what will happen next ! even more dates .. now they've added the fanclub seating but who can afford more tickets. Its taken weeks to get reasonable tickets. Why were'nt the fanclub tickets offered at the begining who F**KD up !!!!
Well at least prince is making money from this , lord knows he needs it ... at this rate he will manage to P Off all his fan base and will need some money to retire on.

SCNDLS said:

You're right. I bought tickets to one of the Musicology concerts days before the show and was able to snag floor seats...and the concert was supposedly sold out.

what will happen next ! even more dates .. now they've added the fanclub seating but who can afford more tickets. Its taken weeks to get reasonable tickets. Why were'nt the fanclub tickets offered at the begining who F**KD up !!!!
Well at least prince is making money from this , lord knows he needs it ... at this rate he will manage to P Off all his fan base and will need some money to retire on.

raverbabe4u said:

YES - the fans are being screwed. This may be my last Prince concert.

raverbabe4u said:

YES - the fans are being screwed. This may be my last Prince concert.

lazymagic said:

Boy I tell ya, all you guys have to do is buy a ticket and show up. Must be pretty friggin difficult, physically as well as mentally. Image the time and effort he has put into attempting to give his best to you. Two words come to mind...petty and ungrateful.

Hurry home Prince, I've got two open arms and my funky tamborine.

FunkshaII said:

Prince stands to make in excess of £10 million from these concerts - largely due to the loyalty of fans. There is no need to be rude when the same fans are expressing disappointment at a very badly planned ticket sale.

listen i am not being grateful of anything and i have been a massive for of his for 20 yrs or more so i know the score when it comes to concerts etc but i have to say this is the dearest one add up the prices of every ticket and travel .hotel etc and this aint no cheap concert ....the true fans have been treated like crap ...all i can say is i cant wait to get in there coz i think there are gonna b quite a few empty seats and most prob the ones on the floor the best blocks will be filled with suits...i feel prince is turning more like a true buissness man everyday and not the brilliant muscian,performer he is and always will be ....if your reading this p i think ud better get your house into order and sort this mess out!!!!!

lazymagic said:

how do you come to those figures? if every ticket was sold for every show, it would be about £15m gross, out of which 17.5% is vat. then there are fee's for the hire of the building, staff, management, advertising and promotion and everything else. the agent alone will likely get about 20% of the gross

usually a promotor will pay a fee to the artist, and take care of all the money coming in, and all the costs required. prince won't get anything like £10m, and out of his cut he still needs to pay the band

lazymagic said:

how do you come to those figures? if every ticket was sold for every show, it would be about £15m gross, out of which 17.5% is vat. then there are fee's for the hire of the building, staff, management, advertising and promotion and everything else. the agent alone will likely get about 20% of the gross

usually a promotor will pay a fee to the artist, and take care of all the money coming in, and all the costs required. prince won't get anything like £10m, and out of his cut he still needs to pay the band

raverbabe4u said:

Remember that line from Purple Rain the movie? This a business, and I know you ain't too far gone to see that. (or something like that)

You truly think Prince is deliberately trying to screw you guys? This is a business. The business of music. The people screwing you is not Prince...you, me, every music fan in the world and all the artists have been getting screwed by record companies. The game is changing tho, so go with the flow. We're in a transition period, and if you guys are truly loyal fans give him your support instead of crying all the time like babies.

Hell I went to Vegas, air fare, hotel and everything else...did not see one aftershow cuz there were no aftershows early on. But I knew what I was paying for and what I was getting.

He done already told you how much he loves his guitar. The show will be well worth the minor glitches you guys have had to endure, I'm sure. The NPGMC deal is an attempt to reach out to his loyal fans, sometimes things don't work out according to everybody's schedule, it's the nature of the beast.

You guys say you are fans? Really?

FunkshaII said:

Business and Ethics are not mutually exclusive!

If you feel strongly about this why not go here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cons...ndex.shtml

m3taverse said:

It is Ticketmaster that does this. I've been posting this since tix first went on sale. They do this with all their concerts in the US. The seats always get better and better closer to the event date. However, auctioning FLOOR tickets at high amounts THEN selling comparable seats to club members for 31 pounds doesn't seem right to me. If I swap the tix out, are they going to refund me back the difference I paid for essentially the same seat at auction. Somehow, I doubt it. Plus I STILL haven't received the passcode for the cheaper, better seats.
[Edited 7/20/07 12:49pm]

Thank you for your email. I hope I can help you with your problem with some
information I have received. With ticket sales all tickets are controlled by the
promoters of each act. In this case it is Princes' promoter. What has happened
here is when the tickets went on sale and the promoter released a certain amount
of tickets. In this case which is not uncommon, the promoter released tickets
closer to the event for one reason or another. So up until the promoter released
extra tickets the event according to Ticketmaster was sold out. It is only now
after the release that better tickets have become available. With all ticket
sales it is the promoter who owns the tickets so they have the power to sell and
release tickets as they see fit.

lazymagic said:

Why would I go there, I don't even live in europe plus the fact, I'm not the one complaining and whining.

Speaking of Ethics, what other artist has given his fans more than Prince? Tell me one? He's been releasing music for 30 straight years. You guys are spoiled that's what it is. Spoiled by the one artist who truly makes an effort to give his fans what they want...MUSIC and LYRICS. An expression of himself through music. And some of you don't even appreciate that. First you say it's too funky, then it's too pop, too sweet, too spiritual, not enough sex...just ain't never SATISFIED!

unique said:

You're forgetting about merchandise - this normally makes up a massive %age of income from live shows.

And Prince can negotiate the best deals in the industry. No agent is getting 20% out of Prince in 2007. (Or perhaps he's getting an upfront fee for each gig - this seems likely to me).

Then there's the aftershows.

And there's possible TV rights around the world, maybe a DVD etc.

FunkshaII said:

Your response isn't 'speaking of ethics'. You are just saying we should all let AEG use unscrupulous business practice because Prince is 'expressing himself through music'. I have been a huge Prince fan for many years, but that doesn't stop me (and hundreds of other people) feel disappointed that we are being exploited.


Peace!

With regard to professions, a code of professional standards, containing aspects of fairness and duty to the profession and the general public

http://www.google.com/sea...n&ct=title



Let me see...yall got FREE full length cd's, a boat ride, aftersets, special member seating (albeit late in the game), wtf more you need? Duty and fairness beyond what some other artists in the business are doing, no?

Maybe could you back up your def of ethics, since I seem to have misconstruded it.

Granted it was poorly planned but the overall tone of the gesture from Prince's point of view is different from your point of view, obviously...and all yall complaining and whining about to screw it up for the rest of us members!!! If you don't want the friggin club member tickets, just..you know...

Prince...listen, if you're reading this, I would like to participate in the upcoming NPGMC member specials. You have my user name, permission to contact me via email and/or cell phone, and my address. Contact me at anytime regarding concerts/specials/or anything Princey, and please, do not be discouraged by this demonstration of pettiocity, ok?

p.s. come home soon...

Poorly planned, my ass!

Prince and AEG have deliberately staggered ticket sales in such a way as to create artificial scarcity, all the while communicating to fans and press that the shows were sold out.
Here is a rough overview of what happened.

* Priority seating scheme for O2 subscribers. Fans are emailed by 3121.com to get their ass in gear and buy a mobile phone so they can get early access to awesome seats. Later these seats turn out to be upper tier only.

* Normal ticket sales start. There is a regular and a VIP package. Within 24 hours TM lists most shows as sold out, leaving only the VIP package available.
3121.com has news of the shows selling out, and offers links to remaining VIP packages.


* Extra shows are scheduled in. Again these "sell out" within 24 hours, leaving only the VIP package. 3121.com has news of the extra shows, of how they sold out, and how there are still VIP packages available.

* An auction is organized, to give everyone a fair chance of getting the final remaining good seats. Every single person that I know that bid on a seat, won it, somehow.

* Good news! The O2 has finished construction and they bent space/time somehow to create a large amount of additional floor seats that were never available before, even tho these blocks of seats were on all seating charts from the very beginning. Get them while they last! Interestingly, these seats are better than what many fans had been able to purchase up to that point.

* Fans are called upon to purchase remaining seats in a special former-npgmc package. As it turns out, anyone and everyone can fill out the "former-npgmc" form. When you do, you will get an email giving you a code that will let you buy these special seats.

Throughout this process TM continually releases seating blocks that are better than the seats that were available before. The release of these blocks are timed to coincide with planned press exposure for Prince.

Poorly planned, my ass!

Prince and AEG have deliberately staggered ticket sales in such a way as to create artificial scarcity, all the while communicating to fans and press that the shows were sold out.
Here is a rough overview of what happened.

* Priority seating scheme for O2 subscribers. Fans are emailed by 3121.com to get their ass in gear and buy a mobile phone so they can get early access to awesome seats. Later these seats turn out to be upper tier only.

* Normal ticket sales start. There is a regular and a VIP package. Within 24 hours TM lists most shows as sold out, leaving only the VIP package available.
3121.com has news of the shows selling out, and offers links to remaining VIP packages.

* Extra shows are scheduled in. Again these "sell out" within 24 hours, leaving only the VIP package. 3121.com has news of the extra shows, of how they sold out, and how there are still VIP packages available.

* An auction is organized, to give everyone a fair chance of getting the final remaining good seats. Every single person that I know that bid on a seat, won it, somehow.

* Good news! The O2 has finished construction and they bent space/time somehow to create a large amount of additional floor seats that were never available before, even tho these blocks of seats were on all seating charts from the very beginning. Get them while they last! Interestingly, these seats are better than what many fans had been able to purchase up to that point.

* Fans are called upon to purchase remaining seats in a special former-npgmc package. As it turns out, anyone and everyone can fill out the "former-npgmc" form. When you do, you will get an email giving you a code that will let you buy these special seats.

Throughout this process TM continually releases seating blocks that are better than the seats that were available before. The release of these blocks are timed to coincide with planned press exposure for Prince.

Poorly planned, my ass!

Prince and AEG have deliberately staggered ticket sales in such a way as to create artificial scarcity, all the while communicating to fans and press that the shows were sold out.
Here is a rough overview of what happened.

* Priority seating scheme for O2 subscribers. Fans are emailed by 3121.com to get their ass in gear and buy a mobile phone so they can get early access to awesome seats. Later these seats turn out to be upper tier only.

* Normal ticket sales start. There is a regular and a VIP package. Within 24 hours TM lists most shows as sold out, leaving only the VIP package available.
3121.com has news of the shows selling out, and offers links to remaining VIP packages.

* Extra shows are scheduled in. Again these "sell out" within 24 hours, leaving only the VIP package. 3121.com has news of the extra shows, of how they sold out, and how there are still VIP packages available.

* An auction is organized, to give everyone a fair chance of getting the final remaining good seats. Every single person that I know that bid on a seat, won it, somehow.

* Good news! The O2 has finished construction and they bent space/time somehow to create a large amount of additional floor seats that were never available before, even tho these blocks of seats were on all seating charts from the very beginning. Get them while they last! Interestingly, these seats are better than what many fans had been able to purchase up to that point.

* Fans are called upon to purchase remaining seats in a special former-npgmc package. As it turns out, anyone and everyone can fill out the "former-npgmc" form. When you do, you will get an email giving you a code that will let you buy these special seats.

Throughout this process TM continually releases seating blocks that are better than the seats that were available before. The release of these blocks are timed to coincide with planned press exposure for Prince.

m3taverse said:

and of course you will post you're evidence to back up these claims that it was planned to do this, rather than being another shambles. i look forward to reading it

unique said:

Hey, why not place the burden of proof on the people that said it was all "poorly planned", (just a bitchin and complaining) because that is what i am posting in response of.
Oh that's right i forgot, I'm talking to grandmaster Fammy Fam Fam.

m3taverse said:

OK!!! I retract my earlier comments (poorly planned), Prince is a master musician and businessman...and more power to him.


[Edited 7/22/07 6:54am]

...How naive does a person have to be to think they sorta accidentally botched the London ticket sales.

FYI, today O2 has been sending out emails, and TM has been telling people on the phone, that the staggered ticket sales are AEG's idea, not theirs. AEG is the tour promoter, same guys that did the Musicology tour in the US.
Apparently AEG tells TM which blocks to release and when.
AEG have been telling people the shows were sold out while they were and are not, at many times leaving only the VIP packages available.
Creating this artificial scarcity is dubious to say the least, and I really do not care whether this is common practise or not.


[Edited 7/21/07 13:47pm]

SCNDLS said:

they didn't auction any floor tickets, and the tickets that were auctioned were bought by people willing to pay a price equal to or higher than the price they bought them for