Boys don’t cry about surge pricing, We can lament that high prices are taking off in the live music industry but surge pricing does give a chance to pay for what is valuable and close to you .
But lets not bring a grinding halt to the push to match limited supply and high demand in. It allows for flexibility. Perhaps an example fan, Charlotte ,Sometimes might be prepared to pay more for a ticket at 10.15 on a Saturday to fly to a gig in Paris , or perhaps it’s cheaper for her to take The Walk than park her brand new Mint car on one of the in between days concerts. Maybe she can jump on someone else’s train and save money that way. The temptation to keep faith with traditional fixed pricing may seem fair but if it’s Friday and I’m in love with a specific Lovesong I’ll pay more to see that.
Using ticket master is frustrating and feel like torture. Online Pricing changes fast, sometimes it feels like you only have seventeen seconds to grab that Hot hot Hot ticket before it’s Gone and it can feel like banging your head on a door.
Attending increasingly expensive live music and posting pictures of yourself on Instagram can seem like a luxury , feel unfair and invoke jealously of those that can’t afford it. Social media can make us all feel like we are missing out. A fan may think it’s the end of the world when they see someone else posting pics , dressing up in the 13th row with the Perfect boy on a night like this instead of back in the cheap seats back in the forest of fans, they may wish “why can’t I be you”.
It may seem Cold but upon reflection adjusting these prices to the short term effects enables fans to get what they want at the top value to the band. It perhaps feels that ticket master is turning the screw to get every last drop of blood out of our willingness to pay but my desire to see an ageing British Rock band one more time is quite High in these strange days.
But of course If they charge it too much then fans will just skip the gig , put on a lullaby and say lets go to bed instead.
Surge pricing in ticketing was initially introduced as a way to "combat the bots", which we all know is BS.
The venues are staffing the events based on demand for tickets, so the amount of tickets sold really doesn't matter as long as they meet a minimum.
The amount of people that are going to buy tickets for an event is finite, capped by both demand and/or capacity, which means that the surge is artificial, at best.
The initial rush artificially inflates the value, as do the bots which will lead to tickets costing more.
Example) I bought 4 tickets to a show yesterday for $90 each in a pre-sale. The tickets are still in presale and are now 23% less.... that's substantial, and it's wrong.
I understand offloading tickets in the days before to cut losses-- but that's different. These "new" prices tell me that they're probably the original ticket prices.
Ticket prices used to be flat, and fair, and it ensured that anyone that anyone (within a reasonable threshold) was able to go without breaking the bank.
What can be done about the artificial surge by bot buyers? Easy. Kill the secondary market completely. It didn't exist outside of physical scalping outside of the venue where you could get seats dirt cheap.
Make tickets non-transferable and non-refundable (unless you buy insurance) just like airlines do-- or allow the venue to sell them at face value while you eat a fee for the resale IF they're able to fill the seat(s).
It's really a win-win for consumers. The only one that loses out is LiveNation and the others that are doing this for sheer profit.
Boys don’t cry about surge pricing, We can lament that high prices are taking off in the live music industry but surge pricing does give a chance to pay for what is valuable and close to you .
But lets not bring a grinding halt to the push to match limited supply and high demand in. It allows for flexibility. Perhaps an example fan, Charlotte ,Sometimes might be prepared to pay more for a ticket at 10.15 on a Saturday to fly to a gig in Paris , or perhaps it’s cheaper for her to take The Walk than park her brand new Mint car on one of the in between days concerts. Maybe she can jump on someone else’s train and save money that way. The temptation to keep faith with traditional fixed pricing may seem fair but if it’s Friday and I’m in love with a specific Lovesong I’ll pay more to see that.
Using ticket master is frustrating and feel like torture. Online Pricing changes fast, sometimes it feels like you only have seventeen seconds to grab that Hot hot Hot ticket before it’s Gone and it can feel like banging your head on a door.
Attending increasingly expensive live music and posting pictures of yourself on Instagram can seem like a luxury , feel unfair and invoke jealously of those that can’t afford it. Social media can make us all feel like we are missing out. A fan may think it’s the end of the world when they see someone else posting pics , dressing up in the 13th row with the Perfect boy on a night like this instead of back in the cheap seats back in the forest of fans, they may wish “why can’t I be you”.
It may seem Cold but upon reflection adjusting these prices to the short term effects enables fans to get what they want at the top value to the band. It perhaps feels that ticket master is turning the screw to get every last drop of blood out of our willingness to pay but my desire to see an ageing British Rock band one more time is quite High in these strange days.
But of course If they charge it too much then fans will just skip the gig , put on a lullaby and say lets go to bed instead.
I fully agree. But you had me in the first sentence. You come up with much better titles.
Great article.
Surge pricing in ticketing was initially introduced as a way to "combat the bots", which we all know is BS.
The venues are staffing the events based on demand for tickets, so the amount of tickets sold really doesn't matter as long as they meet a minimum.
The amount of people that are going to buy tickets for an event is finite, capped by both demand and/or capacity, which means that the surge is artificial, at best.
The initial rush artificially inflates the value, as do the bots which will lead to tickets costing more.
Example) I bought 4 tickets to a show yesterday for $90 each in a pre-sale. The tickets are still in presale and are now 23% less.... that's substantial, and it's wrong.
I understand offloading tickets in the days before to cut losses-- but that's different. These "new" prices tell me that they're probably the original ticket prices.
Ticket prices used to be flat, and fair, and it ensured that anyone that anyone (within a reasonable threshold) was able to go without breaking the bank.
What can be done about the artificial surge by bot buyers? Easy. Kill the secondary market completely. It didn't exist outside of physical scalping outside of the venue where you could get seats dirt cheap.
Make tickets non-transferable and non-refundable (unless you buy insurance) just like airlines do-- or allow the venue to sell them at face value while you eat a fee for the resale IF they're able to fill the seat(s).
It's really a win-win for consumers. The only one that loses out is LiveNation and the others that are doing this for sheer profit.
Is Course Match only for the MBAs?
Unfortunately, yes.