Monday, January 5, 2009
Arts STG Dumps Ticketmaster
Posted by Brendan Kiley on Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 9:42 AM
... and is now using Tickets.com. Messages have been left asking why, why now, whether this has anything to do with Live Nation's battle with Ticketmaster, etc.
But for now, let's bask in the end to Ticketmaster's gouging at the Paramount and the Moore.
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1
YES! Fuck Ticketmaster.
The Minus the Bear show at the Showbox on Friday - the benefit for John Spalding? $20 per ticket plus $8.10 booking fee each, not including the other fees - convenience/ticket printing fees etc.
Fuck Ticketmaster.
The Minus the Bear show at the Showbox on Friday - the benefit for John Spalding? $20 per ticket plus $8.10 booking fee each, not including the other fees - convenience/ticket printing fees etc.
Fuck Ticketmaster.
4
Thank you god. Ticketmaster is fucking evil.
I learned this valuable lesson at Freak Night this year, when people who paid the extra $15 for ticketmaster got to receive their will call tickets from the large stadium ticket counter, while discount ticket holders from 5 websites had to all wait in the same 2 hour line in front of a small makeshift shack.
(This is also partially why I will never go to Freak Night again.)
I learned this valuable lesson at Freak Night this year, when people who paid the extra $15 for ticketmaster got to receive their will call tickets from the large stadium ticket counter, while discount ticket holders from 5 websites had to all wait in the same 2 hour line in front of a small makeshift shack.
(This is also partially why I will never go to Freak Night again.)
5
All rejoice! The mighty Satan has been rebuked! They've been raping the concert-goer for decades. Ticketmaster's 20-30% "convenience" charges and other fees have proven only to 'conveniently' line the pockets of the corporation and have not done ONE THING for the artist or the fans. I only hope that other venues follow this lead.
6
@3 - fair point, tickets.com probably isn't much better. I just looked and tickets to Slipknot in Tulsa OK were $37.50 with a 50% convenience fee and some other $3 fee on top of that. I've just had such hatred of TicketBastard's monopoly so this makes me smile. I'll be strolling down to the Showbox after work for those Minus tickets.
7
The Seattle Times reporting on this yesterday. The article was accompanied by an embarassingly terrible photograph of an obscured Moore Theater marquee. I know times are tough at the Times, but who the hell is taking their photos now, third graders?
8
As a TM wage slave, I wrote the following parody of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" while on the clock many, many moons ago...
"Wanna see the play?
Basketball today?
Just call us at Ticketmaster.
Our monopoly,
What you want to see
Everybody thinks we're bastards.
Money's all we need
Help us feed our greed
You're the ones we'll screw
Now we've got you too...
Come calling faster
Your cash burns faster
Seats in the rafters
We're Ticketmaster
Master
Master of tickets is taking your green
Convenience charges and handling fees
Yes these are the best available seats
Just call our lines you'll be holding for weeks.
Master, Master.
Just call our lines you'll be holding for weeks.
Master, Master....."
I also did one to the tune of Motorhead's "We are the Road Crew" entitled "We are the Phone Room", but I can't quite dredge that one up out of the mental files at the moment....
"Wanna see the play?
Basketball today?
Just call us at Ticketmaster.
Our monopoly,
What you want to see
Everybody thinks we're bastards.
Money's all we need
Help us feed our greed
You're the ones we'll screw
Now we've got you too...
Come calling faster
Your cash burns faster
Seats in the rafters
We're Ticketmaster
Master
Master of tickets is taking your green
Convenience charges and handling fees
Yes these are the best available seats
Just call our lines you'll be holding for weeks.
Master, Master.
Just call our lines you'll be holding for weeks.
Master, Master....."
I also did one to the tune of Motorhead's "We are the Road Crew" entitled "We are the Phone Room", but I can't quite dredge that one up out of the mental files at the moment....
9
Oh yeah, I forgot the middle eight...
"Master, Master
Where's the seats that I was after?
Master, Master
Second balcony side.
Master, Master
Now my seats are in the rafters
Master, Master
The ticket agent lied...."
"Master, Master
Where's the seats that I was after?
Master, Master
Second balcony side.
Master, Master
Now my seats are in the rafters
Master, Master
The ticket agent lied...."
10
They coldn't have done this 3 weeks ago, before I payed 12 bucks in service charges per ticket to Mos Def?
11
When did it become acceptable anywhere to charge a 30% "convenience fee" for tickets that I purchased online and printed at home? I hate TM so fucking much, but other ticket places realized that their business model works and seem to have been taking a cue.
12
People, Tickets.com is not a nonprofit. And although STG is a nonprofit, they get a pecuniary benefit from ticketing fees (regardless of the ticketing system). For example, STG adds a restoration fee to each ticket. So, while complaints about fees amounting to an appreciable percentage of the base ticket price are justifiable, such fees are not the exculsive domain of Ticketmaster. Note also that LN's claim here is fee transparency, not fee eradication--fees that LN does not have to share anymore.
And the face of the "battle" between LN and TM changed dramatically before year's end, although the linked article is silent on the point. Irving Azoff, one of, if not the, most powerful managers in music is now aligned with TM. Azoff's (Frontline's) roster includes a massive portion of the small group of artists that can fill arenas and amphitheaters. And who programs and/or owns nearly all of the amphitheaters? A: Live Nation. So, Irving, through his TM affiliation, gained significant leverage. LN needs Irving's acts in LN venues, and Irving now has a horse in the ticketing race (or, more accurately, the horse has Irving's roster). Take a guess which way the money flows in that equation.
And the face of the "battle" between LN and TM changed dramatically before year's end, although the linked article is silent on the point. Irving Azoff, one of, if not the, most powerful managers in music is now aligned with TM. Azoff's (Frontline's) roster includes a massive portion of the small group of artists that can fill arenas and amphitheaters. And who programs and/or owns nearly all of the amphitheaters? A: Live Nation. So, Irving, through his TM affiliation, gained significant leverage. LN needs Irving's acts in LN venues, and Irving now has a horse in the ticketing race (or, more accurately, the horse has Irving's roster). Take a guess which way the money flows in that equation.
14
I wish the big places went with Brown Paper Tickets. Their charges are the most reasonable I have ever come across.
15
Is there any reason why, in the age of the internet, venues can't sell their own tickets or is there something special about selling tickets that makes it impossible for them to do it themselves?
18
@15: Impossible, no. Cost-prohibitive, yes. And I mean "cost" in terms of:
- dollars: it costs a lot of money to create a ticketing system from scratch;
- consumer displeasure: professional ticketing systems have functions that can protect the ticket buyer. For example, if a ticket buyer loses their ticket, the venue or ticket rep can reissue that ticket to the rightful owner and cancel the lost ticket so that two people don't show up and claim the same seat; the original lost/stolen ticket will be refused entry when it is scanned;
- artist distrust: professional ticketing systems track money and produce audits in a way that artist reps find valuable when the artists are paid;
- promoter/venue convenience: professional ticketing systems also allow the promoter to "build" shows--tiered pricing, reserved seating, promotional tickets, etc.--and manage ticket inventory in relatively sophisticated ways.
- dollars: it costs a lot of money to create a ticketing system from scratch;
- consumer displeasure: professional ticketing systems have functions that can protect the ticket buyer. For example, if a ticket buyer loses their ticket, the venue or ticket rep can reissue that ticket to the rightful owner and cancel the lost ticket so that two people don't show up and claim the same seat; the original lost/stolen ticket will be refused entry when it is scanned;
- artist distrust: professional ticketing systems track money and produce audits in a way that artist reps find valuable when the artists are paid;
- promoter/venue convenience: professional ticketing systems also allow the promoter to "build" shows--tiered pricing, reserved seating, promotional tickets, etc.--and manage ticket inventory in relatively sophisticated ways.
19
Brown paper tix is fine for clubs, but they just can't handle a large client with constantly changing seating options, not to mention season ticketing.....and that's just a start! Brown paper is great - but since you don't know about ticketing, you don't know what a venue needs and the bottom line is that they can't provide what a large venue like the Paramount, 5th, Key, etc needs.....
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