My position on scalping...

[mrcid]

But this is where your explanations take a turn into fairy tale land. Never in the history of ticket brokering has one individual or group or even the entire collective of brokers ever bought ALL of the tickets for an event. By most standards, brokers may buy up to a maximum of 10% or less of the tickets for any given event. Even at this percentage, it becomes a huge gamble and prices are almost sure to plummet to well below face value before event time. If the brokers bought up ALL of the tickets for a given event, there would be ZERO value in the tickets.

[Seth Hurwitz]

OK let me revise that

this would be like someone buying the remaining guiness

anyway, point is, I am a capitalist and will charge you as much for a beer as I think I can get away with, before too many people get pissed off...same with tickets

but I would like to be the one setting those prices in my businesses, not someone else

and I have zero concern for people that categorically whine about prices going up, because those people have zero concern about my financial picture

[Injun Joe]

Here's the difference...

I am not complaining about ticket prices

I am complaining about people buying up all the tickets and then jacking the price up from what was intended to be charged

This would be like someone entering the club, buying all the Guiness we had, and setting up shop selling them at twice the price

Your 1st two sentences are an oxymoron.  You are indeed complaining about the prices.  I can buy Guiness for 1/5 of the price you charge.  Did Guiness intend for the beer to be sold at $9 a beer?  Not what they charge.  But you have overhead and intend to make a profit with your business, right?  It's all about capitalism, isn't it now?  Go sell some overpriced beer and stop whining.

[wml7]

someone call the wahbulance

[set1914]

I was never happy with ticket scalping, but I never had a real problem with it. At times, I had go this route to get to see a show or sporting event. I now have a problem with it, since some artist, sports teams and promoters and moving their tickets to ?ticket brokers? to sell at a higher prices. I can not blame them for doing this when the see what the scalpers are making. The only way this is going to stop is when people stop buying tickets via a ticket broker (a nice way to say  ticket scalper).

[Seth Hurwitz]

My point of starting this topic was because it seemed to be assumed that, as a promoter, I participated in this sot of thing

not claiming sainthood, just wanted to set the record straight

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

This would be like someone entering the club, buying all the Guiness we had, and setting up shop selling them at twice the price

As long as they have the appropriate licensing from the District of Columbia's alcohol beverage control department, how could someone have a problem with that?

[walkonby]

say what you will about that overpriced shite in a can, when you should be drinking abitha or 930 ale from the basement bar . . . . but this goes out to seth for posting this thread in the first place.



go tarheels.

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

go tarheels.

ABC: Anyone But Carolina.

[bkrome]

Its the big time companies and ebay power sellers who appear to make a living off of scalping that frustrate me.  Its a low way to make a living.  I don't mind as much buying a ticket for a little guy on ebay or craigslist selling a couple of tickets.

and yeah any info about vfest? please? hints?

[serpent boy]

I'll avoid the beer topic because I don't drink, so therefore it doesn't affect me.

I'm glad Seth is clarifying his position in this thread, though I had never doubted him in the first place. As noted in the Reznor post above, a lot of promoters and club owners DO actively participate in the scalping. By not condoning scalping, Seth is at least making some of the process transparent for 9:30 Club shows. Though it'll still occur no matter what safeguards are put into place, it's good to know that one part of the equation is clear.

I've always felt like I've had more than a fair shot at 9:30 Club tickets for any show. The soft-sale almost never sells out instantly, so if I miss a show, it's my fault for not reading Just Announced or paying attention. The shows I do miss (Bloc Party, for example) often fall victim to the Craigslist scalpers, so if I want to go to a show, I know what I have to do.

I'm interested in seeing what bands have facilitated jacking up prices since Reznor claims they are a big part of it.

Couldn't 9:30 Club also require something like the name and last four digits of a credit card on all tickets (to big shows, at least) to prevent scalping? I realize this makes the staff's job a bit tougher, but it can also decrease scalping.

[Herr Professor Doktor Doom]

say what you will about that overpriced shite in a can



go tarheels.

Yeah, Guiness is a whole additional level of ripoff... take mass-produced crap, add to it a lot of bogus "Irish" imagery, and distribute it for 10 times what it's actually worth.

I haven't been to Ireland for a long time, but I'm guessing Irish people with taste don't walk into a pub and order Guiness any more than self-respecting Australians order Foster's.

[Chip Chanko]

I haven't been to Ireland for a long time, but I'm guessing Irish people with taste don't walk into a pub and order Guiness any more than self-respecting Australians order Foster's.

I spent a year over there in 94/95 and from my memory most people drank either Budweiser or Guinness. I was pretty surprised about the Budweiser.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/08-08/best-selling-beers-around-the-world.html


Ireland


 Some people don?t really consider stout a beer at all, but we do, and otherwise we couldn?t even mention the way Guinness dominates the market in Ireland. Domestic sales have actually been dropping a bit for the past few years, though they still account for nearly half of the total in the country. Fans of the stuff insist the lines have to be clean and the beer has to be fresh, so it always tastes better in Ireland than it does elsewhere. It's now brewed in almost 50 different countries worldwide, and even though the company insists it's all the same, this could help explain why it seems better in some places than in others. The best selling lager is Harp, which happens to be owned by Diageo, which is the same London-based company that owns Guinness.

say what you will about that overpriced shite in a can



go tarheels.

Yeah, Guiness is a whole additional level of ripoff... take mass-produced crap, add to it a lot of bogus "Irish" imagery, and distribute it for 10 times what it's actually worth.

I haven't been to Ireland for a long time, but I'm guessing Irish people with taste don't walk into a pub and order Guiness any more than self-respecting Australians order Foster's.

[RatBastard]

I'm interested in seeing what bands have facilitated jacking up prices since Reznor claims they are a big part of it.

Aerosmith does.  They scalp tickets to their own fan club members.  They try very hard to disguise it as a promotional package, but what you get at face value costs several hundred dollars less than what they charge you.