Hang on … who runs the venue – The venue management or Ticketmaster?
30 September, 2010 at 3:50 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 1 comment
It may be me being thick, but this article seems to continue the confusion over who runs a venue, who hires the venue and owns the act and who is just an agent.
This article would be amusing if it were not for the large number of annoyed customers and fans judging by the comments.
Just because you can gouge some customers does not mean you should disadvantage all customers. This is a shortsighted tactic that hopefully will be discouraged by consumer backlash.
Or am I just being naive?
Some classic quotes for your amusement:
“Ticketmaster, the official ticket agency for the O2, tells fans that using “market-based pricing” for tickets will give them a better chance of seeing their favourite groups than using set prices.“
“The most expensive price of all – £675.03 for a pair of tickets in block A1 – was charged by Simply Red, the Mancunian band fronted by Mick Hucknall, the Labour-supporting singer whose songs include ‘Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)’.“
Why do we charge £200 a ticket? Because the touts do, says the O2
Entry filed under: box office, scalping, Ticketmaster. Tags: competition, live nation ticketmaster agency, Ticketmaster, Venue Exclusive Contracts.
1.
Tim Roberts | 4 October, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Maybe I am cynical, but I suspect it is just another example of Ticketmaster gouging what it can and more from the market to no real nett positive impact.
“Ticketmaster’s Official Platinum Tickets program enables market-based pricing (adjusting prices according to supply and demand) for live event tickets, similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold. The goal is to give the most passionate fans fair and safe access to the best tickets, while enabling artists and other people involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their true value.” Am I the only one who sees this as pure spin?
The numbers from the Ticketmaster purchase page:
Face Value = £65
Official Platinum Ticket Price = £204.97 = 215% markup for no real extra benefits.
However, the only charge that appeared to be added upon purchase was a “Delivery Charge (TicketFast®)” of £2.25 for me to use my paper and toner to print out the tickets. Surely £2.25 could have been included in the Platinum Price with its £139.97 markup it would have been 218% as opposed to 215%?
The reason I suggest this is that there appears to be no extra charges (or reduction in charges) levied on Platinum customers, however I am sure that TM is taking a sizeable chunk of the additional £140 tax upon this ticket (in addition to the booking fee they would earn on the original £65 ticket).
I do find it interesting that they state “The price you pay is the original price of the ticket“, yet they also state on the purchase page the “face value”. I presume that is legally required, yet they seem to be trying to confuse the issue?
I was amused by the opt in “I would like to receive information by email and post from companies in the financial services, entertainment, telecommunications, publishing, charities, education, travel, car manufacturing and retail sectors regarding their products or services.” Does anyone seriously actually agree to be hassled in this manner?