Are bands just greedy these days?

[Bustop20]

Presale for take that today. People bought the album in the belief they could get tickets this morning using the special code, many found the ticket site crashed or couldn’t cope with demand.

The tickets from the presale this morning are already being advertised in places online for three times their face value.

It’s the same story for every major band

Are bands like Take That just greedy and using the idea of a presale to boost album sales?

AIBU to wonder why we can’t ban the resale of concert tickets? Instead, introduce the concept of taking out insurance incase you miss the gig? You can’t resell your aeroplane tickets nor your train tickets, why can you sell on your concert tickets?! Obviously this wouldn’t work in the favour of big ticket resellers online or the bands getting extra publicity and album sales from fans going to any length to get tickets but it make sense to me.

I can't see bands being greedy when they make virtually zero money from albums. Their main source of income is touring. This is well documented if you look it up. Tori Amos broke it down really well in a podcast a few years ago. Ticketing sites have been having issues a lot recently with crashing, and their fees are ridiculous. I think the ticketing companies are a problem. But don't blame artists trying to survive. They probly blew their money in the 80's and can't afford anything now just like everyone else. I know I can't afford concert or festival tickets anymore- I will volunteer at local festivals to get in free but that's it. I used to go to concerts a lot. But after the pandemic it seems like people are crazy for stuff like this and anything to put on Instagram, so they all go to the same place at once and pay ridiculous prices for it. I'm not into crowds anymore, they really gross me out and people don't know how to behave either. So I'm fine going to local shows and supporting local artists instead.

Checking ID against ticket at the door is all well and good at the Roundhouse but if you saw the number of hysterical people who’d been genuinely scammed at Styles or Sheeran, not able to get in, then add x number of people who forgot their ID or didn’t read the details and gave the ticket to their daughter who is beside herself and the mum is threatening to go legal because she bought the ticket fair and square and now the kid can’t get in….

The industry hate touts, the artists hate touts, but if its not illegal and people keep buying from touts…..

The band's are tied in with Ticket master who offer a generous paycheck in return for e.g. booking fees etc. Some band's have been known to put their tickets on resale to generate more income. The big acts are making ££. The artists also can sign up for dynamic pricing. Robert Smith had a thing about all this recently on the last Cure tour. About high prices etc.

https://www.vulture.com/2023/04/the-cure-robert-smith-ticketmaster-fees-tour.html

I don't completely disagree with your utopia notion but this is not the reality. Nor can it be!
I'd like to buy tickets as a gift for my daughter. I use my card. At what point does the photo ID kick in. I'm not going to allow her to take my card or passport to the concert. I'm not going to the concert - I bought for her and her friend.

So it's so complex OP.
The touts are the issue.
Not the band or the venues.

Touts are not the issue
The people that buy from them are

Touts are the ones you can take action against though. They aren’t innocent parties just performing a service, they deliberately restrict access to tickets at face value by buying them up before fans have a chance (sometimes through deceitful means like bribery or by using technology to beat out regular fans and ignoring reseller restrictions) in order to push up the prices.

You still need the opportunity to be able to transfer names though - buying tickets as gifts, buying for under 18s without their own cc, etc.

Ticketmaster are scum. I bought tickets for a gig that was cancelled and they only refunded me the ticket price and not the fees! I eventually got the extra money back but not before sending 3 or 4 emails and threatening to instruct my card company to do a chargeback.

not sure if the EU is different but i bought a ticket for Harry Styles via Ticketmaster, tickets only in the app, and there was a date, a few months after tickets went on sale, well before the gig, that you could transfer them via the app to another user. It went very well, and was obviously to facilitate presents to other people.

I get why they don't refund ticket fees, harsh as it is, because they still had to do the original "work" selling the tickets.

Rarely the venue that sells tickets for large acts is it 🤡

Agree reselling should not be allowed. You buy your ticket with your id attached and opt to take insurance out if you are worried. Max 4 tickets purchase.

Ticket prices have gone through the roof. 10 years ago I paid £60 each for premium seats for a big band. This year I paid £110 to watch Taylor swift from the back of beyond. Front row viewing was silly money even before resale .

I’ve seen bands in Germany, there you have to give the names of those attending when booking, and present ID when you go to the event. Often there will be a specific ‘fan sale’ for those unable to go but only at face value.

Makes so much more sense.

I've seen 99% of my bands in Germany over the last 40 years and have never had to show my ID / Ticket in combination.

You think the touts are greedy....look up Ticketmasters "Price surge" policy if you want to see what real greed looks like. I have no time for touts but they're not the only people ripping of the gig goers.

many many many years ago i worked on a few conferences with a tech crew from the UK. And about 2 yers after our events, one of them called me and said they were tech crew for a huge band, and did i and my colleagues want to go. All sorted: go to the ticket office to get your 4 tickets.

I got my envelope, 4 tickets inside so i said thanks, and turned round when the woman in the office said "no that's yours, i have 3 more envelopes". So we had 12 spare tickets. Loads of touts around (90s) and loads of teenagers unable to pay their prices - so we just handed them out free. The touts were NOT Amused. 😀

we'll know she's pregnant when she inexplicably takes to throwing up - and it will take her weeks to work it out. Because, as pp mentioned, the writers are painting by numbers here, and in soap-land that is always the way of these things.

Howard. It used to be Max Beasley. You're welcome.

I doubt very much the bands/groups make anywhere near as much out of these tours as the promoters and management do .

But what if I buy tickets for me and my sister? And what if I then can’t go, but her friend really wants to take my ticket. I can’t sell to her? I have to construct it via Twickets? How can I be certain they go to her?

Or what if my mum buys surprise tickets for me and my sister at Christmas (like she often does)? Does she also need to come now?

It’s a difficult problem to solve, and as a PP said, the Taylor Swift sale showed this recently.

Peter Kay solved a lot of the problem by touring every weekend for 2 years and so the supply eventually met the demand. But in most cases that isn’t practical.

I had tickets to the last Peter Kay tour a few years ago and after buying them they were worth £500 each. It’s much harder to decide to keep them when they’re effectively costing £500 rather than the £50 paid… but that tour was cancelled so it all became moot anyway!

Also this. I would genuinely rather buy from touts than Ticketmasters dynamic pricing.

We have stopped going to concerts unless the tickets are priced fairly. We were at Noel Gallagher 3 weeks ago - 60 euro each for as well support from the Happy Mondays. So fun. Those tickets were near the stage too. But anything over 120 euro each and we dont go. Prices are ridiculous. We have started going to comedians which is a fun cheap night out. Its far far too expensive now

Well established artists could offer lower ticket prices - they choose not to. Look at Paul Heaton - he actively prices his tickets at the lowest he can.
However, with a Take That show there's a lot of theatrics that an artist such as Paul Heaton doesn't need want, so you're paying for the show as much as the music. (I like both, btw).

The presale model linked to CDs is well known and is rightly used by new artists as well. One of my favourite bands, The Lottery Winners, got a number one uk album by utilising this. As a pretty passionate fan base we didn't mind as they're fab people as well as a great band though. You don't make money "from" music any more so you have to make money "around" music.

I think Gary Barlow has probably got enough money to live on now though. Has he paid his taxes yet? I'm glad take that keep touring though, it's always good fun.

I don't understand the issue with TT tickets. I accessed the presale for Manchester by signing up to the Co-op app. I was no. 134 in the queue so thru to the site really quickly. And I got a ticket for £60ish plus fees. Seemed very reasonable to me!

They don't sell them direct

But they still dictate the fees added on to each ticket for their venue. The same tickets can vary in price by venue because of this.

Not a clown. Work in the industry.