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Why scalpers can get tickets

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Re: Why scalpers can get tickets

#321

Post by gnicholas »

lolinder wrote: post #318
jallen_dot_dev wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If a reseller buys the ticket, and then sells it again to the end user, Ticketmaster gets paid twice. So basically scalpers are being paid to be the scapegoat so Ticketmaster can make more money, at the expense of artists and fans.

And in turn Ticketmaster is the scapegoat that shields the artists from blame. The primary service that Ticketmaster provides is to protect the artist's reputation while ensuring as much money as possible gets made per event.

But don’t artists get less because scalping happens? That is, if they priced tickets higher to start, there would be more revenue going to the artists and less going to middlemen.

Re: Why scalpers can get tickets

#323

Post by differentView »

lolinder wrote: post #318
jallen_dot_dev wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If a reseller buys the ticket, and then sells it again to the end user, Ticketmaster gets paid twice. So basically scalpers are being paid to be the scapegoat so Ticketmaster can make more money, at the expense of artists and fans.

And in turn Ticketmaster is the scapegoat that shields the artists from blame. The primary service that Ticketmaster provides is to protect the artist's reputation while ensuring as much money as possible gets made per event.

But not in the scenario described, where the artists get no additional money from resales.

Re: Why scalpers can get tickets

#324

Post by nonethewiser »

nomilk wrote: post #266
josephcsible wrote: post #4

Why 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?

I was thinking about this recently, and came up with two possible reasons: 1. The enjoyment of attendees can be partly dependent on the enthusiasm of other attendees. Consider the extremes: an audience entirely comprised of people who hardly know the artist, but can afford it Vs an audience comprised of only die-hard fans, irrespective of their ability to afford a ticket. The first has a flat atmosphere, the second,…

> The enjoyment of attendees can be partly dependent on the enthusiasm of other attendees. Consider the extremes: an audience entirely comprised of people who hardly know the artist, but can afford it Vs an audience comprised of only die-hard fans, irrespective of their ability to afford a ticket. The first has a flat atmosphere, the second, a special one.

Higher ticket prices would lead to more diehard fans

> A simple desire by the artist to make their show available to a cross-section of society

But if scalping is a problem then making tickets cheap doesn’t accomplish this.

In total, this seems to point towards raising initial prices with negative consequence.

Re: Why scalpers can get tickets

#325

Post by gnicholas »

keltex wrote: post #212
scott_w wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Related article: The reason why Billy Joel refuses to sell front row seats at his concerts https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/reason-why-billy-joel-refuses-s...

More detail: he doesn’t sell them, he has his crew go pull excited fans from the regular admission area and bring them to the front, where they’ll be even more excited. He doesn’t leave the front row empty.

Re: Why scalpers can get tickets

#326

Post by dopa42365 »

envsubst wrote: post #250
scott_w wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 Citation needed. Rich people are the main audience at all organized events of all kinds. Do you think you can take you and your kids to an NFL game if you're poor? The main attendees of Taylor swift? Women in late 20s - mid 30s working corporate jobs.

Did you not hear the super bowl team chants played on the speakers? Atmosphere of a snooze fest. That show is way too far in the exclusivity direction to allow any fun at all.

Re: Why scalpers can get tickets

#327

Post by lolinder »

gnicholas wrote: post #321
lolinder wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And in turn Ticketmaster is the scapegoat that shields the artists from blame. The primary service that Ticketmaster provides is to protect the artist's reputation while ensuring as much money as possible gets made per event.

But don’t artists get less because scalping happens? That is, if they priced tickets higher to start, there would be more revenue going to the artists and less going to middlemen.

The scalpers are often affiliated with the artists, directly or indirectly. Katy Perry's contract was leaked in 2011 and she had reserved the right to sell tickets through "Resellers" [0]. And as the grandparent notes, many of the scalpers sell their tickets on Ticketmaster, which in turn has a contract with the artists.

The artists would get more in the short term, but all this outrage that's currently directed at scalpers and Ticketmaster wouldn't just go away—a lot of it would still exist but be directed at the artists themselves.

[0] https://www.vulture.com/2011/05/katy_perry_reserves_the_righ...

Re: Why scalpers can get tickets

#328

Post by kdmccormick »

deepspace wrote: post #307
kdmccormick wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Glastonbury music festival, the largest of its kind in the world, requires each ticket purchase to be associated with a government ID. The ID must be presented at entry and must match the ticket sale. As far as I know, they do not have problems with scalpers. So tech might not help, but maybe beaurocracy can :) (Well, they have an issue where everyone tries to buy a ticket at the same time and it crashes their se…

Yes, the obvious solution to the scalper problem is to drop the tech and go back to physical ticket sales outlets. You stand in line, buy a ticket, present your ID, and you receive a ticket with your photo printed on it and a QR code containing your ID info (encrypted if necessary). At the venue, someone checks your photo, and you scan your ID, which must match the one on the ticket. But Ticketmaster would never do t…

Glastonbury was all online. Submitted a photo of my ID.

Re: Why scalpers can get tickets

#329

Post by nonethewiser »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #221

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 re…

> They played 522 shows in 1972 alone

That is insane. How is that possible?

Thats 1.43 shows per day. Its hard to imagine 2 shows per day, let alone traveling. That sounds exhausting.

Re: Why scalpers can get tickets

#330

Post by lolinder »

differentView wrote: post #323
lolinder wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And in turn Ticketmaster is the scapegoat that shields the artists from blame. The primary service that Ticketmaster provides is to protect the artist's reputation while ensuring as much money as possible gets made per event.

But not in the scenario described, where the artists get no additional money from resales.

Not directly, because that would look bad and would miss the point.

The thing is, they don't need to get additional money from the resale directly. If resale makes their events more profitable, their contracts with the venues and Ticketmaster will be more favorable.

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