Posts filed under ‘News’
More than 1/2 online ticketing websites may breach consumer laws
More than half of online ticketing websites scrutinised in a sweep coordinated by the European Commission appeared to breach consumer laws. Common issues included: “missing, incomplete and misleading information about prices charged“, and “the imposition of unfair terms and conditions“.
“Regulators from the 27 European Union countries, Norway and Iceland investigated 414 sites, and 247 rang alarm-bells … These will now be probed further by enforcement authorities to verify whether they broke any laws.“
READ FULL ARTICLE ONLINE Ticket websites breaking EU laws>>
17 September, 2010 at 12:18 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 1 comment
Ticketmaster: Transparency or Attribution?
CEO of Ticketmaster Nathan Hubbard has launched a blog called Ticketology which appears to be part of the parent company Live Nation Entertainment’s efforts at greater transparency.
“We get it — you don’t like service fees. You don’t like them mostly because you don’t understand what the heck they are for.“
The mooted transparency appears to be more a case of attribution, however. Prices are not going down, fees are not being reduced and other than specifying some fees a little earlier in the sales process – the final price paid per ticket is still inflated by a diversity of fees and charges.
“Most of the parties in the live event value chain participate in these service fees either directly or indirectly — promoters, venues, teams, artists and, yes, ticketing companies.“
The promised “all-in-pricing” heralded by Live Nation Entertainment chief Irving Azoff still seems beyond his reach and the current sales process used by Ticketmaster gets in the way of that as suggested by Azoff on Twitter.
READ FULL ARTICLE Ticketmaster’s new blog: ‘We get it — you don’t like service fees’
25 August, 2010 at 10:10 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 2 comments
Is Loyalty the Opposite of Dissatisfaction?
“You can’t create a lot of loyal customers until you consistently eliminate areas of dissatisfaction, so start there.“ – Bruce Temkin of Customer Experience Matters.
via Customer Experience Matters
19 August, 2010 at 10:10 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
Apple Adds to Future Ticketing Potential of the iPhone
Adding weight to a previous posting Apple is patently on the move into ticketing comes the announcement that Apple has hired an expert in NFC or described as “one of the big go-to guys if you’re interested in cell phone payment systems“.
Near-Field Communications (NFC) has been applied to public transport for contact free ticketing amongst other things. Qantas is trialling it at Perth Airport currently. “ NFC uses very short-range radio signals to send data between two system, typically with a flat spiral metal antenna–this is concealed inside those smart train tickets (or member card), since it’s both cheap and flexible.“
The difference is that developing this for iPhones may offer greater functionality and new service levels and services: “In high-tech NFC implementations, the antenna is hooked up to something much more powerful like a smartphone. When the phone is placed on or over an NFC sensor pad, much more complicated data can then be sent between the two systems, with data going to and from the phone.“
“NFC tech has been available for years, but it’s only really taken off in a few markets–like Japan–since the benefits have been pretty much limited to its contact-free nature. But now, with smartphones becoming the norm, the cleverer uses of NFC could mean the tech is about to explode into usefulness …“
Apple Hire Wireless Payment Guru, Prepare for iPhone Credit Cards
18 August, 2010 at 10:10 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 2 comments
Shakespeare Free For All-ish?
To avoid the problems of long queues in the heat of Summer, the Washington based Shakespeare Theatre Company is resorting to an online lottery this year to distribute the very popular “free” tickets to this year’s Free For All event Twelfth Night.
“the Shakespeare Theatre Company will distribute the majority of Free For All tickets through an online ticket lottery. Last year, high demand created long lines in the summer heat. We hope this will provide a safer and more pleasant experience for all our patrons. Lottery winners will be randomly selected and notified via email.“
FREE IS A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONCEPT
Sounds like they have quite a balancing act servicing all the ‘constituent’ demands for seats and finally the GP wanting access to free seats.
“We host “Ward Nights,” where D.C. council members and their ward constituents are invited to specific performances. We also host large school groups for some performances through Students for Shakespeare. Because of these reserved groups, certain performances will have fewer seats available, so your patience is appreciated as we reach out to the D.C. community.“
“All 2010–2011 Season subscribers and Friends of Free For All may reserve Free For All tickets in advance for select performances. Anyone may join Friends of Free For All by making a tax-deductible contribution to support this important outreach program. Subscribers are eligible for two tickets, but the number of tickets that Friends of Free For All may reserve varies by level of giving.“
The different categories of Friends and the benefits are listed as follows:
- VIP Friend ($1,500+)
Reserve up to 25 tickets - Producing Friend ($500-$1499)
Reserve up to 10 tickets - Sustaining Friend ($500-$1499)
Reserve up to 8 tickets - Supporting Friend ($250-$349)
Reserve up to 6 tickets - Contributing Friend ($150-$249)
Reserve up to 4 tickets
12 August, 2010 at 1:27 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 1 comment
moshtix Anti-Scalping Survey
Take the moshtix Anti-Scalping Survey – In response to the Government issues paper to investigate ticket on-selling.
1 July, 2010 at 1:03 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 1 comment
Government Review – Ticket Scalping: Ticket onselling and consumers
“The Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council (CCAAC) is conducting a review into ticket onselling and its impact on consumers.
Under its terms of reference CCAAC will examine the following matters as part of its review:
- whether there is consumer detriment and, if so, the level of detriment posed by ticket onselling practices;
- the views of stakeholders affected by ticket onselling practices, including consumer groups, ticketing organisations, auction/reselling websites, and peak sporting and live entertainment bodies;
- actions currently undertaken by industry that seek to limit ticket purchasing by scalpers for re sale;
- the identification of any non regulatory options that could address any harmful practices arising from ticket onselling practices;
- the effectiveness of consumer information to address any consumer detriment associated with ticket onselling practices;
- the effectiveness of current legislation related to ticket onselling practices;
- the impact of technology on ticket onselling practices; and
- the effectiveness of international approaches that address any consumer detriment related to ticket onselling and the appropriateness of these approaches for the Australian marketplace.
The Issues Paper examines current practices relating to ticket onselling and considers possible market responses, including both regulatory and non-regulatory options, and their cost and effectiveness.“
Interested parties are invited to comment on the paper and the closing date for submission is Friday 23 July 2010.
Like this:
12 June, 2010 at 5:18 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 1 comment
RT @davideedle “Have E-Commerce Your Wa
RT @davideedle “Have E-Commerce Your Way” http://bit.ly/ciT1Ky Nice parallels between ebay & online ticketing agents = do it yourself
8 June, 2010 at 1:01 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
Watchdog slaps big-ticket fine on Sistic
Singapore’s competitive watchdog, the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS ), yesterday fined Sistic the dominant ticketing operator in Singapore about $1 million when it ruled that Sistic had stymied its counterparts’ ability to compete.
This is in direct contradiction of the USA and UK governments’ positions and findings with respect to the Live Nation Ticketmaster merger.
“Jointly owned by the Singapore Indoor Stadium and The Esplanade, Sistic also had ‘explicit agreements’ with the venues to be appointed as ticketing agents. Besides that, Sistic also had 17 other agreements with event organisers for it to be appointed as exclusive ticketing agents.“
The exclusive contracts are alleged to represent 60 to 70 % of the local market.
“As a result of the agreements, ticket buyers could buy tickets only through Sistic, causing prices of tickets to increase for which consumers had to bear, said CCS.“
I am not sure how a contract for one agent ticket agent to sell the tickets on behalf of the event owner has a causal link with increases in the face value or price of tickets? Sistic does not set the price of the tickets, they do however set the price of some of the transaction costs worn by the event owner (inside charges) and the consumer (outside charges). But it must be noted that inside and outside charges in Singapore are at very low level internationally as a proportion of ticket price.
7 June, 2010 at 10:09 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 1 comment
Mobile Technology = New Audiences?
A few articles recently regarding traditional venues embracing new technology … or not. A common assumption seems to be that new technology will suddenly make old entertainment formats new and exciting to new and younger audiences.
From The Clyde FitchReport A Vision: Arena Stage Permitting Tweeting During Performances
It refers to a post on Arts Marketing by Chad Bauman where he addresses the demographic challenges facing live theatre by going to the tools of marketing, and in particular Product and Place.
By the way ““Demographic challenges” is the euphemism for “fewer young folks are attending the theater and the average age is rising faster than the federal deficit.”” 
Also on the subject of tweeting, in The Stage West Yorkshire Playhouse decides against ‘tweet seats’
After “… some very interesting conversations about how we communicate with people and whether or not we are embracing the way young people communicate.”
However, the theatre eventually tweeted: “Thanks all for input to ‘tweet seat’ debate, had lots of interesting feedback, more negative than positive and have decided it’s a no go.”
I got a laugh out of the Artsistic Director Ian Brown’s response “People who think tweeting during performances [is a good idea] have to be prepared to tell the actors that is what will be happening. I shall be hiding”.
On a slightly different tack Yankee Stadium Bans iPads
Yankee Stadium has banned iPads under the same security concerns as the ban of laptops at the venue. Wi-Fi is available throughout the venue yet laptops and iPads are banned. You may have take a laptop out for screening at the airport, but not an iPad. I would have thought airports and planes would have greater security concerns than Yankee Stadium?
Hmm I wonder if broadcasting and streaming rights have any thing to do with it?
26 May, 2010 at 2:14 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
