Bob…

Just for your own FYI…

I’m not ‘Live Nation’, nor do I promote concerts for the like(s) of ‘Radiohead’…but I’m a small mom n pop promoter that does have a contract with Ticketmaster.

In the negotiations of the contract, I was not only able to place a maximum charge for fees, but the max amount is tied to a pct of the net price. It’s never more than $6.00, usually $4.00 to $4.50.

In the negotiations of the contract, I also made arrangements to allow 3 other local mom n pop retail stores (music shops) to sell the same ticket. It’s never more than $2.00 there.

Now, if my local Ticketmaster office made those concessions to get my business, I’m sure the really big players are even more capable of setting up similar structures, limiting fees, etc.

Point being, Ticketmaster isn’t the only culprit of so called excessive fees and pricing. The promoter and the artist take equal blame if they don’t make pre-contractual arrangements to ensure their shows don’t have excessive ticketing fees.

I suspect a big part of the ‘problem’ is that the promoters are receiving a large % of those fees, one of the main reasons they are excessive.

but what do I know… (lol)

Please withold my name in e-mail

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Bob:

Radiohead gets their contract guarantee, plus percentage for these dates. But it is the promoter who is the one who deals with Ticketmaster, not the venue. Even if the venue has a contract with Ticketmaster. The ticketing fee is based on the promoter’s contract, and that is why the fee is so high.

We (the promoter) get what is termed a rebate from Ticketmaster.

Live Nation, AEG and all the major independent promoters get a rebate of $1.50 to $4.50 per ticket from Ticketmaster. So this rebate is built into the Ticketmaster fee.

This has been an unspoken profit center for decades.

Sent this e mail from my _____ account so I am not violating my employee contract. But twenty odd years ago when I started in this business I did it for the music, not to rip off teens wanting to go to a show. Dating my self, but my first concert was Black Sabbath at MSG, sat on the floor and tixs where $3.10 including tax and fees.

If I was not in the business and my son and friends went to as many shows as they currently do, he would not have a college fund, a car, or a new laptop every 18 months, and I would not have a house in ______.

Radiohead in the Amphitheaters is greed on the part of the promoters, when you realize there is no rent, and they control the concessions and get the merch percentage.

What is a fan to do, I just wish my stock was above $25 a share and not half that.

Have a great day.

Still a fan inside

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Hi Bob,

How are you.. hey I just wanted to quickly respond with some facts. Please don’t use my name if you publish this.

Billy Zimmer said:

"Can they evade the dreaded captcha codes? I’d really love to know.

Anyway – how did these people have tickets already in hand and ready to sell – already POSTED on ebay – within ten minutes of the first public presale?

That’s the $64,000 question so far as I’m concerned. Because there’s no way that Silva is selling back channel to ticket brokers.

And, I know that the Bowl couldn’t and wouldn’t do that.

And, I doubt those tickets would be coming from the band or management or WMA to the brokers.

So – do the brokers just have a way to game the Ticketmaster system? Like an esnipe equivalent for buying tickets on TM?"

My response…

Hi Bill,

As much as we would like to single out and blame TicketMaster…it is time for us all to wake up!

TicketMaster does not sell all seats at any venue.

I also don’t work for TicketMaster, but know how this works.

Your Promoter for the shows in your area, The Band, Their Management, etc., are All profiting from the third party ticket sales and certainly do have a hand in farming tickets out to those agencies and other means of selling tickets.

Some Promoters and Bands, even have their own scalpers out front at the shows!

And many bands do sell every other row or seat (of their alloted tickets) out to an agency to sell for profit too.

And some of the E-bay sales you spoke about…that’s not accidental either! (I’m not talking about the joe up the street that is selling his four tickets on line now mate…I’m talking about a business here.)

Back door/back channel ticket selling to ticket brokers, etc. has been going on forever .

Why? To make a profit all around!

Why do you think the shows are sold out in 2 minutes on Ticketmaster?!

Because the majority of tickets have been set aside to sell to other ticket brokers for a higher price to the general public!

Why? Profit all around.

And you think that the band, their management, the promoter do not profit from these third party sales too?

They do!

You think they don’t know about it? (And the other people you listed dont know about this?)

They certainly do!

They do knowingly profit from the third party ticket sales and other means of ticket selling.
And those tacked on fees are there for a reason too.

IT’s all a huge racket now and has been for many years.
But we all run and point at TicketMaster to blame.

Just don’t blame them anymore, now that you know that your favorite band and promoter is also involved in the profits.