Lose your tickets to a scalper-bot? Ticketmaster doesn't care...

[Saviolo]

They know scalper bots are there, and they want to slow them down, but they're not interested in stopping them:

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/ticketmaster-knows-scalper-bots-buy-up-60-of-its-seats-but-it-doesnt-want-to-stop-them#ixzz2WWMsB7wl

From the article:

According to my calculations, Ticketmaster currently just barely edges out Exxon and Halliburton as the most-loathed company in existence. Previously, the bulk of that hatred was thanks to the exorbitant fees it tacked onto concert tickets, ostensibly for giving you the privilege of navigating their reliably infuriating, poorly designed, and perennially buggy website. But now there's a brand new reason to hate Ticketmaster: it knowingly tolerates ticket-buying hacker-spawned bots on its network.

The New York Times has a report about the ticket-snatching bots, which currently buy up to a staggering 60% of the company's goods. For anyone who's logged on at precisely 9:00 am the morning that Radiohead show goes on sale only to be interminably redirected to the seating chart page—or the thousands of real people who lost their LCD Soundsystem seats to scalper-bots—this revelation will probably make you want to smash something. You've been hopelessly competing with virtual robots that have been programmed to buy up your tickets. You never had a shot at getting into that Arcade Fire show, no matter how furiously you clicked.

And here's what makes the whole thing especially maddening. Ticketmaster not only knows about the bots, but, as BetaBeat notes, it's not even trying to kick them out of its system. It's just trying to slow them down, so humans have at least a spitting chance.

So, who cares? Well, the bands do!

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/in-a-just-world-everyone-could-get-lcd-soundsystem-tickets

From the article:

The vast majority of indie music fans, after all, don’t have a grand to drop on a rock concert. It also pissed off LCD frontman James Murphy, who penned a furious screed on the band’s blog, denouncing the ‘scumfuck scalpers’ using his show to make a quick buck. In an attempt to thwart them, Murphy announced that the band was going to flood the market with 4 more shows leading up to the final one, exponentially increasing supply, and hopefully getting the scalpers’ absurd MSG ticket prices to come down.

It seems like a tired cliche at this point (and who knows if it even happens much but on occasions like this anymore) but rock bands have a long history of butting heads with promoters to keep ticket prices affordable for their fans. In other words, bands have long worked against their own economic interests to keep prices low; this was a dominant part of the punk ethos of the 70s and 80s.

And we’re all the better for it: How many of your favorite bands would you go see if every ticket cost $200? I think most folks would agree that they’d rather live in a society where more people have access to the shows, concerts, and events they love. If bands didn’t fight to keep prices lower, market forces would take over and exclude many of their fans. This is why the legendary punk band Fugazi refuses to play a show where the ticket price is more than $5.

[datasuspect]

1. cocaine is expensive

doncha know.

[backscatter712]

2. And this is why everyone hates TicketBastard. n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

12. I've called them that for so long I sometimes forget it's not their legal name. n/t

[Nye Bevan]

3. The solution is to sell each ticket at its fair market value.

Voila. No more scalping.

[Saviolo]

8. Trouble with that is...

...there's always someone with a lot of money who's willing to buy a scalped ticket. It's discussed in the second article, that the true market value of the show tickets would really cut the fans out of the loop, and only allow those with lots of money to attend the shows. The bands have been arguing against their interests for years in order to keep the ticket prices fair for the fans, not just the wealthy.

[Nye Bevan]

9. The solution to that is to allow members of the fan club to buy discounted tickets.

And to allow these tickets to be used only with photo ID so they cannot be scalped.

[tkmorris]

10. There are many ways to combat this. There are problems though

See, Ticketmaster controls the venues. Usually the way it works is there is a promoter which controls access to the facility, and Ticketmaster has negotiated exclusive contracts with the promoter. If you want to play at 'X' building, you have to go through that promoter and that means accepting that Ticketmaster will control the ticket sales. And of course Ticketmaster will not agree to any special deals for fan club members or any of that nonsense.

There are ways around Ticketmaster for artists, but they are not particularly attractive usually. Unless you like negotiating with farmers for the use of their fields.

[joeglow3]

11. Then add more shows

In puny Lincoln, Nebraska, Garth Brooks did a show in the late 90's. It sold out, so he added a second show. That sold out, so he added a third show. All said and done, he played 5 shows. Everyone who wanted to go was able to and those who bought up the early tickets were screwed.

[Saviolo]

15. A good idea

And that's what LCD Sound System did for the farewell show once the scalpers took all the tickets originally.

Sadly, a lot of bands just can't add a show like that. Many times they're playing a different city each night, and if it's one of the big big shows (like the Rolling Stones, U2, or Muse), then they have to plan all of the logistics of stage building and breakdown before the shows, when the schedule gets announced. Adding a show would be prohibitively expensive, or just impractical.

Small bands in smaller venues with a leisurely tour schedule, though... that is a very effective way to combat scalpers and scalper-bots.

[joeglow3]

16. Found this article. Scalpers couldn't give tickets away

http://www.planetgarth.com/news/article.php?cid=00009

[Dash87]

4. It's why "First come first serve" online contests are always rigged.

Using a bot (which enters information and submits within a split second), you could win almost every prize on there.

Since computer time is very accurate (2 PCs will generally have the same time), you're competing with a program that logs on right when the contest starts and submits to win within .000whatever of a second later. It's impossible to prevent because no hacking is done - the bot just does what you do with your fingers very very quickly.

Hackers can also rig this stuff in their favor - not Ticket Master, but for smaller and less secure outfits.

[madrchsod]

5. the first stones tour i paid 7.50 for row g tickets.

i was making 2.75-3.00 an hour.

and what was the ticket prices the first rows during the last stones concert?

oh ya, i don't have the stub in front of me but i think it was ticketmaster.

[tabbycat31]

6. Ticketmaster is pure evil

I discovered this in my groupie days. When I knew a show would not sell out, I'd save their 'convenience' charges (yeah it's real convenient to drive 1/2 hour, pay for parking, and wait in a line) and get the tickets at the door whenever possible. Or I'd use connections.

Ticketbastard is the proper term.

[TrogL]

7. I caught Ticketmaster scalping their own tickets

Trace route is your friend

[NightWatcher]

13. Fugazi rocks! Bring back the days when you had to stand in line

Tickets should be sold at the box office window to people who lined up. There should also be a limit on number sold per person.

[MattBaggins]

14. Weird for some strange reason I had a desire

to listen to some Fugazi yesterday.