What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where acts utilize paperless ticketing to benefit their fans, to make sure those who really care can get inside the building at a fair price, and these same fans think they’re getting screwed and want the right to a paper ticket?

StubHub has been e-mailing its patrons all day the following message:

Dear _____,

As you read this, companies like Ticketmaster are working to implement a restrictive paperless ticketing system that could deprive you of your essential rights as a fan.

With restrictive paperless ticketing, you pay for your ticket – but you don’t own it. The transfer of your ticket is controlled by the company you bought it from.

This means you may not be able to give your extra tickets to a friend, sell them to another fan, or even donate them to a charity. This could also mean the end of competition in the ticketing market, making it so companies like Ticketmaster could charge whatever fees they wanted and you’d have no alternative but to pay.

Fortunately, we can fight this. The Fan Freedom Project was created to give fans like you a platform to voice your outrage toward restrictive paperless ticketing, and to learn what measures you can take to protect your rights.

We’ve signed on to support the cause. And we hope you’ll lend your voice to the fight today by registering at www.fanfreedom.org.

Sincerely,

The StubHub Team

This is so fucked up I almost don’t know where to begin.

No one trusts Ticketmaster, so it can’t take its own ads.  It’s like Mubarak protesting he’s changed.  But it’s not about Ticketmaster changing, it’s about Ticketmaster doing what the acts say.

Ticketmaster is not a rogue company out to screw the fans.  Sure, we can argue all day long about their fees, and I’ve got no problem with competition, but so many of those fees have got nothing to do with Ticketmaster whatsoever.  They’re instituted by the promoter or the building in the name of profit, because the acts’ deals are so heinous.  It’s a subterfuge to gain profit, these fees, which Ticketmaster gladly takes the blame for.

So can we put to rest the fiction that the problem is TICKETMASTER???!!

So let’s start with the acts.

They want the fees so it makes them look good.  Look, I charge almost nothing!  You’re paying double face value because of big bad Ticketmaster! The real story is the promoter can’t make a profit at face value, he’d go out of business, but the act would rather you blame the businessman than the "artist".

And then there are acts that scalp their own tickets and/or get kickbacks themselves from Ticketmaster fees.

And Ticketmaster only puts on sale what the act and promoter tell them to.  Ticketmaster doesn’t hold back seats, the act and promoter do!

And then the buildings, so often cutting themselves in with "facility fees", hold back seats too, some to resell, others for season ticket holders, and this is seemingly impossible to stop and the end result of all the above?  YOU CAN’T GET A GOOD TICKET!

So you go to the scalper and overpay to get inside the building.

But what if the act was on your side?

That’s what paperless is all about.  Making sure you get a seat, and making sure that the act gets all the profit.  You do want the act to get the profit, right?  Or would you really rather it go to StubHub or the broker?

So if we go to paperless, resellers are fucked.  So like a coal company lobbying to blow up mountaintops so that you can get power, StubHub is telling you to eliminate paperless for your own good.  Huh?

You see if we start conserving, if we go to alternative energy sources, the coal and oil companies are screwed.  So, like the tobacco companies they tell you there’s no problem with their behavior, it’s actually good for you!  Huh?

The car companies eliminated the trolleys in Los Angeles for their own damn profit.  This isn’t a theory, it’s documented.  But if the Red Cars still existed, I’d be able to get downtown faster than driving, even if it was still the original hundred year old system!

This e-mail is all about StubHub’s self-interest, not yours.

Do you think Goldman Sachs is on your side?

I have never ever resold a ticket in my life.  Not only because I’m not an asshole looking to profit on the back of the act, BUT BECAUSE I WANT TO GO TO THE SHOW!

That’s why you’re buying a ticket, right?  Because you’re a fan and want to be inside the building!

If you’re buying to resell…  You’ll ultimately get screwed, like day traders, you can’t compete with the professionals.

And you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.

In my life have I been unable to go to a show?  Sure, fewer than five times.  AND I GAVE MY TICKETS AWAY!

Maybe because tickets didn’t used to cost an arm and a leg.  But truly, having unused tickets was not such a problem.

The freedom of paper tickets?  THAT’S THE FREEDOM TO BE SCREWED BY RESELLERS!

So who’s left out?

The rich…  Who want to overpay to be at the event of the season and are not real fans.

And people who are casual fans.

Come on.  You’ll wait all night to get inside the building and now you’re complaining that you can’t resell your paper tickets, which ultimately leaves you completely out of the building or overpaying to get inside?

Paperless ticketing is the best thing to happen to fans in eons.

And if you don’t know this, you’re ignorant.