I don’t buy my tickets.<\/p>\n
But neither do you.<\/p>\n
I don’t pay convenience\/facility fees, and if I’m lucky, I don’t even pay to park.<\/p>\n
Actually, my problem is too many people want me to go to too many gigs.<\/p>\n
But that’s not the way it is with the hoi polloi.\u00c2\u00a0 The hoi polloi want tickets, and they’re willing to pay whatever it takes, if they want to go badly enough.<\/p>\n
Yup, that’s today’s concert business.\u00c2\u00a0 Heavy desire, or no desire.\u00c2\u00a0 With very little territory in between.<\/p>\n
So I was in Burbank, doing my podcast with Celine, and she very excitedly told me she’d gotten tickets to see Keith Urban and the Wreckers at Staples in the fifth row, FOR FACE VALUE!<\/p>\n
But then she appended that this was the only time TicketMaster came through for her.\u00c2\u00a0 That usually, she just goes to StubHub.<\/p>\n
And then, like any American consumer, Celine went on to ticketmaster.com to revel in her good fortune, to see how bad the remaining tickets available for the gig were.<\/p>\n
So she plugs "Keith Urban" into the search window.<\/p>\n
And then clicks on "Keith Urban" on the page that comes up.<\/p>\n
And then clicks on "Keith Urban" next to "STAPLES Center" on the next page.<\/p>\n
Then dials in "2" seats and clicks "Look For Tickets".<\/p>\n
And then she has to enter a code.<\/p>\n
"WHAT’S THIS FOR?"<\/p>\n
I try to explain to Celine that this is to combat the bots.<\/p>\n
"The bots?"<\/p>\n
The Net robots.<\/p>\n
Then, after entering the code, she gets the Searching window, which seems to go on too long for something as simple as best available seats.<\/p>\n
And the seats that come up…<\/p>\n
Well, who knows where the fuck they are.\u00c2\u00a0 I try not to go to Staples Center.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s seemingly TWICE the size of the Forum.\u00c2\u00a0 Who knows the section numbers?<\/p>\n
But Celine clicks "seating chart", in small lettering under the available tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 And a window pops up, and confirms that Celine has much better ducats than are presently available.<\/p>\n
But then, moving the mouse, Celine rolls over "Convenience Charge", and says THIS really BUGS HER!<\/p>\n
Okay, the convenience charge is $11.25.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s convenient for WHO?<\/p>\n
I mean if you’re going to pick me up and take me to the show, that’s pretty convenient.\u00c2\u00a0 Or, if I can print them myself…<\/p>\n
But no, that’s an ADDITIONAL $2.50.<\/p>\n
I feel like I’m being ripped off…<\/p>\n
But then Celine fires up StubHub.\u00c2\u00a0 Plugs "Keith Urban" into the search window.\u00c2\u00a0 And almost INSTANTLY, a series of dates comes up.<\/p>\n
And the dates are IN ORDER!\u00c2\u00a0 And there’s only one place to click, on "Keith Urban Tickets".\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas with TicketMaster you can click on the venue by mistake.\u00c2\u00a0 Why would I want to click on the venue if I can click on "Keith Urban"?\u00c2\u00a0 Why confuse me?\u00c2\u00a0 And why is there ANOTHER clickable item "Find Tickets"?\u00c2\u00a0 Which of the three should I click on, which is best, which takes me WHERE I WANT TO GO!<\/p>\n
Now sometimes one has to wait for the ultimate results on StubHub.\u00c2\u00a0 Like right now, replicating the process.\u00c2\u00a0 But earlier, it was much faster.\u00c2\u00a0 So, maybe TicketMaster’s "Searching" page isn’t that bad…<\/p>\n
But the results!\u00c2\u00a0 Right there on the StubHub results page are not only the tickets available, but a MAP OF THE VENUE!<\/p>\n
Now rather than worry about the best seats available, rather than feel fucked in the ass like with TicketMaster, believing that I’ve got no chance against the fat cats and insiders, in the StubHub results window I can click on "Section", and some of the best seats in the house appear (meanwhile, when clicking to change the order of the results I get a searching message…mmm…why not one earlier?\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, there’s no code entry necessary, to defeat the bots…)<\/p>\n
Well, I can sit in Row 23 on the floor for $137.\u00c2\u00a0 Now I’m excited about going!\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly I feel powerful!<\/p>\n
So, I click through and buy the ticket.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve got to pay a FedEx fee, but shit, I’ve got to GET the tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 As for StubHub’s 10%, god, they’re providing a service.\u00c2\u00a0 If only the convenience fee for every TicketMaster transaction were labeled profit, and it was the same in each case.<\/p>\n
In other words, STUBHUB IS A BETTER EXPERIENCE!<\/p>\n
Oh, hands down.<\/p>\n
TicketMaster is the enemy, StubHub is your FRIEND!<\/p>\n
StubHub’s Website is easier to use.\u00c2\u00a0 It looks better and is more user-friendly.<\/p>\n
HOW DID TICKETMASTER FUCK THIS ONE UP?<\/p>\n
Very easily.\u00c2\u00a0 You see StubHub was created by youngsters with no constraints, trying to deliver what the public wanted.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got the tech imperative, we build it, you pay for it, we’re all happy.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas TicketMaster somehow seems SHADY!<\/p>\n
Oh, but TicketMaster provides auctions!<\/p>\n
But where are they on the homepage?<\/p>\n
And when you try to buy tickets for Jimmy Buffett at MinuteMaid Park and find out you CAN’T, because it’s a PRE-SALE, and you don’t have the proper PASSWORD, how are you gonna FEEL?<\/p>\n
Angry at TicketMaster, the SYSTEM!\u00c2\u00a0 And probably mad at Jimmy Buffett too.<\/p>\n
Boy has the music industry fucked THIS ONE up.<\/p>\n
Fuck the fan clubs, the pre-sales, all you’re doing is sending buyers to the secondary market, where they can figure out what they want, easily, AND GET IT!\u00c2\u00a0 The money is almost secondary to the SATISFACTION!\u00c2\u00a0 How many gigs does the average person go to ANYWAY?<\/p>\n
Yes, ticketmaster.com is only one step away from lining up outside the record store with a number, waiting to buy Springsteen tickets decades back.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to be early, you’re a victim of the vagaries of the system.\u00c2\u00a0 Where with StubHub, you’ve got a FIGHTING CHANCE!<\/p>\n
If the public determines ticket prices, then they won’t be considered to be TOO HIGH!<\/p>\n
But then you’ve got to auction ALL the seats.\u00c2\u00a0 So people don’t have to make an assignation with TicketMaster, to TRY and get good seats.\u00c2\u00a0 God, you can TiVo a television program, but you’ve got to buy concert tickets at a SPECIFIC TIME?<\/p>\n
But acts spew some bullshit about fans, about treating them right.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, it’s JUST these fans who’ll pay almost ANYTHING to get inside the building!\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t want to pay a fan club fee and not know where they’re gonna sit, they want to pay what it takes for a GOOD SEAT!<\/p>\n
TicketMaster and the managers and agents are up in arms over the secondary market.\u00c2\u00a0 All that money going to third parties.<\/p>\n
Well, they could COLLECT that money if only they threw out the rule book and gave the people what they wanted.<\/p>\n
But that would be like getting the labels to monetize P2P.\u00c2\u00a0 No, they’d rather leave all that money on the table.\u00c2\u00a0 Since they can’t figure out a way to fix their own byzantine systems that were created years back in an era completely different from the one now.<\/p>\n
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I don’t buy my tickets. But neither do you. I don’t pay convenience\/facility fees, and if I’m lucky, I don’t even pay to park. Actually, my problem is too many people want me to go to too many gigs. But that’s not the way it is with the hoi polloi.\u00c2\u00a0 The hoi polloi want tickets, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,2,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows","category-music-business","category-online"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-bs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}