Ticket Touts

[andrewducker]

I do feel sure that eventually it'll get to the point where all concert tickets are sold in auctions.  That's the only way I can see to keep the touts out.  If they use the dutch auction method then they should end up with the band getting the optimal amount of money and the tickets going to real people at the lowest agreed price.  Probably more expensive for the end-person than getting a ticket from the box office, but cheaper than having to deal with touts.

Comments

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

A ticket to see band X costs 10 quid. through a booking company; it costs twelve quid, lets say. These tickets sell on ebay sometimes for a bit more, sold by touts for a lot more, because the band is popular. they appeal to kids, adults, rich and poor alike:

But now all tickets are to be sold at auction let's say. So the tickets used to be 10 pounds. So it's safe for the record company/promoter to start the auction at ten pounds, because people will happily pay that. And there's no reason for the buyer to -not- pay a lot, because this is an official auction, so it's not like buying from a tout or a possibly dodgy ebay transaction. you pay 60 quid for this ticket, you know you'll see the band.

So a popular band will sell tickets to those who can afford to pay more. People who, in the past, could buy a fixed price ticket, now can't get one. Sure, it'll be fine for people who like unpopular artists. But if you want to see an artist whose gigs sell out-you need to have more money.

Look at how fast tickets to Nine Inch Nail's gigs sold. If they were all auctions, do you think -any- would have gone for the face value (which we can imagine as a starting price)? It'd be like having a threshold price for albums, so that once a certain amount have been sold/downloaded (legally), the price goes up...

As far as Dutch Auctions go.. in theory that's fine.

"If there are more buyers than items, the earliest successful bids get the goods. "

except for this. How is that any different to how ticket sales work now?

And how does it stop touts? If NIN tickets can be sold by touts after being sold normally and selling out fast, how would this situation be different if they sold out fast with a Dutch auction? The same people would have the tickets, and be outside the venue or on ebay with them...

[andrewducker]

But if you want to see an artist whose gigs sell out-you need to have more money.

Or possibly less. There are flaws either way round. With the current way you can end up paying way over, and the money goes to a tout (and the tickets might not even have sold out if ticket touts hadn't been buying the tickets up).

And there's no point to touts in a dutch auction. Let's say that Wumspcut are playing a 10,000 seater arena - tickets go up for auction at a minimum of £30. I offer £35. You offer £50. Someone ever more hardcore offers £200. At the end of the auction period the 10,000th highest bid is £41. I get no ticket, everyone bidding £41.01 and up gets a ticket for £41. People bidding £41 exactly get tickets based on who bid first.

Now, let's say a tout picked up 10 tickets - who do they sell to? All the people that _would_ have paid £50 already have a ticket!

So rather than half the people getting £30 tickets and half getting £60, and Wumpscut getting £30 a ticket, everyone gets £41 tickets and Wumpscut gets £41.

There are arguments in favour of both sides, but dutch auctions seem fairer to me.