Digital Music News are carrying this story about online ticket scalping – a case in which an LA based company calling themselves ‘Wiseguy Tickets’ employed a ring of Bulgarian computer programmers to buy up all the best tickets to high profile, high demand concerts and resell them online for a huge mark-up. Perhaps parting with more thansix times the face value of the ticket is painful for whoever buys the ticket second hand, but presumably no-one is twisting their arm as they click ‘confirm bid’, and as far as eBay is concerned it’s perfectly legitimate (at least in the UK – some US states have laws against it).
So who is at fault here? Blocking the public from buying tickets wholesale with highly organised, bulk buying and reselling operations seems pretty underhand and unsporting, but the scalpers are taking the risk that people will purchase the inflated tickets, so isn’t it just the normal exercise of a free market? Are the promoters missing a trick in the first place? A staggered ebay auction style release of tickets by the promoter, with say 25% of total tickets released 12, 8, 4 and 2 weeks before the gig, with prices starting at a reasonable face value would surely have the same free-market effect. There’s the strong argument that this competetive model would be a disservice to the less affluent fans, but promoters would have the same chance of selling out a venue at the starting price, and could only benefit from any uplift if the tickets ended up being worth more to a punter than the original price – if they were bid up by competing punters, and this would make it harder for scalpers to get hold of tickets in the first place, as to get them they’d have to compete with Joe Public in the first place, paying the elevated prices themselves. It would also go some way to eliminating their profits – why buy from an unofficial auction when there’s an official one happening, and could potentially make more money for the promoter, venue and artist if the ticket revenue is split out between them.
What do you think, internet people? Is sclaping fair practice, or callous parasitism? Would selling online like this just be a way for promoters to benefit at fans’ expense, or would it be a neat way of cutting scalpers out of the loop and rationalising ticket prices for the rest of us?
This year’s Global Gathering in Stratford-on-Avon will feature brash young rapper Dizzee, and dance stalwarts Faithless at the 50,000 capacity festival between the 30th and 31st of July this year. Dizzee is currently touring with his Tongue n’ Cheek album, and Faithless have a new release scheduled for later in the year. Tickets for the festival are on sale through the Ticketmaster website, and you can pay for your tickets using Global Gathering’s deposit scheme which allows for tickets to be paid for in two installments. The first payment can now be made up until 5pm on the 31st March, whilst the second payment deadline is 5pm on the 14th May.
It been thirty years since the original members of Band Company performed together in the UK.
Plans to play eight dates in the UK during April next year have just been set in stone, and with all the original band members no less. Singer Paul Rodgers, drummer Simon Kirke, guitarist Mick Ralph and new bassist Lynn Sorensen. The last time the founding members reunited on stage was back in August of 2008 when they performed at the Seminole Hard Rock & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Original and current singer Paul Rodgers, in his stint away from Bad Company, enjoyed some success with the remaining members of Queen. A tour that managed some success and eventually climaxed in an album together, The Cosmos Rocks.
Although there is no news of any further plans for Bad Company yet beyond their short tour next year, the band are releasing a DVD/CD box set in February. Ticket are on sale from 20th November (tomorrow). Tour dates are as follows:
April 1 – Birmingham LG Arena.
April 2 – Manchester Arena.
April 4 – Sheffield City Hall.
April 5 – Cardiff CIA.
April 7 – Newcastle Arena.
April 8 – Glasgow Clyde.
April 10 – Brighton Center.
April 11 – Wembley Arena.
American South rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd have announced plans for their UK 2010 tour.
Be it a limited amount of dates, it will the first time the band have played in the UK since the release of their album ”Gold and Guns” earlier this year.
Tickets go on sale at the end of this week on, Friday the 13th, and are available from Ticketwise.com. Dates for the tour, all of which are in March, are below.
SICK BOY: Well, at one time, you’ve got it, and then you lose it, and it’s gone forever…
I don’t mean to be dismissive, but that quote pretty much sums up Muse’s latest offering from me. I understand that they’re one of the biggest bands in the country, if not the world, and that nothing I say here is going to have the slightest effect on their huge popularity, towering album sales, or the droves of fans who will be attending their next run of sell-out gigs. Their reputation is built mainly on the back of their big album, ‘Showbiz’ and a great live act, but I get the feeling that they’ve either lost heart, or something’s turned bitter in the emotional and creative cocktail that they used to get this far. The new album pulls in a load of odd and disparate influences, from the warbling strains of the Dr. Who theme tune heard in ‘Uprising’, or the strangely mangled Queen-like bursting operatic harmonies in ‘United States of Eurasia’ (A 1984 reference?In my anti-establishment band?).
The whole album feels forced, thrown together with a mish-mash of conflicting styles and rather samey material that doesn’t really take the band forward. I don’t know whether they’re trying to emulate bands like Radiohead and Portishead in trying for something avant-garde and different by sticking in these weird elements, but it doesn’t work for me. I now prepare to take flak for the rest of the week. As a small compensation, here’s a link to the Guardian’s rather white-washy piece with a We7 streaming widget where you can listen to the whole album.
The footage for Micheal Jackson’s unfortunately ill-fated comeback tour “This Is It” that were to be performed in London has been made into a documentary. Some of the footage has been released as part of the official trailer (shown below) to the feature length documentary. The movie will be available to the masses in cinemas on October 28th and is supposedly limited to two weeks only at the box-office. (Though i’m betting they bend when the tickets sale fly!) Tickets go on sale the day before and details are available from the official movie site. The Trailer does the job i think to both fans that need confirmation that Micheal still was at the top of is game, and to the critics that have decided that the 50 date London spectacular that we were waiting so long for was never going to happen. Micheal looks healthy and surprisingly involved in some of the choreography of the show. Make your own mind up.
Maximo Park have announced that they are canceling their September US tour.
The news was released through the form of a scanned note written by the band. (supposedly in the US). The bands publicist has coined the cancellations as simply ‘illness’, whilst the band have promised “We wholeheartedly apologise to everyone who was looking forward to seeing us perform, we will do everything we can to reschedule the shows. We’ve always enjoyed visiting North America in the past and are bitterly disappointed to be missing out this time. When we return, it’ll be with as much energy and passion as ever. The band are however apperaing in the UK again mid October
The cancelled tour dates are listed below. Refunds for your tickets are available from point of purchase on the condition they are returned within two weeks.
6th September, Seattle, Bumbershoot Festival.
7th September, Vancouver, Richards on Richards.
8th September, Portland, Berbati’s Pan.
10th September, San Francisco, Grand Ballroom.
11th September, Los Angeles, Avalon.
12th September, San Diago, House Of Blues.
14th Septeber, Denver, Bluebird Theater.
16th September, Minneapolis, Fine Line Music Cafe.
wants to join the crusade of snitching on and ratting out tickets scams for this summers usual big scale events. Already the world is full of people who has received emails, phone calls or just turned up and been refused at the door.
Last year saw an unprecedented amount of festival-goers scamed into buying ‘ghost’ tickets which were never delivered without anywhere to claim a refund. Telltale ghost ticket hallmarks can be anonymous domain registrations and a huge neglect of any contact details online. This years offended gigs seem to be Reading and Leeds, T In The Park and the V-Festival.
Exitetickets.com are just one among many site that need to be shunned this year, and its not only festival tickets that are being sold un-officially. Beware of phony tickets for expensive one-off shows including, Take That, Madonna, Beyonce and others. The top three most effective ways of acting on your ticket problems can be to:
Contact your bank or credit card company. If you paid on credit card you should still be able to get a refund if you act within a few weeks. Some debit cards also offer limited fraud protection.
Report the matter to the Police, once you have a crime reference number complain to consumer direct on: 08454 04 05 06
If its too late for any of the above but you still have your fake confirmation email, forward it to webmaster@cashtopay.com and you may be compensated your money back. Then sign up with them!
Coincidently, exciteticket.com has magically closed down all of a sudden and nobody returns your calls. (but you are 2nd in the que and your call is important to us, bloody promise!) The company was however registered to a buisness park in, Pencoed, Mid Glam, and its director is a man named Mahmood Zahid, 31, and lives in a flat above a KFC in Hounslow.
The arctic monkeys will play in london’s Brixton academy later this month on August 26th and tickets go on sale today (19th).
If your already on the bands mailing list you will have a ticket allocated to you an have 24 hours to register for your ticket. This needs to be done by mid-night tonight. Each successful applicant will be notified the following day (20th) and will be limited to two tickets each.
The one off show will be the first time that the Sheffield four-some will have played in the UK since December 2007. Roomers are circulating that the band will feature songs off their new album ‘Humbug’, which will be available to the general public two days prior to that, next week on August the 24th.
Fans of the late Micheal Jackson have just 24 hours left to claim if they want their money back for the tickets they purchased for Michael’s 50 show comeback dates that were to be held in London.
Fans have two realistic options with there now useless tickets. Either keep the ticket, which contain a series of lenticular images and holograms that are set to sour in value in the next couple of decades, in the form of a memento of their fallen pop idle. Or to to contact via the web one of two ticket providers, Ticket Master, and GetMeIn.com in a mad dash attempt at getting through congested servers to try an squeeze out a refund.
Organisers and promoters AEG live issued 8 different versions of the tickets ranging from £50-£75 for a ticket before Jackson died in June. It is still unclear weather or not if the public will ever learn exactly how many of the 800,000 tickets that were issued to ticket holders have been refunded.
Digital Music News are carrying this story about online ticket scalping – a case in which an LA based company calling themselves ‘Wiseguy Tickets’ employed a ring of Bulgarian computer programmers to buy up all the best tickets to high profile, high demand concerts and resell them online for a huge mark-up. Perhaps parting with more than six times the face value of the ticket is painful for whoever buys the ticket second hand, but presumably no-one is twisting their arm as they click ‘confirm bid’, and as far as eBay is concerned it’s perfectly legitimate (at least in the UK – some US states have laws against it).
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