The concert industry is instituting a new “fan-focused” ticketing strategy.
Essentially, you swipe your credit card (with maybe an ID check) and you are given access to the venue. No electronic or physical copy of the ticket is ever provided.
The stated reason for this : to curb scalping. To put the “Fans First”
This strategy is even backed by the “Fans First Coalition”. Wow. A new group comprised of artists, venues, the Carolina Hurricanes NHL team, and….Ticketmaster.
To follow the logic. By making your ticket tied to your ID, scalpers can not get the tickets to hot events. The fallout from this is, you can not give away your ticket or sell it. But wait!!! We’ll get to that later.
I’m all for paperless. I wonder if the Fan’s First Coalition will also stipulate that they will never dynamically price the tickets up or down, will release all the production/venue/artist/team holds at time of public sale, and WILL NEVER ALLOW PAPERLESS TICKETS TO BE SOLD ANYWHERE. Wouldn’t that put the fan’s first?
Here’s the real deal malt-o-meal. And it doesn’t take a genius to see it.
TicketMaster is a scalper. It is true. They own TicketsNow. A company dedicated to ticket resale. Scalping, if you will. During a Bruce Springsteen tour, tickets sold out quickly and a helpful link was put on the TicketMaster page sending the buyer to scalper land at TicketsNow. TicketMaster put the fans first, there! It was so consumer friendly some state Attorney Generals found it to be worth looking into.
More recent history. Project Showtime.
Let’s add the real layer.
TicketMaster, of course, does not just sell tickets. They often are the artist manager and promoter. They have a vested economic interest in the WHOLE show. Not just the moving tickets part, baby. THE GROSS. All the money, honey. You get the idea.
So. They want to put the fans first. Like all things. Follow the money.
I’m amazed that various circles are essentially favoring DRM for tickets while saying it doesn’t work for recorded music. In almost all areas, people are asking for more utility and flexibility from their purchases. Not less. But. To put fans first, we are going to make going to a concert akin to getting on an aircraft.
With my DRM-ticket. What’s the advantage to TicketMaster?
It is easy to see.
Sooner or later, when the fans are pissed they can’t sell these paperless tickets…where o where will they go? Would it be logical to think that TicketsNow will become the authorized resaler of paperless (DRM enabled) tickets. Yep. Or someone else. Where TicketMaster gets a cut.
It is obvious this strategy doesn’t expand the market of buyers. Unless everyone wants to include their credit card with their gift of a ticket purchase.
Here son, enjoy the show. Here’s my credit card!
I can’t go to the show tonight. Joe, you wanna go? Here’s my credit card, have a good time.
Obviously there is another economic interest.
So. TicketMaster DRM’s their tickets. And can then control resale. Or bump them back and forth between the primary and secondary. Same principle as the overpriced Platinum Seat offers that end up on regular TicketMaster. Sounds like a good game if they do it. Is that Fan First?
Has anyone asked these simple questions? Better. Is there a valid statistical sample out there for the following:
1)How many no-shows over the old model does this create (loss in parking/concession/merch sales)
2)How many fans will now delay purchase….which turns into no purchase?
3)How many fans once they hear they have to swipe a credit card at the venue will be turned off completely?
4)Did the All Paperless Ticket Tour of Miley Cyrus effectively end her ability to play an arena? Who is next?
There is some obvious give and take with this. So there has to be something else at play. I think it is control.
Next batter. Let’s throw a pitch.
Dynamic pricing.
The lastest (not a typo) supposed savior to TicketMaster/LiveNation’s financial issues is dynamic pricing. How does this fit in with DRM-enabled (paperless tickets)?
Do the math.
As a promoter and artist manager, LiveNation is essentially no winning themselves. If scalpers are seen making a bundle, the artist wonders why that money didn’t go to them. The artist may feel like LN fucked up to put it bluntly. On the other side. Over price the shit out of it like Christina Aguilera, and you end up with clownish cancellations. Or worse. $0.99 cent tickets on the scalper market. Essentially the death bell for an artist. When tix are free and people still stay away? Career is over.
Paperless tickets fixes that. Prices can be controlled much more easily.
I can go on. But it is pointless.
More window dressing to distract the truth. Put another coat of paint on an outhouse and it is still a shithole. This whole Fan Friendly movement on both sides should have theme songs that are Auto-Tuned to distortion. It is that easy to see it for what it is.
How about this.
Focus on artists with talent. Which equates to staying power. Teach artists about basic economics and building a career. But that takes time. And is harder to say then. “I’m going to make you a star, sign here!” or “I’m gonna make you rich!” Artists should be asking their team what happens in 3 years, not now. If the here and now isn’t obvious? Then they are hopeless.
And releasing all the good seats at once? The public will get enough of them. They always do. Just ask Dispatch.
The blunt truth is this. Outside of a select cadre of artists and their representatives….no one gives one fucking shit about the fan. We are all just another digit to be binned and shaken down. The factors really killing the live music model at the arena/stadium/amp level are plain to see. But looking in the mirror is always harder than pointing the finger.
We all know that. Cause I just did it.
In the end? I don’t care either way. The end result will be the same. A smoking crater.
Scalpers blow out tickets below cost all the time. My confidence that LiveNation will implement this flawlessly without highly entertaining backlash (that I don’t have to pay to watch)? Yea. It’s all good. I just know where I’d rather see the money go. And, my bet is, when the public catches up? I’ll be marching with the masses on this one.
