Ted Leo on Ticket Prices & the 9:30 Club

[ggw]

From: www.tedleo.com
 
 

Yikes! I just got a very welcome e-mail from a guy going to the 9:30 this week informing me of insane surcharges on the tickets he purchased. I must heartily apologize to any and all who have experienced this as well. Honestly, I didn't even look into who was handling ticketing for this show, but of course, the culprit (if you don't go directly through the club) is... yeah, you guessed it: Ticketmaster. And of course, as I now look at my own web-site, I see that there's a Ticketmaster link below a bunch of the shows... DUH... Man, am I sorry about this. Alright, well anyway, I present, for your perusal, our conversation below, and ask you to accept my apologies to the "D" as apologies to you as well. We'll stay on top of it, I promise...
 
 
 On Jun 11, 2005, at 4:21 PM, D**** wrote:
 
 Hey, this email might be better sent to your bookign agent, but I was wondering why you book with clubs that use the great evil that is ticketmaster? Is it because they usually are larger venues or is this just something you don't normally pay attention to? I'm only asking because I was buying a ticket to your show at the 9:30 club in Washington DC, which is 12 dollars, but with all the extra surcharges, it becomes a $25 dollar show. I hate to sound whiny, even though that's probably what I'm coming off as, but do you think that on future tours you could support smaller venues, or is that just not an option?
 
 Thanks, D*****
 
 
 -- Response:
 
 Ouch! That is rough, man -- I'm sorry about that. I just tried to buy a ticket through Ticketmaster myself, and found that if I chose to pick it up at the venue, it comes out to just under $20, which is still ridiculous, but not $25 -- did you ask them to overnight it to you or something? It sucks, either way, I know... One option would have been to buy them directly from the 9:30 box office, but that doesn't really help you at this point, either... Ticketmaster is an organization that has never really been a part of our equation before, and assuming that on-line ticketing would be done through the club (as it is at most of the places we've been playing for the past many many years) we didn't really look into what was going on with it for this particular show. Oddly enough, though, one thing I do know about Ticketmaster, is that the DC Ticketmaster franchise is the only one in the country that wasn't bought out by the larger corporation, and thus, remains independent of much of their shittiness. Apparently not enough of it, though!
 
 Be that as it may, when we have only one night to spend in a town, we have to face the crappy choice of having more than half of the people who might want to see us not be able to get in by playing the smaller clubs we've all been accustomed to, or going with the bigger clubs (9:30 in DC, Irving Plaza in NYC, etc.). And I don't mean to diss the 9:30 -- it's an amazing club, that we're psyched to be able to "move up" to -- but in essence, it's the spike in attendance that's why we're there this time around, and not doing multiple nights at the Black Cat, like last time. For instance, in December, at the Cat, we did two nights, with each night over-selling to 800+ people in a 600 capacity club. We simply can't stay for multiple nights on this trip, so we had to go with the 9:30, which has a 1200 capacity, still, possibly locking some people out, but considerably less than had we gone with the Cat again for only one night. You can't really just block out 2/3 of the people who want to come see you, so unfortunately, small venues aren't really an option sometimes. We are, however, extremely conscientious about the "business" side of our business. I've spent the last "x" amount of years of my life playing small venues, and learning how to control the things you need to, while allowing your "thing" to grow, and you can bet that there's a reason for just about every choice I (and Mahmood, my booking agent) make. This time, however, things were being booked while I was overseas for months, blah, blah, blah, not much of an excuse, I know... and it seems like we dropped the ball. I apologize for that. I'm sorry you had such a frustrating experience -- I'll be sure to look deeper into ticketing issues for the next tour! Thanks.
 
 --TL
 
 P.S. -- I hope you won't mind me putting this conversation on my website, in case there are others who are wondering what you are as well. I'll delete your name and e-mail addy. Thanks!
 
 So sorry about this everybody!
 Always Learning,
 --Ted
 

[cdg]

Well, the first problem with that message is the 930 club does not use ticketmaster...

[you be betty]

right, but tickets.com still charges you stuff...
 
 
 [sympathy]

[Bartelby]

Pretty nice of Ted to write those lengthy emails back to his fans, considering he is probably a busy dude.  Seems like he's sincerely appreciative of his fans...Maybe we can get our illustrious Congress to hold hearings on excessive service fees in the ticketing industry.  After all, the Feds. went after a new payola scandal with Sony.  Let's start an email campaign demanding such from Congress.

[ttuamy]

and the second problem is that the black cat uses ticketmaster.

[LRHippo]

Originally posted by cdg:
  Well, the first problem with that message is the 930 club does not use ticketmaster...

Not only that, but he mentions the Black Cat, which does use ticketmaster...

[BookerT]

comparison time.
 
 the wrens @ the black cat
 ticket price = $12
 total price after ticketmaster's convenience and processing charge (using will call) = $15.75
 
 will hoge @ 9:30 club
 ticket price = $12
 total price after tickets.com's service charge and other other processing fees (using will call) = $19.75
 
 i see a lesser of two evils there.

[amnesiac]

Originally posted by BookerT:
  comparison time.
 
 the wrens @ the black cat
 ticket price = $12
 total price after ticketmaster's convenience and processing charge (using will call) = $15.75
 
 will hoge @ 9:30 club
 ticket price = $12
 total price after tickets.com's service charge and other other processing fees (using will call) = $19.75
 
 i see a lesser of two evils there.

Yeah, I believe Tickets.com charges you for will call, while Ticketmaster does not

[cdg]

well what solution do you see for the club if they don't use one of the ticketing agents?  they all charge high service fees, even the smaller ones.  people can go to the box office and buy the tickets and there is only a $1 service charge.  it's not like the club gets the service charges from tickets.com.

[Bags]

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
 I was buying a ticket to your show at the 9:30 club in Washington DC, which is 12 dollars, but with all the extra surcharges, it becomes a $25 dollar show.  

How in the hell did a $12 show become $25 -- the guy must be including parking.  Hello, if you're adding parking, it's not part of the ticket price.
 
 I hate to sound like I'm all pro tickets.com, but there aren't alternatives to getting tickets if you can't get to the box office, outside of Mankie's refrain, boycott shows.

[Bags]

on-line ticketing would be done through the club (as it is at most of the places we've been playing for the past many many years)

Alright, I want to know what small clubs sell their own tickets online...Bowery Ballroom does, but they put your name in a book and you CANNOT sell it or hand it off to someone else without going to the show.  It's a bad scenario, I assure you (having been jerked around by the person who bought tickets and decided to skip the show).
 
   

Be that as it may, when we have only one night to spend in a town, we have to face the crappy choice of having more than half of the people who might want to see us not be able to get in by playing the smaller clubs we've all been accustomed to, or going with the bigger clubs ... You can't really just block out 2/3 of the people who want to come see you, so unfortunately, small venues aren't really an option sometimes.

And that's the point.  There are now several hundred folks who want to see him, and so he no longer plays at "pay when you show up" places like DC9 or the Warehouse.  Probably a good thing for folks coming from far away who now don't have to worry about showing up for a show that's already sold out.  But surely someone would complain about that, as well.

[Arlette]

The ticket agencies don't set all the fees, the clubs have a hand in it.  And they get rebates from the ticket agencies from the fees we pay. It's a nice little secret.  
 
 Ticketmaster has become TicketBastard and is perceived as so evil that everyone blames them and the other ticket agencies.  But most clubs share in those service fees and could cut their take if they wanted to.

[Bartelby]

Originally posted by Bags:
 

[qb] on-line ticketing would be done through the club (as it is at most of the places we've been playing for the past many many years)[/b]

Alright, I want to know what small clubs sell their own tickets online...Bowery Ballroom does, but they put your name in a book and you CANNOT sell it or hand it off to someone else without going to the show.  It's a bad scenario, I assure you (having been jerked around by the person who bought tickets and decided to skip the show).
 
 Just for the record "will call" is handled at the 930 the same way - even tho tickets are purchased thru either tickets.com or band websites. Most band website presales do not ship and their "presale" customer lists do not get to the 930 offices until the DAY OF THE SHOW, so you cannot pick them up earlier.  Try transferring THOSE tickets to someone else without giving them your license and/or credit card...it all sucks.
 BTW:  Jammin Java has a nice private ticket sales system...and probably transferrable with a phone call if you reach the right peeps on the phone.

[Bags]

Originally posted by BadSushi:
  Just for the record "will call" is handled at the 930 the same way - even tho tickets are purchased thru either tickets.com or band websites. Most band website presales do not ship and their "presale" customer lists do not get to the 930 offices until the DAY OF THE SHOW, so you cannot pick them up earlier. Try transferring THOSE tickets to someone else without giving them your license and/or credit card...it all sucks.
 

No, it's not the same.  First, you can go pick up Will Call tickets at the 9:30 Club anytime -- days or weeks before the show.  I've done it.
 
 Or, even night of the show, they hand you three tickets which you can sell, hand off to someone else, etc.  You can even leave a ticket back at Will Call under someone else's name.  Easy.  Yes, you have to go pick up the ticket at some point as the purchaser, but you can do anything you want with the physical ticket.
 
 At Bowery, they have your name in a book with the number of tickets next to you (no physical tickets get handed off) -- you all go in together.  You can't say -- I'm holding three tickets for people coming later.  It's truly odd and an awful process.

[Bartelby]

Thanks for setting me straight.  Glad it works well for you.