.99
Facility Charge: 2.00
Convenience Charge: 7.75
Order Processing Fee: 4.80
TicketFast Delivery: 2.50

Total Charges: 42.04

Ticket Price of 24.99 = 59% of total;
Fees & Charges of 17.05 = 41% of total.

[LWjetta]

As always I welcome ideas or things that you see other artists doing that we can do to make sure the experience of going to a show is still a great one. Fortunately we have some time, as Lucinda won't be going out until the end of the year at the earliest so bring them on.

A couple of thoughts to completely avoid the convenience fees via FREE concerts.
I attended the free outdoor concert at Artpark in Lewiston, NY on July 18, 2007.
Charlie Louvin opened for Lucinda. Just a great evening sitting on the lawn.
Carrie Rodriquez appeared at the free outdoor concert series in Ridgway, Colorado on July 23, 2009
In both cases local companies sponsored the shows ( Banks, breweries, etc.)
NYC Summerstage in Central Park also offers free concerts from time to time. (I believe Lu performed there back in the late 1990's.
My question is: Do the performers receive adequate fees to put on these shows?
I'm not looking for a free concert to see Lu-Just wondering how all this works.
lwj

[TOverby]

Yes, the performer gets the same guarantee for the free shows as any other. The difference is that everything is covered by the sponsoring party --the bank, brewery or park and rec board, instead of ticket revenue. Usually these are great shows to play because 1) you are pretty much guaranteed a big audience and 2) the promoter is more relaxed because he has no risk--his percentage is also guaranteed up front so he does not have to worry about ticket sales to make his money back.

[LWjetta]

Yes, the performer gets the same guarantee for the free shows as any other.

Interesting. Thanks for your insight TO.
Just to let everyone know, a slew of free concerts will be held during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Kicking off their cross-Canada tour will be Wilco performing during the games on February 13th.
Here is a link.
http://vancouverscene.wordpress.com/201 ... ntersleep/
I managed to purchase a ticket for Wilco February 23rd appearing in Hamilton, Ontario ( near where I live ) for $42.50 plus a whopping $11.50 fee compliments of Live Nation.
Most of their concerts following Canada are sold out now.
Sorry, Tnt if you are a Wilco fan. They are playing at the historic Fox Theatre ( sold out ) in Atlanta on March 26th. ( what a magnificent venue.)
Again, TO thanks for your excellent participation in Lu's forum.
lwj

[bob]

I do still want to start a fan club or some function that allows for pre-sale tickets to get into the hands of the core fans first.

The Grateful Dead had some sort of system for ordering tickets through their own organization. 'GDToo'?
I think it was mail order, you sent in a request via snail mail, and hope you got lucky. They would just tear up the checks or something (I can't remember why I can't remember)
It started when they wanted to play the smaller venues, but were too popular , and wanted their fans to get first crack at limited tickets. Somewhere around 1976? when they were sick of hauling around the 'Wall of Sound"

not sure how much of a PITA it is though...

[Lafayette]

DYLAN!

[tntracy]

Unbelieveable.

Tom

[tonyg]

I wonder if artists know how much it sucks dealing with these ticket sellers and that some people would rather stay home than deal with this?

[tntracy]

No doubt. I could imagine how disappointed I would be if, after buying good seats to a show I was dying to see, I found out I had been sold duplicate tickets & ultimately lost out on any seats at all because the show was sold out by the time I was notified.

Disappointed - and PISSED OFF!

Tom

[tonyg]

That's a very pissed off look!