I wonder if you'd see "bank runs" happen spontaneously as nervous fans see the number of available tickets start to drop, causing a spontaneous feedback loop.
Hmm, that actually seems quite likely to me.
How to sell tickets fairly
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Re: How to sell tickets fairly
#12I don’t understand at all why prices aren’t raised in these severe demand/supply imbalance situations. Same applies to PS5 etc There wouldn’t be a shortage at all if it were priced appropriately. And scalpers just end up capturing that value anyway
Because sports teams and singers need broad audience interest to maintain their brand’s popularity, which can drive things like merchandise sales, future concerts, music streaming, etc. If they simply sold to the highest bidders, the populace at large will stop being fans and they will move onto the next entertainer. In the short term, you might make a little extra from richer people, but longer term you will fall ou…
But for many big artists the tickets are sold out immediately and it is just scalpers trying to get what they can for them. I'd like to know how many people attending a big concert got their tix directly vs got resold ones not at face value.
Re: How to sell tickets fairly
#13Pearl Jam tried to beat Ticketmaster. At the risk of sounding like the big fan I am, if Eddie Vedder and co. (at their commercial peak) can’t beat Ticketmaster, I’m not convinced that software can. I’ve been pasting this Rolling Stone link since I was in my teens. I can’t believe how old I am… https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pearl-jam-taki...
Ticketmaster is a logo that represents decades of deal making with venues to achieve the status quo.
The only way to defeat it is a RICO case brought by the Federal government, as venues, artists (not all, but many), are collaborating behind closed doors to enable it.
I gave up on big acts long ago because of TM and stick to local bars and local bands. Relativity and all that; I’m in a major metro with many cover bands that nail the vibe of the original and novel acts; not lacking options here. YMMV
Re: How to sell tickets fairly
#14Or you could just be like Garth Brooks and keep adding shows until they no longer sell out. Boom, problem solved.
Re: How to sell tickets fairly
#15It’s a trivially solvable problem to engineers because it’s not an engineering problem. They want all the hype and rush. It’s become a piece of culture to “wait in line.”
I once had a company put me in an async queue for months to wait for my brand new gadget. I wish Sony had done the same with the PS5.
Re: How to sell tickets fairly
#16The obvious fix to bots and scalpers is just to not allow ticket transfers - you give your name when you buy the ticket and show your ID at the door. Why this isn't the current process is left as an exercise to the reader.
Because people drop out last minute and might want to take a different friend.
I’ve been to events that do this and if someone can’t make it tough luck. But it prevents scalping at least. Every system has pros and cons.
Re: How to sell tickets fairly
#17Yes, I think this kind of price-reducing auction would work and would be fair and not user hostile.
For Taylor Swift’s tickets, I wonder what the starting price would need to be at a typical Northeast venue like Gillette Stadium…
Re: How to sell tickets fairly
#18I think this is great if your goal is to clear the market at a competitive price. But a lot of artists want to sell tickets below market price. That makes the problem a lot harder. The obvious thing to do is have a lottery, but it's hard to stop people from using multiple identities (especially scalpers).
Re: How to sell tickets fairly
#19I don’t understand at all why prices aren’t raised in these severe demand/supply imbalance situations. Same applies to PS5 etc There wouldn’t be a shortage at all if it were priced appropriately. And scalpers just end up capturing that value anyway
Sometimes promoters hold tickets and put them on the secondary market themselves. But they sell tickets to scalpers as a way to gaurantee a certain level of profit. Which lowers their risk of losing money, especially when spread over a large amount of events. The scalper business model is to buy risk from the promoter, and then selling the convenience of not planning ahead to consumers. Said differently, If promoters try to capture maximum value for every ticket, they will risk making less money at a slower rate.
That said, I think it might work if they start every sale of tickets with an initial high price that reduces on a defined schedule. So people with more money to spend can gaurantee a spot for themselves, while everyone else waits for the tickets to get cheaper.
Edit: ha! I obviously didn't rtfa before my comment.
Re: How to sell tickets fairly
#20Why not have a big closed auction? Everyone has a week or so to submit how much they are willing to pay for a ticket. Once the auction closes, sort by price and take the number of seats available. Everyone pays the minimum price that still fits in the seats available.
I'm imagining a large scale Vickery auction, sorry if I'm not explaining super well. Everyone pays the same, but people get a price they think is fair.