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Louis C.K. sees ticket scalping drop over 96% by selling tickets himself

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Re: Louis C.K. sees ticket scalping drop over 96% by selling tickets himself

#31

Post by SeripisChad »

erpa1119 wrote: post #12

Sounds like ticketing is ripe for re-invention, how about electronic tickets via smart phone?

I would be really easy to create the same type of scale-able ticket selling system and in-venue verification scanners.

As a Previous Ticketmaster employee I believe the one thing that help prevent competition in this space is that they work with venues and performers. They subsidize Opex cost for the venues, which I think keeps them happy. For the life of me I can't explain why Ticketmaster would go and "merge" with a competitor who had driven themselves (liveNation) to the verge of bankruptcy (publicly stated within 30 days) just to take some venue market share and select artist. LiveNation now runs this combined company - it was less of a merge and more of a bankrupt company convincing a profitably company that they should "merge". IMO this has everything to do with piss poor management at Ticketmaster and the real value of select venues/artists.

Re: Louis C.K. sees ticket scalping drop over 96% by selling tickets himself

#35

Post by Androsynth »

mhartl wrote: post #15

For his shows, C.K. saw scalping rates as high as 25%, driving up the price of his shows for people who wanted to attend, by those who didn’t. The only people driving up the price of the shows are people who want to attend. How could it be otherwise? People who don't want to go to the show certainly don't raise prices. If scalpers can profit, it means you aren't charging market price. Policies like the one described…

yeah I'm confused, isn't scalping a necessary side effect of the process? It seems natural if you sell tickets at a constant price over time and don't adjust that for higher demand (as event gets closer in time) or lower supply (as tickets are sold).

Also, is scalping a bad thing? It seems to me that they are making the market more efficient.

Re: Louis C.K. sees ticket scalping drop over 96% by selling tickets himself

#36

Post by drcube »

mhartl wrote: post #15

For his shows, C.K. saw scalping rates as high as 25%, driving up the price of his shows for people who wanted to attend, by those who didn’t. The only people driving up the price of the shows are people who want to attend. How could it be otherwise? People who don't want to go to the show certainly don't raise prices. If scalpers can profit, it means you aren't charging market price. Policies like the one described…

Explain the Burning Man comment please.

I'm involved in the local Burners scene, but I've never been to the the big one in Black Rock City. My wife is going this year with a friend, but she was gifted a ticket. So I would like to know what stupid decisions and exacerbated problems I will see if I decide to buy a ticket for next year's burn.

Thanks.

Re: Louis C.K. sees ticket scalping drop over 96% by selling tickets himself

#37

Post by napierzaza »

cletus wrote: post #26

This is of course interesting and will lead to inevitable comments about disruption being needed in event ticketing. Let me save you the trouble as this has been rehashed many times already: the problem here is Ticketmaster's exclusives on venues and the entertainment's willingness to let Ticketmaster be the "sacrificial anode" and focus of ire from both audiences and performers. There was a deal done some years ago-…

Except for the 6,000,000$ in commerce that LouisCK managed to do? I imagine the problem is with larger venues than most stand-up performers might appear in. Louis CK has a lot of sway when it comes to pretty much anything since he can guarantee a sold-out show practically anywhere. But I wouldn't exactly call this a moot experiment.

Re: Louis C.K. sees ticket scalping drop over 96% by selling tickets himself

#38

Post by AndrewDucker »

Androsynth wrote: post #35
mhartl wrote: post #15

For his shows, C.K. saw scalping rates as high as 25%, driving up the price of his shows for people who wanted to attend, by those who didn’t. The only people driving up the price of the shows are people who want to attend. How could it be otherwise? People who don't want to go to the show certainly don't raise prices. If scalpers can profit, it means you aren't charging market price. Policies like the one described…

yeah I'm confused, isn't scalping a necessary side effect of the process? It seems natural if you sell tickets at a constant price over time and don't adjust that for higher demand (as event gets closer in time) or lower supply (as tickets are sold). Also, is scalping a bad thing? It seems to me that they are making the market more efficient.

Market efficiency is not necessarily a person's aim.

Re: Louis C.K. sees ticket scalping drop over 96% by selling tickets himself

#39

Post by maxerickson »

mhartl wrote: post #15

For his shows, C.K. saw scalping rates as high as 25%, driving up the price of his shows for people who wanted to attend, by those who didn’t. The only people driving up the price of the shows are people who want to attend. How could it be otherwise? People who don't want to go to the show certainly don't raise prices. If scalpers can profit, it means you aren't charging market price. Policies like the one described…

Louis C.K. is attempting to transfer the benefit from the messenger to people that actually plan on attending the show.

He is apparently happy to suffer the market inefficiency that leads to his fans seeing cheaper ticket prices.

Re: Louis C.K. sees ticket scalping drop over 96% by selling tickets himself

#40

Post by warfangle »

mhartl wrote: post #15

For his shows, C.K. saw scalping rates as high as 25%, driving up the price of his shows for people who wanted to attend, by those who didn’t. The only people driving up the price of the shows are people who want to attend. How could it be otherwise? People who don't want to go to the show certainly don't raise prices. If scalpers can profit, it means you aren't charging market price. Policies like the one described…

Problem with scalpers is they reduce the supply of the tickets endemically, thus driving the market price up. If the scalpers aren't involved at all, the market price is lower than the scalped price.
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