What's the purpose of "pre-selling"?

[freddyadu]

Is it to reward members of a mailing list?  Passwords inevitably are released. It just causes increased confusion and more of a chance that tickets won't be available.
 
 I had the password awhile ago, but I assumed that demand wouldn't have been that great.
 
 Now everyone will be checking back frequently to make sure they have the times, password, luck on their side.
 
 Isn't this shite usually reserved for Metallica and Korn? I guess I've been away too long and Wilco is huuuuuuuge now.  

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

So how are things going with DC United? are your teammates snapping your ass with wet towels on the shower after your games?'
 
 You got older women throwing themselves at youi?

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

To answer your question...I imagine the whole password thing is all about creating hype and making schmucks like me think they need to buy quickly rather than going to the box office and saving on the service charges.

[Bombay Chutney]

It's a semi-successful attempt to get tickets into the hands of the fans that are willing to put forth a little extra effort to see their favorite bands.  Yes, passwords are inevitably released, but apparently this one wasn't all that easy to get, based on the number of requests in the other thread. Even some of the well-informed regulars here seemed to miss it.
 
 It's not a perfect system, but it's usually much easier to get tickets via the presale than it is on the regular on-sale date. You just need to do your research and start clicking at 9:59am.  With a few exceptions, that'll work almost every time.
 
 Without the presales, you have to fight with everyone else who saw the big ad in the City Paper, heard the radio announcements, check out every show that goes on sale every Thursday, and all of their friends who they called to tell them the big news.
 
 Presales rule.

[igor]

another tip, have a document open with pretyped personal info, so you can just cut & paste the credit card info, your name, address, etc.
 
 of course this will only work if you are there at 9:59 clicking away.

[Bombay Chutney]

Better yet - setup an account on tickets.com.  All you'll need to do is enter your login/password and all of your info is already there.

[jkeisenh]

None of this matters... really.  What matters is that you get tickets in your "cart" thingy.  Once they're in your cart, you have a few minutes to type your mailing address and billing info.  So whether or not you have a tickets. com login or have your info ready to go has nothing to do with whether you get tickets... unless you type really slow.
 
 repeat...
 the key is getting them in the cart.
 
 

Originally posted by igor:
  another tip, have a document open with pretyped personal info, so you can just cut & paste the credit card info, your name, address, etc.
 
 of course this will only work if you are there at 9:59 clicking away.

[igor]

or that, hehehe.  
 
 musictoday doesn't have that option though, which i used today since i couldn't get ahold of the tickets.com password.

[tklancer]

Which, of course, raises an interesting question -- where DID the password come from?  I don't recall seeing a mail to the mailing list about it (and I'm pretty sure I would've noticed that).  I knew about the wilcoworld one, but where the #%@# was the 9:30 one announced?

[jkeisenh]

Read the "Wilco and Ween" thread.
 Or the USPS 9:30 thread.
 Or any of the other superfluous threads newbies have started about the Wilco ticket sale.
 
 

Originally posted by tklancer:
  Which, of course, raises an interesting question -- where DID the password come from?  I don't recall seeing a mail to the mailing list about it (and I'm pretty sure I would've noticed that).  I knew about the wilcoworld one, but where the #%@# was the 9:30 one announced?

[tklancer]

Well, damn.  USPS.  How, uh, quaint.
 
 I suppose I'll have to sign up for that now...

[Bombay Chutney]

Originally posted by chimbly sweep:
  repeat...
 the key is getting them in the cart.
 

Oh yeah - once they're in the cart - they're yours. But I guarantee that in the excitement of getting through during a big sale like this, lots of people enter the wrong info, or just don't do it properly. That's why tickets to shows that "sellout" in a matter of seconds have more tickets available 5-10 minutes later.  Having a preset account with all of your info gets rid of that problem.
 
 You're definitely right about getting them in the cart though. Once you do that - the tickets are yours.

[Darth Ed]

I think pre-sales are great. Much better than camping out at some ticket box office for the most part.
 
 My main complaint about pre-sales these days are the secret pre-sales that scalpers pay money to find out about. 9:30 Club doesn't do this, thankfully, but most of the bigger venues (read Clear Channel) all have these "inner circle" pre-sales so that scalpers -- I mean "ticket resellers" -- can get the best tickets even before fan club members in some cases.

[Bags]

Originally posted by Skeeter:
 Presales rule.

Skeeter, I can't believe we disagree!?!
 
 Thing is, while I usually know about pre-sales and passwords (even for bands I don't like), it means that more casual fans who would love the chance to see a particular band are left out in the cold because they don't spend so much of their free time following music the way folks around here may.  A friend who works at a local venue said that for a recent, very popular show nearly all the tickets were sold through various pre-sales (Amex Gold card, fan club, venue....).  
 
 I tend to not 'lose' because I find out about pre-sales, but it seems to me like it's gotten very out of control.
 
 Balls is right; it builds hype.

[ratioci nation]

Originally posted by Macktastic Bag O' Flash:
  Thing is, while I usually know about pre-sales and passwords (even for bands I don't like), it means that more casual fans who would love the chance to see a particular band are left out in the cold because they don't spend so much of their free time following music the way folks around here may.

Do you think the more casual fan will be online at 10AM on Thursday to buy tickets right away?  I doubt it, so they will probably miss out anyway.  Shouldn't there be some reward to being a music geek other than social awkwardness?