Blink-182 Tickets Are So Expensive Because Ticketmaster Is a Disastrous Monopoly and Now Everyone Pa

Not a fan of Garth Brooks music, but that’s an awesome approach. Almost like doing “residencies”. Not sure how that works on a cross country tour though. Guys voice must get shot by the end of it (I assume his tours just visit a few hubs and they leave plenty of open dates to be added as needed).

 

why not just use an ethical ticket seller? We had no problems getting tickets to Adelle at listed prices as they had controls in place that only purchasers could pick up tickets at venue. Reseller would have had to attend event, pick up tickets and then give to buyer. not sure why this still wouldn't work if the artists wanted it to.

Inside Adele’s All-Out Fight Against Scalpers – Rolling Stone

Adele’s attempt to cut off scalping follows a long line of fan-friendly artists — Bruce Springsteen, Miley Cyrus, Tom Waits, Metallica and AC/DC have used Ticketmaster’s “paperless” system, requiring buyers to show credit cards and ID to get into shows, while Tom Petty once voided hundreds of tickets purchased through his website. But in recent years, with resale sites racking up billions of dollars, many artists have decided to work with Ticketmaster’s TM+ or StubHub to profit from the secondary market rather than leaving it to scalpers and brokers. “The negative connotation that used to surround reselling tickets has essentially disappeared,” Jon Landau, Springsteen’s manager, told Rolling Stone in 2014. “A large part of the public has accepted this.”

 

The key is to have bad taste in music. Going to see the Heavy, Heavy at a really nice venue for $12 on 11/3.

 

John Oliver did a show on this... it's something like Ticketmaster sells some tickets at face value, and also retains a large number of the best seats that they essentially sell to themselves at face value, then resell at on their 2nd hand market at huge mark ups. IIRC, some the artists are even getting in on this, reserving a large number of tickets for each show in their contract, so they can resell the tickets themselves....

 

Yeah, probably makes a ton money doing that many shows and not have to move his stage set up every day.

 

Screw em all.

 

There’s more to this than Ticketmaster being greedy, and it’s a puzzle that has long stumped economists. The central question is why are concert tickets so cheap in the first place? If they were priced based on market value, there would be no way to scalp them above face value. Instead, they are priced in such a way that they can often be sold immediately for 2-3x face value, which is really weird. What other commodity can you buy and make a profit from selling within minutes?

 

This happened to me with the upcoming Springsteen concert in Orlando. Shook my head at the pricing in the lower bowl at Amway. Ridiculous.

 

I went to my first arena show in a long time a few weeks ago. While the band was good, screw arena shows. They suck. Huge ticket prices, access to the arena and parking are a hassle, most seats are hundreds of feet away from the stage, the sound is usually not very good, and you pay ridiculous prices for beers. See music in smaller clubs if you can. I am fortunate to live in a place where I can see plenty of good bands in smaller bars and clubs.

 

There used to be a Ticketmaster rep on GatorCountry. I had an issue with my BCS Championship tickets in 2008. Some poster helped me out. My tickets were supposed to be delivered 2 days before the game and when they never showed I was freaking out. Luckly she saw my post on Swamp Gas and PMed me. Made arrangements to have my tickets delivered to my Motel in Miami. I don't remember what name she posted under but she saved my ass.

 

Yeah, its definitely gotten worse sense Ticketmaster has tried to control the secondary market, that's why they moved to digital only tickets too. Granted, posting your tickets on an exchange is a lot easier than trying to move them by standing outside a show, but they take a substantial cut on resale.

 

Beyond the Ticketmaster monopoly issue, I think the real problem here is that there are actually people who will pay $600 to see Blink-182. Yikes.

 

I very rarely see bands in large venues which keeps me away from Ticket Bastard. Only time I ever buy from them is for shows at the Chicago Theater but never paid more than a $100. The only other third party sellers I dealt with were AXS and EventBrite. I saw close to 50 live sets this year and didn't pay much more than $600 total.

 

Yeah, there was even a segment on the John Oliver episode talking about how Ticket Master basically facilitates bots and doesn't crack down brokers with 100s of fake accounts (a way to get around 4 ticket limit shows) ... he even had a video of a Ticket Master rep assuring brokers at a conference that they would not implement anti-bot software or block fake accounts... Ticket Master makes the most money when the tickets are bought, and then resold, possibly multiple times, on their secondary market.

 

Agreed, thus far I've really liked the shows I've seen at the 3 amphitheaters closest to me here in FL (Jax, St Aug, and Tampa).

 

Well in 2022, creating a 'sellout' generates demand on the secondary market, which is controlled by the same people selling the face value tickets. For some events they let people buy as many as 10 tickets in 'exclusive' presales. They are basically enabling it!

 

Not a fan of Ticketmaster. They LOVE resales, because they get a lick off the ice cream cones every time a ticket changes hands. Even UF football tickets. If I can't attend a game and need to sell my tickets, TM will recommend a VERY aggressive price point to list at. The higher they can push prices, the higher kickback they get in fees. If I sell a ticket, it's going to be listed as the cheapest ticket in my section. I just want to get my money back out of them.

 

As usual, the people are the problem. Would never pay that yet there are lines of people who will. Same for sporting events. People complain while sucking down $18 beers.

I heard horror stories from people who went to Welcome to Rockville. $40plus for 2 sandwiches. Price gouging everything. No re entry. Several bands canceled due to weather. But here they are lining up to get squeezed for every penny again...

 

Wife bought tickets to see Florence and the Machine. Probably the last arena show I will ever see. She was amazing and the sound was great but it's so far from the stage and impersonal. I've never enjoyed them.