What Did You Just Buy Tickets To?

[Starsky]

There is a common misconception that to be profitable - to show a profit for the promoter, the venue, the acts - a show must sell well.

I don’t believe it necessarily works that way.

[Space Freely]

They should start enticing customers to buy early vs. waiting until the last minute. Have different tiered pricing if you buy early vs. buy late. It's very rare I buy tickets in advance these days unless it's a show I know I won't want to miss.

i think that model works for shows that they don't expect to sell out, or just barely sell out. 

for high-demand shows, the ones that will sell the majority of their tickets in the first few hours or days, it would make sense to have decreasing tickets prices.  folks that really want to attend and/or insist on good seats, will pay the higher price up front; while those on the fence or with price sensitivity will be willing to wait for a discount.

Don't they already do this?

[Dejecty-hatch lııllı|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl]

There is a common misconception that to be profitable - to show a profit for the promoter, the venue, the acts - a show must sell well.

I don’t believe it necessarily works that way.

like the act gets a pre-agreed payout even if nobody shows
I assume the promoter and the venue take a hit if nobody shows

[Starsky]

We’ll come on now

I didn’t say “nobody “!

[sweetcell]

There is a common misconception that to be profitable - to show a profit for the promoter, the venue, the acts - a show must sell well.

I don’t believe it necessarily works that way.

could you elaborate on that?

my understanding is that for a show to be profitable, you need to sell most of the seats.  if you're only expecting to sell 2,000 ticket, you book the Warner - not (whatever the phone booth is called these days).  you might not need to sell 100% of the tickets to make money, but there is a minimum number needed to break even.  no idea if it's 70%, 85%, or whatever, but a majority of tickets must be sold... i don't think you can break even by selling 5,000 tickets in a 22,000 seat venue, but happy to learn otherwise.

[sweetcell]

for high-demand shows, the ones that will sell the majority of their tickets in the first few hours or days, it would make sense to have decreasing tickets prices.  folks that really want to attend and/or insist on good seats, will pay the higher price up front; while those on the fence or with price sensitivity will be willing to wait for a discount.

Don't they already do this?

i'm not aware of this occurring... in general, tickets sell for same price on day 1 as they do on night of the show.  if anything, venues tack on a small day-of price bump, like "$40 advance/$45 at door".

[Space Freely]

for high-demand shows, the ones that will sell the majority of their tickets in the first few hours or days, it would make sense to have decreasing tickets prices.  folks that really want to attend and/or insist on good seats, will pay the higher price up front; while those on the fence or with price sensitivity will be willing to wait for a discount.

Don't they already do this?

i'm not aware of this occurring... in general, tickets sell for same price on day 1 as they do on night of the show.  if anything, venues tack on a small day-of price bump, like "$40 advance/$45 at door".

I was talking about dynamic ticket pricing.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/08/17/springsteen-ticketmaster-dynamic-pricing-infuriates-music-fans/10310415002/

[Starsky]

I mean every year LN books thousands of shows in sheds that don’t come close to selling out and they make money

The good seats usually sell over time  in most shows…fact nobody bought them in presales doesn’t mean they won’t sell

Point is if a band is playing a venue with 20,000 capacity that doesn’t mean promoter assumes they will sell 18,000 tickets! The offer they make to the act reflects what they think sales will be..Do they get burned once in a while? Sure…but overall they know what they are doing..it’s their ass on line

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

I mean every year LN books thousands of shows in sheds that don’t come close to selling out and they make money

The good seats usually sell over time  in most shows…fact nobody bought them in presales doesn’t mean they won’t sell

Point is if a band is playing a venue with 20,000 capacity that doesn’t mean promoter assumes they will sell 18,000 tickets! The offer they make to the act reflects what they think sales will be..Do they get burned once in a while? Sure…but overall they know what they are doing..it’s their ass on line

Yeah, I agree with this. 9:30 Club or The National have half-sold-out shows all the time; the fact both venues remain open despite this tells you they aren't taking a bath on every show with <95% attendance.

[kosmo vinyl]

Anyone catch any of the testimony the member of the band Lawrence gave yesterday in the LiveNation/Ticketmaster hearing?

This probably isn't all of it but I think the key points are made in this bit, including LiveNation charging the band $250 for 10 towels

https://twitter.com/JordanUhl/status/1617973515889836035?s=20&t=MIZ0cfzdazvhIaLS__6_RQ

Another important exchange

"There's literally not been a single time in our career where we've played at a Live Nation venue where we had any opportunity to not have Live Nation be the promoter or Ticketmaster be the ticketing company." -
@lawrencetheband
 

https://twitter.com/econliberties/status/1617923078725722112?s=20&t=MIZ0cfzdazvhIaLS__6_RQ

[grateful]

I mean every year LN books thousands of shows in sheds that don’t come close to selling out and they make money

The good seats usually sell over time  in most shows…fact nobody bought them in presales doesn’t mean they won’t sell

Point is if a band is playing a venue with 20,000 capacity that doesn’t mean promoter assumes they will sell 18,000 tickets! The offer they make to the act reflects what they think sales will be..Do they get burned once in a while? Sure…but overall they know what they are doing..it’s their ass on line

Yeah, I agree with this. 9:30 Club or The National have half-sold-out shows all the time; the fact both venues remain open despite this tells you they aren't taking a bath on every show with <95% attendance.

It's been said a million times before. Nightclub 9:30 makes most of its money selling alcohol. Ticket sales and merch are basically a breakeven.

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

I mean every year LN books thousands of shows in sheds that don’t come close to selling out and they make money

The good seats usually sell over time  in most shows…fact nobody bought them in presales doesn’t mean they won’t sell

Point is if a band is playing a venue with 20,000 capacity that doesn’t mean promoter assumes they will sell 18,000 tickets! The offer they make to the act reflects what they think sales will be..Do they get burned once in a while? Sure…but overall they know what they are doing..it’s their ass on line

Yeah, I agree with this. 9:30 Club or The National have half-sold-out shows all the time; the fact both venues remain open despite this tells you they aren't taking a bath on every show with <95% attendance.

It's been said a million times before. Nightclub 9:30 makes most of its money selling alcohol. Ticket sales and merch are basically a breakeven.

Correct. This doesn’t disagree with what I said at all.

[sweetcell]

Here's 52 seconds of senators making Taylor Swift references at the Ticketmaster hearing.

[Dejecty-hatch lııllı|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl]

Here's 52 seconds of senators making Taylor Swift references at the Ticketmaster hearing.

OMG, beautiful

[grateful]

Here's 52 seconds of senators making Taylor Swift references at the Ticketmaster hearing.

OMG, beautiful

I don't think I've ever heard a Taylor Swift song. It seems like this might be marginally funny if I had.