The Grateful Dead comes up now and again on HN. They played 522 shows in 1972 alone, and averaged 100 per year from the mid 60s to mid 70s. In the 80s and 90s the average was somewhere around 80 per year. They sold a lot of tickets and consistently sold out. Anyone remember the system they used, as I recall we just called it "mail order". Of course there was scalping, but as I recall the system generally seemed to reward the diligent.
Why scalpers can get tickets
221–230 of 487 posts
Re: Why scalpers can get tickets
#222Impractical, perhaps, but sale-to-person on day of show is the only way I see that can prevent scalping. That is, you can by as many tickets as you want in person, but you must present a body for each ticket purchased. Of course, this approach has its own problems, including possibility of riot, long queues, and surprise venue fees scaled to handle crowd control.
Not many people would take a day off or travel out of town if there's a high risk of not getting a ticket either.
An alternative could be online untransferable but voidable tickets, with in person payment.
Basically try to make it so money changing hands is inpractical and bears considerable risks.
Re: Why scalpers can get tickets
#223Why do the organizations putting on events like these leave so much money on the table? Why don't they just charge the market-clearing price themselves, leaving no room for scalpers to make any profit?
Because, ironically, a show that only rich people can afford to attend will be pretty terrible. Rich people tend not to loudly enjoy the show, so the atmosphere isn't there. This is bad for the rest of the audience and for the performer. It's hard to put 100% in when all you can see is a bunch of people staring solemnly at you. It happens in football (soccer for my American friends) for clubs like Man Utd (and probab…
> Rich people tend not to loudly enjoy the show, so the atmosphere isn't there
These people were so eloquently described by Manchester United captain Roy Keane, as 'the prawn sandwich brigade'.
Re: Why scalpers can get tickets
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
They started out as plain scalper marketplaces but now have deals with most venues to give the venue a cut.
So venues take bribes in the from of kickbacks to look the other way when stubhub commits illegal acts? or does stubhub not operate in states where scalping tickets is a crime?
They probably specifically have deals with the venues to make it not technically scalping, somehow.
Re: Why scalpers can get tickets
#225Gambling sites have solved this to a much better extent than described in this article with verified ids, fingerprint extensions running on devices and whatnot.
Re: Why scalpers can get tickets
#226I think there’s a massive point which gets missed on this question… A lot of these tickets get resold on the platforms themselves. If a reseller buys the ticket, and then sells it again to the end user, Ticketmaster gets paid twice. This point results in at least hundreds of millions in revenue. Now, if one of the platforms “cracks down” and makes it harder to buy and sell people will prefer another platform. So plat…
Simple fix then, ban reselling.
The artist and TM still get the revenue, but the scalper gets inventory they can't move.
What about the fans?
Similar to airlines, let people buy standby tickets, at the event, check attendance, if there is space let the stand bys in. TM still gets paid twice, scalper has garbage, and fans get in.
What about fans who can't go? Buy the insurance at checkout, if you can't go the insurance comps for the cost of the ticket.
Re: Why scalpers can get tickets
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Run it like an airline, where your name is on the ticket and you don't get in unless it matches your ID. Either that or your ID is the ticket. Just bloop that big barcode on the back of your ID with your phone when you buy the admission, then let the guy bloop it again at the door when you go to the show. That would make some scenarios harder, like the trope about your boss handing you two extra tickets she can't use…
The downsides for ID-verified entry are shared with ID-required voting. Namely, if you are aware of intergroup variability in ID-having rates, is choosing it anyways a conscious discriminatory choice?
1/ attending a concert is not a civil right
2/ can't emphasize enough, but _get an ID_. While ID posession was used to discriminate against groups of people, the real problem here is "why doesn't everyone have an ID"?
Re: Why scalpers can get tickets
#228Why do the organizations putting on events like these leave so much money on the table? Why don't they just charge the market-clearing price themselves, leaving no room for scalpers to make any profit?
there's no market clearing price in the market for concert tickets. the scalpers would exercise perfect price discrimination if they could.
Re: Why scalpers can get tickets
#229Aside: Why are all of 404media's posts popular "outrage" articles? It continually sours me on this new news outlet
Re: Why scalpers can get tickets
#230The Grateful Dead comes up now and again on HN. They played 522 shows in 1972 alone, and averaged 100 per year from the mid 60s to mid 70s. In the 80s and 90s the average was somewhere around 80 per year. They sold a lot of tickets and consistently sold out. Anyone remember the system they used, as I recall we just called it "mail order". Of course there was scalping, but as I recall the system generally seemed to re…
Now it's all tied up in a mixture of promoter/venue/ticketing relationships that I don't understand. You can't avoid dealing with these bastards now. Pearl Jam tried to once and had to cancel the tour.