As go the Eagles, so goes the business.<\/p>\n
The Eagles charged sky high ticket prices for an in-demand event, their first reunion tour, after hell unfroze.<\/p>\n
Other acts followed suit.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, many without the status and cachet of the Eagles.<\/p>\n
The Eagles sold fan club memberships with the right to buy good seats.<\/p>\n
Every superstar act seems to still be doing this, other than those managed by Irving.<\/p>\n
Because Irving realized this created fan unhappiness, and therefore he invented the premium ticket.\u00c2\u00a0 A lot of bucks for a great seat, a laminate and access.\u00c2\u00a0 You might think these are a rip-off, but the people who buy them LOVE THEM!\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than dealing with a broker or a shady reseller, they’re going straight to the act and getting more and paying less.<\/p>\n
Now Irving is removing Ticketmaster fees from Eagles dates…\u00c2\u00a0 Trickle down might not work in the economy at large, but it certainly does in the music business.\u00c2\u00a0 What the stars do first, the mid-level acts, the wannabes, do next.<\/p>\n
The problem with ticket fees is as much the unknown as the final price.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re thinking of going to the show and you have no idea what it’s going to cost you.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like going to buy a car and finding out there’s a 15 to 100% premium, after you think you’ve made a deal.\u00c2\u00a0 You definitely want the car.\u00c2\u00a0 But you feel raped, and your anger does not inure you to the dealership, you tell everybody you know not to go there.\u00c2\u00a0 You storm out of the showroom.\u00c2\u00a0 You buy the car somewhere else at close to the same price, but you dread ever buying an automobile again.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why many people buy cars online today.\u00c2\u00a0 My nephew is a Lexus salesman.\u00c2\u00a0 He rarely gets any dumb customers.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody does research.\u00c2\u00a0 They know comparable prices before they get to him.<\/p>\n
The fan knows he’s being screwed.\u00c2\u00a0 But nobody in this business seems to care about this.<\/p>\n
Michael Rapino says he does, but his ticketing operation hasn’t gone live yet.\u00c2\u00a0 And we don’t know if it will work.\u00c2\u00a0 And if all the tickets he sells will be sans fee or not.<\/p>\n
Irving just stole Rapino’s thunder.<\/p>\n
I don’t give a shit if there’s a kickback to the act, the promoter or the star’s girlfriend.\u00c2\u00a0 Just give me a final price.\u00c2\u00a0 When I buy a candy bar, I don’t have to pay a kickback to the cocoa grower, and the retailer’s profit is built in.<\/p>\n
You might claim that so many industries have add-on fees today.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll ask you to find someone who likes ANY airline.\u00c2\u00a0 But you’re forced to make a choice or stay home. An act has to entice its audience, has to treat it nicely.\u00c2\u00a0 The heat doesn’t last forever.<\/p>\n
The labels are at war with their customers.\u00c2\u00a0 Promoters and acts blame it all on Ticketmaster and the fan gets fucked.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a reasonable business model?<\/p>\n
Don’t underestimate Irving.\u00c2\u00a0 What he’s built with Front Line and now Ticketmaster Entertainment is leverage.\u00c2\u00a0 He now does it HIS way.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn’t have to worry about the label, only the act.\u00c2\u00a0 He can effect change.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s his world and the rest of us just live in it.<\/p>\n
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