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Louis CK selling tickets to latest tour exclusively on his site

buy.louisck.net

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Re: Louis CK selling tickets to latest tour exclusively on his site

#21

Post by stoic »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #5

I wonder if he's having issues with being denied access to certain venues. The reason why ticketmaster and the rest can get away with those fees is because they give a kickback to the venue owner. The venue owner can tell acts to get lost if they don't go through the ticket vendor that gives them $5 per ticket for nothing. Obviously CK is a huge act and you can't blacklist him, but you may need his level of star powe…

I only checked the Texas shows, but the Magnolia Theatre in Dallas is a pretty "classic" theatre that has hosted plenty of top-tier comedians, and ACL Live in Austin books all kinds of heavy-hitting musical acts in addition to the stuff you see on the Austin City Limits television show. Not exactly comedy-specific clubs, but probably more appropriate than the places run by Ticketbastard/AEG Live.

They're certainly still getting a cut, it's just not itemized during checkout for all to see, I guess. The only other thing on the receipt besides the ticket price was sales tax, which came out to an even total of $45.00.

Should be a good show =)

Re: Louis CK selling tickets to latest tour exclusively on his site

#22

Post by forrestthewoods »

I fully understand the hatred of scalpers but I also kinda like knowing they're an option. I've bought a few overpriced tickets to events I really wanted to attend. I like that I can attend most events I'm interested in so long as I'm willing to pay for it. Is it worth $150 for a $50 ticket? Not usually, but sometimes.

Re: Louis CK selling tickets to latest tour exclusively on his site

#23

Post by alanfalcon »

nostromo wrote: post #20

It was my understanding that TicketMaster/IAC had contracts with most venues that secured its position as the only place to buy tickets online. For example: http://iac.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=604 Is that no longer the case? Or did Louis CK figure out some hack around those agreements?

"...It was a real challenge to find venues around the country that could work with our exclusive ticketing service under these perameters. It means I'm playing in very new places. I really appreciate all of these theaters that are letting us give this a try."

Re: Louis CK selling tickets to latest tour exclusively on his site

#24

Post by kintamanimatt »

crabasa wrote: post #11

No middlemen? I just bought tickets, and the purchase was powered by etix.com. I'm assuming they used a payment processing gateway for my credit card, there's another middleman. Don't you imagine the money owed to these entities is just built-in to the price of the ticket?

It appears Etix licenses their platform kinda like Shopify does, but also uses it to power their own marketplace. It seems Louis CK is licensing it. It kinda make sense to use the software that's already been built rather than creating a custom solution, and I imagine this is something that seemed to work for him (or whoever manages his website).

I'm not sure how you expect to pay by credit card without using a payment processing gateway. Even if you paid by cash, the post office would be a middleman as you'd have to pay postage.

I assume by "cutting out the middleman" they mean the ticketing cartel otherwise known as Ticketmaster.

Re: Louis CK selling tickets to latest tour exclusively on his site

#25

Post by the_bear »

ori_b wrote: post #15
the_bear wrote: post #10

This is obviously great news, but I really hope he has plans to take it to the next step. It's great that an incredibly successful comedian can get away this this, but nothing will really change in the long run unless smaller acts have access to this direct-to-consumer approach as well, and that will only happen if someone like Louis CK goes out of his way to share the network, tools, and process that he's developed.…

Isn't being a middle-man in "direct to consumer" sales kind of an oxymoron?

I guess it depends on how you look at it. I think the Kickstarter has done a lot to facilitate direct-to-consumer business models. Sure, Kickstarter is a tool used by creators to reach their audience, just like Gmail is a tool I use to communicate with my clients. Kickstarter and Gmail are both middle-men in a sense, but they certainly work with the direct-to-consumer model.

Louis CK seems particularly well suited for something like this because he seems to be content with the amount of money he has. He could do a lot to improve the entertainment industry by sharing his knowledge without necessarily building a business around it.

Re: Louis CK selling tickets to latest tour exclusively on his site

#26

Post by nedwin »

nostromo wrote: post #20

It was my understanding that TicketMaster/IAC had contracts with most venues that secured its position as the only place to buy tickets online. For example: http://iac.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=604 Is that no longer the case? Or did Louis CK figure out some hack around those agreements?

As per the text in the link he's had to play at "smaller" and "newer" venues who aren't locked into those contracts. This means he might have to play more shows at a particular venue if it's smaller.

Re: Louis CK selling tickets to latest tour exclusively on his site

#27

Post by the_bear »

bcherry wrote: post #12
the_bear wrote: post #10

This is obviously great news, but I really hope he has plans to take it to the next step. It's great that an incredibly successful comedian can get away this this, but nothing will really change in the long run unless smaller acts have access to this direct-to-consumer approach as well, and that will only happen if someone like Louis CK goes out of his way to share the network, tools, and process that he's developed.…

AFAICT, everything is being handled by etix.com, since that's where his "Buy Tickets" links redirect: http://event.etix.com/ticket/online/performanceSearch.jsp?pe... Even though the purchase page is on etix.com, it shares all chrome with his site, and the tickets don't seem to appear in any public listings or directories elsewhere. Presumably, there's still a charge, it's just small, and included in the pricing model…

I could be wrong, but I don't think that the actual ticket sales are the hard part with something like this. I think that building a network of venues, and producing and promoting your own tour are probably much more difficult. I think Louis CK could probably help a lot of people out without ever building any software or even offering a product.

EDIT: I definitely agree that etix gaining traction would be a great step in the right direction.

Re: Louis CK selling tickets to latest tour exclusively on his site

#28

Post by santry »

nostromo wrote: post #20

It was my understanding that TicketMaster/IAC had contracts with most venues that secured its position as the only place to buy tickets online. For example: http://iac.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=604 Is that no longer the case? Or did Louis CK figure out some hack around those agreements?

He's just playing different venues. For example, he'll be playing Symphony Hall in Boston, where they already do all their own ticketing, instead of the TD Bank North Garden, which uses TicketMaster.

Re: Louis CK selling tickets to latest tour exclusively on his site

#29

Post by excuse-me »

alanfalcon wrote: post #23
nostromo wrote: post #20

It was my understanding that TicketMaster/IAC had contracts with most venues that secured its position as the only place to buy tickets online. For example: http://iac.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=604 Is that no longer the case? Or did Louis CK figure out some hack around those agreements?

"...It was a real challenge to find venues around the country that could work with our exclusive ticketing service under these perameters. It means I'm playing in very new places. I really appreciate all of these theaters that are letting us give this a try."

We did a charity concert at one of those venues. Between ticketmaster's cut, and their $$$ mail you a ticket charge or the $$ print your own ticket fee and the tax that somehow we don't get back because we aren't a big enough charity

It would have been better to make it free and pass a hat around

Re: Louis CK selling tickets to latest tour exclusively on his site

#30

Post by roc »

ryanwhitney wrote: post #17

"Also, you'll see that if you try to sell the ticket anywhere for anything above the original price, we have the right to cancel your ticket (and refund your money). this is something I intend to enforce." I thought this was great at first, but I wonder how this will work. Won't canceling the ticket hurt the person who buys it from a scalper? I don't see a way for him to stop scalpers from selling them, and after it'…

Possibly.

But I think the key difference is that Ticketmaster, et al. aren't promoting this. So no-one is likely to even realize these events are occurring unless they've gone to, or were directed to, louisck.net.

So that leaves, most likely but not by no means certainly, only people who buy scalped tickets who should've known better.

And I can't imagine they'll find any sympathetic ears, or amount to a notable contingent compared to Louis fans who grok the pseudo-honor system play he's making and will be far more angry at the jilted scalped-ticket-buyer for having purchased from scalpers in the first place.

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