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People are never going to understand supply & demand. They always feel entitled to face value prices while ignoring basic market realities. The Chicago Cubs exp

People are never going to understand supply & demand. They always feel entitled to face value prices while ignoring basic market realities. The Chicago Cubs experimented a few years back with a variation of an auction format for primary ticketing and it completely bombed. Now, instead, they have vested interests in most of the broker shops populating the area around Wrigley Field including roof top tickets. Similar end result, different method. My favorite stories relate to when an artist gives out tickets for a free show then becomes enraged when a secondary market forms for them. Their problems would be a lot bigger if a market never formed to begin with... Also, if the team/fan is really concerned with certain people being excluded due to prices, they should hold a lottery based on cell phone verification. Or make tickets will-call pick up only (photo ID and purchasing credit card required). But even methods like this can be gamed and often lead to more headaches. The interesting part about all of this is the opposite is happening for most teams and artists: http://ticketstumbler.com/new-stuff/2009/03/08/reillys-right-tickets-are-cheap/ http://ticketstumbler.com/new-stuff/2009/03/08/reillys-right...

unalone 18y ago
Are there any musicians who run market bids on tickets, so they're the ones controlling the primary market? Is that legal? (If not, it's a shame: I think that might be a good solution both for letting newer bands sell lots of cheaper tickets and for helping bigger bands make a good profit from touring.)
- fallentimes 18y ago
  No major ones that I know of. A few years back Pearl Jam tried to do its own ticketing (instead of using Ticketmaster)and it was a disaster. The site couldn't handle the thousands of requests per second.
fallentimes 18y ago
Perfect example - Jay Leno: http://www.ticketnews.com/Jay-Leno-wants-free-tickets-taken-off-eBay309171 http://www.ticketnews.com/Jay-Leno-wants-free-tickets-taken-...
r7000 18y ago
The industry also tried fan clubs and pre-sales but that just created sites where people swap "pre-sale passwords".
- fallentimes 18y ago
  Or people sell them on Ebay. Hannah Montana presale passwords were going for hundreds of dollars.
daleharvey 18y ago
artists and others have completely sorted out supply and demand, my tickets for celtic vs inverness caley thistle were significantly less than my ones for celtic vs manchester united, oasis play to 100,000 instead of a pub of 50 people. the scalpers just work at a more granular level, there is obviously a natural market for it, but it hurts the fans without money, doesnt help the artists at all, the only people to benefit are the scalpers, (and marginally the people who are happy buying marked up tickets)

unalone 18y ago

Are there any musicians who run market bids on tickets, so they're the ones controlling the primary market? Is that legal? (If not, it's a shame: I think that might be a good solution both for letting newer bands sell lots of cheaper tickets and for helping bigger bands make a good profit from touring.)

fallentimes 18y ago
No major ones that I know of. A few years back Pearl Jam tried to do its own ticketing (instead of using Ticketmaster)and it was a disaster. The site couldn't handle the thousands of requests per second.

fallentimes 18y ago

Perfect example - Jay Leno: http://www.ticketnews.com/Jay-Leno-wants-free-tickets-taken-off-eBay309171 http://www.ticketnews.com/Jay-Leno-wants-free-tickets-taken-...

r7000 18y ago

The industry also tried fan clubs and pre-sales but that just created sites where people swap "pre-sale passwords".

fallentimes 18y ago
Or people sell them on Ebay. Hannah Montana presale passwords were going for hundreds of dollars.

daleharvey 18y ago

artists and others have completely sorted out supply and demand, my tickets for celtic vs inverness caley thistle were significantly less than my ones for celtic vs manchester united, oasis play to 100,000 instead of a pub of 50 people. the scalpers just work at a more granular level, there is obviously a natural market for it, but it hurts the fans without money, doesnt help the artists at all, the only people to benefit are the scalpers, (and marginally the people who are happy buying marked up tickets)