feranti said:

SquirrelMeat said:

Reading some reports that Getmein (Ticketmaster) had tickets on sale at 9am for £2,000.

just because someone is selling them at that price, does not mean they would of been sold.

I am questioning how many people would pay £275 for a prince ticket, let alone 2000

When i was booking last years gigs through ticketmaster, other sites were advertising them at £350.00 for the same tickets. In fact we got an extra ticket two days before the concert of someone on gumtree, for face value.

If prince never knew how tickets are sold, that touting exists before this gig then he has had his wee perfectly formed head in a purple bag for the last thirty years.

(do we really think he googled his name before they went on sale and realised with shock horror that touts exist, demanded tickets be stoped)

as many people have pointed out there are ways to sell tickets to fans, if that was his concern he could of gone down that route.

personally I think he has something else going on and is using this as a good cover story.

on a plus side, got some Andy Allo tickets for glasgow on the 30th

This issue is that for tickets to be already listed, before they have gone on sale, means that Ticketmaster must be channeling tickets off and marking them up themselves through their sister company. They are directly restricting fans from obtaining them at the price agreed with the artist.

By the way, Andy Allo just cancelled her London gig today, so I hope she doesn't do the same elsewhere.

SquirrelMeat said:

feranti said:

just because someone is selling them at that price, does not mean they would of been sold.

I am questioning how many people would pay £275 for a prince ticket, let alone 2000

When i was booking last years gigs through ticketmaster, other sites were advertising them at £350.00 for the same tickets. In fact we got an extra ticket two days before the concert of someone on gumtree, for face value.

If prince never knew how tickets are sold, that touting exists before this gig then he has had his wee perfectly formed head in a purple bag for the last thirty years.

(do we really think he googled his name before they went on sale and realised with shock horror that touts exist, demanded tickets be stoped)

as many people have pointed out there are ways to sell tickets to fans, if that was his concern he could of gone down that route.

personally I think he has something else going on and is using this as a good cover story.

on a plus side, got some Andy Allo tickets for glasgow on the 30th

This issue is that for tickets to be already listed, before they have gone on sale, means that Ticketmaster must be channeling tickets off and marking them up themselves through their sister company. They are directly restricting fans from obtaining them at the price agreed with the artist.

By the way, Andy Allo just cancelled her London gig today, so I hope she doesn't do the same elsewhere.

I saw that about Andy Allo, and another gig, the glasgow one so far acording to venue is still on. Strange the double cancelations.

Ticketmaster without doubt are a dodgy money making machine, another example of what is wrong with the modern world, but they have been forever, and will be regrdless of what old prince says.

antonb said:

on a side note, what about all the celebrities that get given tickets or word before the tickets go on general sale? Perhaps prince should stop that too.If he wants his genuine fans at the front and centre.

.
If he cared about anything besides $$$, like fans (not to be confused with fams), then reality would look different.

Tickets priced at 2k are bait. If there's loads of tickets at mental prices, then to a lot of people £350 quid suddenly looks like a good deal. The hugely priced tickets usually come down a day or so before the show to get sold. Simples.

feranti said:

SquirrelMeat said:

This issue is that for tickets to be already listed, before they have gone on sale, means that Ticketmaster must be channeling tickets off and marking them up themselves through their sister company. They are directly restricting fans from obtaining them at the price agreed with the artist.

By the way, Andy Allo just cancelled her London gig today, so I hope she doesn't do the same elsewhere.

I saw that about Andy Allo, and another gig, the glasgow one so far acording to venue is still on. Strange the double cancelations.

Ticketmaster without doubt are a dodgy money making machine, another example of what is wrong with the modern world, but they have been forever, and will be regrdless of what old prince says.

wilgartw said:

Hi folks, I never understand why touts get such a bad press ... Hold on let me finish. There are calls in this thread for the govt to make them illegal, what in a free market capitalist economy? The govt can't even get Starbucks to pay their taxes, which they (and probably we) wave a lot more to gain from. Incidentally, I picked up a 12" copy of gotta stop messing about in 1982 in a bargain bin, I never listen to it these days, can I only sell it for 20p otherwise I am ripping off the real fans?

What I totally disagree with is the resale sites being owned by the ticket sellers, especially if some are being funnelled off. Also ebay's stub hub - have you seen the charges? I tried to use it last year to sell some tickets at face value and needed to charge nearly 30% more (see point about returns above). My final point, honest, artist setting up their own ticket selling sites? Really? Do you know the amount of software development needed for this,me specially for seated venues? Every artist's team knowing the layouts and legal t&cs for every venue they ever play. It would be Ike suggesting prince employs a full time lighting crew and and buys all the lights instead of renting them for the 6 shows he is doing (possibly) in the UK this year. Of course artists should use ticket sites, they just need to ensure they are ethical. Ethical ticket selling sites, photo I'd / tickets, refund policy. No touts.

I don't have an issue with a tout buying up spares and making some money selling them on.

But I do have an issue with large companies using their resources to strangle avaiability of tickets for extremely high mark up. When you have whole offices full of staff on screens with multiple accounts and credit cards (e.g. Viagogo) or botnets, buying hundreds in seconds, then the market is broken.

Worse still is when the official outlet also owns the reseller, like we've just seen with Ticketmaster.

jasontate said:

Tickets priced at 2k are bait. If there's loads of tickets at mental prices, then to a lot of people £350 quid suddenly looks like a good deal. The hugely priced tickets usually come down a day or so before the show to get sold. Simples.

feranti said:

I saw that about Andy Allo, and another gig, the glasgow one so far acording to venue is still on. Strange the double cancelations.

Ticketmaster without doubt are a dodgy money making machine, another example of what is wrong with the modern world, but they have been forever, and will be regrdless of what old prince says.

Agree completely.

jasontate said:

Tickets priced at 2k are bait. If there's loads of tickets at mental prices, then to a lot of people £350 quid suddenly looks like a good deal. The hugely priced tickets usually come down a day or so before the show to get sold. Simples.

feranti said:

I saw that about Andy Allo, and another gig, the glasgow one so far acording to venue is still on. Strange the double cancelations.

Ticketmaster without doubt are a dodgy money making machine, another example of what is wrong with the modern world, but they have been forever, and will be regrdless of what old prince says.

Yeah, I've benefitted from that, where the touts buy too many then have to offload with a few days to go, but it doesn't take away the fact that they shouldn't be able to get hold of the volume of the tickets they do to begin with.

It's about time there was a useful update, instead of bullshit on twitter. Even if he is doing this for decent reasons, which may or may not be the case, we need to know what the hell is going on.

SquirrelMeat said:

feranti said:

just because someone is selling them at that price, does not mean they would of been sold.

I am questioning how many people would pay £275 for a prince ticket, let alone 2000

When i was booking last years gigs through ticketmaster, other sites were advertising them at £350.00 for the same tickets. In fact we got an extra ticket two days before the concert of someone on gumtree, for face value.

If prince never knew how tickets are sold, that touting exists before this gig then he has had his wee perfectly formed head in a purple bag for the last thirty years.

(do we really think he googled his name before they went on sale and realised with shock horror that touts exist, demanded tickets be stoped)

as many people have pointed out there are ways to sell tickets to fans, if that was his concern he could of gone down that route.

personally I think he has something else going on and is using this as a good cover story.

on a plus side, got some Andy Allo tickets for glasgow on the 30th

This issue is that for tickets to be already listed, before they have gone on sale, means that Ticketmaster must be channeling tickets off and marking them up themselves through their sister company. They are directly restricting fans from obtaining them at the price agreed with the artist.

By the way, Andy Allo just cancelled her London gig today, so I hope she doesn't do the same elsewhere.

Isn't this largely accounted for by promotional presales a day or two before general release through the likes of O2 etc? Not sure what proportion of tickets are sold in presales, or how that would tally with the number available on resale sites the day bepfre general release.

SquirrelMeat said:

This issue is that for tickets to be already listed, before they have gone on sale, means that Ticketmaster must be channeling tickets off and marking them up themselves through their sister company.

Possibly. But there's always the possibility that some of these listings are speculative and they actually don't have the seats.

I could advertise a unicorn on eBay for sale right now for £10,000 but it doesn't mean I have one in my garden ready to ship to a buyer

johngordon said:

SquirrelMeat said:

This issue is that for tickets to be already listed, before they have gone on sale, means that Ticketmaster must be channeling tickets off and marking them up themselves through their sister company. They are directly restricting fans from obtaining them at the price agreed with the artist.

By the way, Andy Allo just cancelled her London gig today, so I hope she doesn't do the same elsewhere.

Isn't this largely accounted for by promotional presales a day or two before general release through the likes of O2 etc? Not sure what proportion of tickets are sold in presales, or how that would tally with the number available on resale sites the day bepfre general release.

Thats the official line, but its clearly not the case. I go to a lot of gigs and you can see all the bad practices:

- Worst seats being offered on the initial rush for popular gigs

- Gigs listed as sold out when they are not

- 'Extra production seats' added last minute when the held back seats don't sell at premium.

- 'VIP' packages that end up with restricted view (i.e some of the 3121 shows)

- Bulk sales to the resellers (confirmed in the Dispatches programme into Viagogo)
- Sweetners between promoters and resellers

- Botnets used to hoover up first sales

The market is completely broken. I don't usually even bother with getting tickets in the inital rush now. I pick gigs where the touts have oversubscibed and grab a bargain with 1 day to go.

Gav said:

SquirrelMeat said:

This issue is that for tickets to be already listed, before they have gone on sale, means that Ticketmaster must be channeling tickets off and marking them up themselves through their sister company.

Possibly. But there's always the possibility that some of these listings are speculative and they actually don't have the seats.

I could advertise a unicorn on eBay for sale right now for £10,000 but it doesn't mean I have one in my garden ready to ship to a buyer

Could be, but if getmein lets someone advertise without having the tickets, then they are letting someone break their own terms and conditions. Worse still, they know its not real, because their own parent company hasn't sold any yet.

Thing is, I've seen this time and time again.

Its quite obvious what they are doing. They sell it once, then quatruple their profit by selling it again through a third party on their sister site. Artists aren't compaining because they are getting the promised sale at the intial point.

Gav said:

I could advertise a unicorn on eBay for sale right now for £10,000 but it doesn't mean I have one in my garden ready to ship to a buyer

I'm sure it says in eBay's terms you gotta have the item available to sell first. But I hear you.

Gav said:

SquirrelMeat said:

This issue is that for tickets to be already listed, before they have gone on sale, means that Ticketmaster must be channeling tickets off and marking them up themselves through their sister company.

Possibly. But there's always the possibility that some of these listings are speculative and they actually don't have the seats.

I could advertise a unicorn on eBay for sale right now for £10,000 but it doesn't mean I have one in my garden ready to ship to a buyer

You told me if, I sent you the money, you'd be waiting in the back garden with the horn, you bastard.

It is a strange old business trying to fill a venue , what with the pre-sales to fans where a limited number of the best seats are available, the vip tickets with added 'perks', and the dodgy secondary sales market. With the band, ticket seller and venue all trying to maximise theire profits it's not surprising the fan often misses out on the best deal.

Hoping for some fan club type deal again.

Lianachan said:

It's about time there was a useful update, instead of bullshit on twitter. Even if he is doing this for decent reasons, which may or may not be the case, we need to know what the hell is going on.

Exactly! If its cancelled, I'd like to know, then I can leave the computer!

Prince should try the RodeoSchro Auction Method:

Ask for bids from all the people that want to see the show. Fans would bid what they agree to pay for each ticket.

After the bid deadline, sort the bids in descending order. The highest bid gets the best seats; the second-highest bid gets the next best seats; etc. until all the bids are fulfilled.

If any seats reman, they will be the "least desireable" and can be sold through the normal channels.

This will ABSOLUTELY put touts out of business. Every ticket sold this way would already be sold for market value, and ALL the money would go to Prince.

Prince, try this. I firmly believe it will put your tickets in the hands of fans and fans only.

RodeoSchro said:

Prince should try the RodeoSchro Auction Method:

Ask for bids from all the people that want to see the show. Fans would bid what they agree to pay for each ticket.

After the bid deadline, sort the bids in descending order. The highest bid gets the best seats; the second-highest bid gets the next best seats; etc. until all the bids are fulfilled.

If any seats reman, they will be the "least desireable" and can be sold through the normal channels.

This will ABSOLUTELY put touts out of business. Every ticket sold this way would already be sold for market value, and ALL the money would go to Prince.

Prince, try this. I firmly believe it will put your tickets in the hands of fans and fans only.

Great for those who could afford a to spend a fortune for tickets from touts anyway! NPGMC type arrangement is the best one for fans, by miles, with the rest going to public sale (via any appropriate mechanism).

langebleu said:

Gav said:

Possibly. But there's always the possibility that some of these listings are speculative and they actually don't have the seats.

I could advertise a unicorn on eBay for sale right now for £10,000 but it doesn't mean I have one in my garden ready to ship to a buyer

You told me if, I sent you the money, you'd be waiting in the back garden with the horn, you bastard.

The old paypal classic - get the funds cashed out before the buyer realises

RodeoSchro said:

pandemoniun6 said:

RodeoSchro said:

Prince should try the RodeoSchro Auction Method:

Ask for bids from all the people that want to see the show. Fans would bid what they agree to pay for each ticket.

After the bid deadline, sort the bids in descending order. The highest bid gets the best seats; the second-highest bid gets the next best seats; etc. until all the bids are fulfilled.

If any seats reman, they will be the "least desireable" and can be sold through the normal channels.

This will ABSOLUTELY put touts out of business. Every ticket sold this way would already be sold for market value, and ALL the money would go to Prince.

Prince, try this. I firmly believe it will put your tickets in the hands of fans and fans only.

I won a front row auction for the 21 nights in London through Ticketmaster. Just made sure I didn't bid more than the VIP prices as they were guaranteed first 10 rows. Was quite happy with it. Ended up with Puff Daddy in front of me at those tables they added though.

I went 5 nights in regular seats but ended up going VIP gold seat on 6 of the nights. The ones that went unsold at £250 were sold at £31.21 on the afternoon of each show. We must have been near each other, Puff was in punching distance.

Lianachan said:

RodeoSchro said:

Prince should try the RodeoSchro Auction Method:

Ask for bids from all the people that want to see the show. Fans would bid what they agree to pay for each ticket.

After the bid deadline, sort the bids in descending order. The highest bid gets the best seats; the second-highest bid gets the next best seats; etc. until all the bids are fulfilled.

If any seats reman, they will be the "least desireable" and can be sold through the normal channels.

This will ABSOLUTELY put touts out of business. Every ticket sold this way would already be sold for market value, and ALL the money would go to Prince.

Prince, try this. I firmly believe it will put your tickets in the hands of fans and fans only.

Great for those who could afford a to spend a fortune for tickets from touts anyway! NPGMC type arrangement is the best one for fans, by miles, with the rest going to public sale (via any appropriate mechanism).

I also liked the NPGMC but it didn't put the touts out of business, did it? It did help, though.

However, given the ugly demise of the NPGMC, how many people would pay Prince $100+ up front, in the hopes of him coming to your town?

If Prince had revived the NPGMC say, last month, would you have joined? I bet not. I bet almost no one would join until they knew a show was coming to their town. In that case, their NPGMC tickets would cost whatever Prince charged you for tickets PLUS whatever it cost to join the NPGMC.

Would you really be better off that way?

SquirrelMeat said:

RodeoSchro said:

Lianachan said:

Great for those who could afford a to spend a fortune for tickets from touts anyway! NPGMC type arrangement is the best one for fans, by miles, with the rest going to public sale (via any appropriate mechanism).

I also liked the NPGMC but it didn't put the touts out of business, did it? It did help, though.

However, given the ugly demise of the NPGMC, how many people would pay Prince $100+ up front, in the hopes of him coming to your town?

If Prince had revived the NPGMC say, last month, would you have joined? I bet not. I bet almost no one would join until they knew a show was coming to their town. In that case, their NPGMC tickets would cost whatever Prince charged you for tickets PLUS whatever it cost to join the NPGMC.

Would you really be better off that way?

Putting touts out of business isn't up to Prince, and there's nothing he can do about that. That's for the music business to sort out, although it seems to have little appetite for it. What is in his control is being able to make sure his fans get a chance to get un-scalped tickets. My joining a new NPGMC last month would have depended on what it's claimed benefits were. Early access tickets are definitely something that would have greatly interested me, even without any specific dates on the horizon. I have to travel hundreds of miles to any gig anyway, as I can't see Prince playing in the Scottish Highlands any time soon, so locality isn't an issue. For well organised shows, arranged and ticketed properly and in advance, I have regularly travelled to London and would have no problem doing so again. My post probably came across as more critical than I intended - what I was driving at was that your method is still largely allocating tickets on the basis of the ability to pay the most for them (broadly similar to what happens with touts), rather than (for want of a better way of putting it) fan-ness.

Lianachan said:

RodeoSchro said:

I also liked the NPGMC but it didn't put the touts out of business, did it? It did help, though.

However, given the ugly demise of the NPGMC, how many people would pay Prince $100+ up front, in the hopes of him coming to your town?

If Prince had revived the NPGMC say, last month, would you have joined? I bet not. I bet almost no one would join until they knew a show was coming to their town. In that case, their NPGMC tickets would cost whatever Prince charged you for tickets PLUS whatever it cost to join the NPGMC.

Would you really be better off that way?

Putting touts out of business isn't up to Prince, and there's nothing he can do about that. That's for the music business to sort out, although it seems to have little appetite for it. What is in his control is being able to make sure his fans get a chance to get un-scalped tickets. My joining a new NPGMC last month would have depended on what it's claimed benefits were. Early access tickets are definitely something that would have greatly interested me, even without any specific dates on the horizon. I have to travel hundreds of miles to any gig anyway, as I can't see Prince playing in the Scottish Highlands any time soon, so locality isn't an issue. For well organised shows, arranged and ticketed properly and in advance, I have regularly travelled to London and would have no problem doing so again. My post probably came across as more critical than I intended - what I was driving at was that your method is still largely allocating tickets on the basis of the ability to pay the most for them (broadly similar to what happens with touts), rather than (for want of a better way of putting it) fan-ness.

Start a petition for Prince to play the Ross Shire Club in Dingwall. I'll sign it.

SquirrelMeat said:

Lianachan said:

Putting touts out of business isn't up to Prince, and there's nothing he can do about that. That's for the music business to sort out, although it seems to have little appetite for it. What is in his control is being able to make sure his fans get a chance to get un-scalped tickets. My joining a new NPGMC last month would have depended on what it's claimed benefits were. Early access tickets are definitely something that would have greatly interested me, even without any specific dates on the horizon. I have to travel hundreds of miles to any gig anyway, as I can't see Prince playing in the Scottish Highlands any time soon, so locality isn't an issue. For well organised shows, arranged and ticketed properly and in advance, I have regularly travelled to London and would have no problem doing so again. My post probably came across as more critical than I intended - what I was driving at was that your method is still largely allocating tickets on the basis of the ability to pay the most for them (broadly similar to what happens with touts), rather than (for want of a better way of putting it) fan-ness.

Start a petition for Prince to play the Ross Shire Club in Dingwall. I'll sign it.

The Belladrum festival would be awesome, and Eden Court in Inverness would have been an excellent venue for this SPAM tour. They would also both be very hand for me, which would be a refreshing change

blackbob said:

The Ticketmaster page only seems to have a few of the dates listed? Anyone have link to the event tickets in other countries? Just trying to keep all my options open. Any idea of prices yet? God I hope its not insane (probably still pay it)! Ahh the stress of trying to nab one now begins. Any info really appreciated. thanks.

If Prince was chocolate he would eat himself. He is to integrity what King Herod was to babies.