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Thousands of Iranian women finally have the chance attend a football match after FIFA ordered an end to the male-only policy this week. For around 40 years, female spectators have been unable to attend games due to the Islamic republic’s harsh rules that claims women must be shielded from the masculine game. However, after a fan disguised herself as a boy to attend a match and killed herself in fear of getting sentenced to jail, FIFA threatened to suspend the country over its controversial policy. The league ordered Iran to allow women access to the stadiums without restrictions. When women were officially allowed to attend Irans 2020 World Cup qualifying game against Cambodia yesterday, the first batch of tickets reportedly sold out in less than an hour, the Telegraph reports. However, women who were unable to secure were still hoping to find a way to get into the game; some people were expected to travel from as far as Ahvaz to try and get a ticket. Those that were able to score a ticket were segregated from men and had 150 female police officers watch over the area. One woman told the telegraph that she would “like there to be freedom for women, like men, to go freely and even sit sided by side without any restrictions, like other countries.” The match against Cambodia took place last night at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium, with Iran winning 14-0. The team is set to take on Bahrain on Tuesday followed by Iraq next month. With the team exceeding in the league, its likely that more women will be able to attend matches in the future. The post Iranian Ban On Women At Soccer Matches Ends After FIFA Order appeared first on TicketNews .
The Miami Beach Pop Festival was set to debut this November, however, the fest has been postponed. Festival organizers released a statement earlier this week noting that “due to unforeseen circumstances, the continuation of the original plan is no longer viable.” “Producers of Miami Beach Pop Festival will be working with all involved parties to secure a new date in the future,” the statement reads. “The lineup will change, as some performers may be unable to accommodate a rescheduled date. “To our supporters and ticket buyers, artists, and the hundreds of people who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes for almost three years to bring this event to life, we thank you. We especially want to thank the City of Miami Beach for its continued support.” Ticketholders who purchased tickets from the festival site can expect to see refunds within seven business days from October 8 on their credit card or bank statement, while others should reach out for a refund via point of purchase. Organizers apologized for the inconvenience on their site and said that they will be determining “the best path forward for the future of the event.” The festival was set to take place from November 8 to 10 on the sands of Florida’s South Beach between 5th and 10th Streets. Hip-hop artists Chance The Rapper, T-Pain, and Sean Paul were going to perform, along with rock acts The Raconteurs, Leon Bridges, The Roots, and Nile Rigers and Chic, country artist Margo Price, and Latin stars Daddy Yankee, Juanes, and Rauw Alejandro. Newer, up-and-coming acts like indie-rock singer Maggie Rogers, pop singer Kim Petras, and soulful pop singer Quin XCII were also set to perform. Paul Peck, who had helped curate Bonnaroo in the past and founded Florida’s Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival, was the co-founder of Miami Pops. At this time, a rescheduled date has not been announced. The post Miami Beach Pop Festival Postponed Amid ‘Unforeseen Circumstances’ appeared first on TicketNews .
Golden State Warriors fans have the chance to snag affordable $25 tickets to the Chase Center this season with new dual programs rolling out this year. The Warriors will offer 125 tickets for $25 a piece through “Dub Nation Deals.” Fans can register at www.warriors.com/tickets/deals for the chance to qualify for upper tier tickets; the day before a home game, they will receive a text message offering the chance to purchase up to four tickets at the cheap price. However, fans can only take advantage of this deal once a month. Additionally, another round of 125 tickets will be available for $25 in the “Splash Zone.” This section, which is considered the “rowdier” club section, will offer tickets based on fans’ hype level. In order to qualify, fans must send in their own “energetic hype video” to auditions@warriors.com or post the video on social media using the hashtag #GSWSplashZone to show how much energy they’ll bring to the game. This is certainly a deal, as top section tickets are currently priced at more than $100 each. For more information about the deals, visit the team’s site. The Warriors are currently in the Preseason and are set to take on the Lakers this coming Monday. Later this month, they’ll play the Clippers, Thunder, Pelicans, and Suns, followed by games against the Spurs, Hornets, Trail Blazers, Rockets, Timberwolves and Jazz through November. Visit Ticket Club to find tickets to see the Warriors play at a game this season The post Warriors Plan Limited $25 Ticket Offer For 2019-20 season appeared first on TicketNews .
Elton John’s farewell tour continues to roll out dates and fans continue to scoop up their tickets, pushing John to the No. 1 spot on Thursday’s best-sellers, according to Ticket Club sales data. The singer’s Des Moines show landed at No. 1, while several other shows also earned best-seller status; Detroit, Jacksonville, Louisville and Lexington shows from the Rocketman all landed in the top 20. The Kansas City Chiefs game against the Houston Texans took the No. 2 spot and two games in the Washington Nationals vs. St. Louis Cardinals series rounded out the top 5. The MLB playoffs continue to score best-seller spots as well. Both Championship Series are kicking off, pitting the Nationals against the Cardinals and the Astros against the Yankees. The NLCS placed four times on the top 20, while the ALCS took two spots. Other top-selling events of the day include The Eagles’ recently-announced ‘Hotel California’ tour celebrating the record, as well as Fleetwood Mac, who just announced the final date on their ongoing trek. Click on any of the links below to find tickets to the best-selling events, or visit ticketclub.com to search for any other upcoming events and find tickets with no service fees for members. Ticket Club Top 20 Best-Selling Events – October 10, 2019 1. Elton John (June 11, 2020 @ Wells Fargo Arena – Des Moines, IA) 2. Kansas City Chiefs vs. Houston Texans (October 13, 2019 @ Arrowhead Stadium – Kansas City, MO) 3. NLCS: Washington Nationals vs. St. Louis Cardinals – Home Game 1, Series Game 3 (October 14, 2019 @ Nationals Park – Washington, D.C. 4. Elton John (May 2, 2020 @ Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, MI) 5. NLCS: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Washington Nationals – Home Game 1, Series Game 1 (October 11, 2019 @ Busch Stadium – St. Louis, MO) 6. Elton John (June 3, 2020 @ VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena – Jacksonville, FL) 7. NLCS: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Washington Nationals – Home Game 2, Series Game 2 (October 12, 2019 @ Busch Stadium – St. Louis, MO) 8. The Eagles (February 29, 2020 @ American Airlines Center – Dallas, TX) 9. ALCS: Houston Astros vs. New York Yankees – Home Game 1, Series Game 1 (October 12, 2019 @ Minute Maid Park – Houston, TX) 10. ALCS: Houston Astros vs. New York Yankees – Home Game 2, Series Game 2 (October 13, 2019 @ Minute Maid Park – Houston, TX) 11. NLCS: Washington Nationals vs. St Louis Cardinals – Home Game 2, Series Game 4 (October 15, 2019 @ Nationals Park – Washington, D.C.) 12. CMA Awards (November 13, 2019 @ Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN) 13. ALDS: Houston Astros vs. Tampa Bay Rays – Home Game 3, Series Game 5 (October 10, 2019 @ Minute Maid Park – Houston, TX) 14. The Eagles (February 8, 2020 @ State Farm Arena – Atlanta, GA) 15. Elton John (April 26, 2020 @ KFC Yum! Center – Louisville, KY) 16. Elton John (May 1, 2020 @ Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, MI) 17. Elton John (June 5, 2020 @ Rupp Arena – Lexington, KY) 18. The Eagles (February 7, 2020 @ State Farm Arena – Atlanta, GA) 19. Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants (December 9, 2019 @ Lincoln Financial Field – Philadelphia, PA) 20. Fleetwood Mac (November 16, 2019 @ T-Mobile Arena – Las Vegas, NV) The post Elton John Takes No. 1 Spot on Thursday Best-Sellers appeared first on TicketNews .
Metallica’s 2020 festival performances and The Players Championship are among tickets going on sale this weekend. Metallica made headlines recently after canceling their Australia and New Zealand dates to allow vocalist James Hetfield to seek treatment for addiction. This week, the band made another announcement that they would hit several U.S. rock festivals next year and perform 2 sets over 2 nights. While the details of the band’s sets and other artists on the lineups remain under wraps, we do know Metallica will perform at the Aftershock, Epicenter, Louder Than Life, Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals, with tickets on general sale Monday. The Players Championship will release general sale single-day tickets on Monday as well, giving fans a chance to see some of the world’s best golf players compete in Ponte Vedra Beach. The Eagles Hotel California shows will also go on sale this weekend. The band will play their iconic album in full next year, with select shows going on presale Monday. Additional concerts going on sale this weekend include AJR’s Grand Rapids show and Andrea Bocelli’s performances in Duluth, Miami and Charlotte. Book of Mormon’s Tucson run will go on general sale this weekend as well, along with A Bronx Tale and Jesus Christ Superstar performances in Detroit. Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and Fiddler on the Roof performances in Seattle will go on presale this weekend. Additional tickets on sale this weekend include Ron White’s stand-up show in Springfield, Illinois, the Oregon Ducks men’s and women’s basketball home games, and Andre Rieu’s tour with his Johann Strauss Orchestra. Scroll down for our full breakdown of tickets on sale this weekend below. *Sale information is subject to change and presented for informational purposes. Presales may require access passwords to purchase. As always, it is best to contact the venue or ticket retailer to confirm any and all details before purchase. Seller Key: TMUSA: ticketmaster.com ; LIVN: livenation.com ; AXS: axs.com ; ETIX: etix.com ; TFLY: ticketfly.com ; FGATE: frontgatetickets.com ; TCOM: tickets.com ; TWEB: ticketweb.com Tickets On Sale — Saturday October 12, Sunday October 13, & Monday October 14 Presale General On Sale The post Metallica, Players Championship Headline Weekend Onsales appeared first on TicketNews .
The electronica artist behind Caribou has returned to the scene for the first time in five years. Canadian composer Dan Snaith, the voice and mind behind Caribou, dropped a new single this week dubbed “Home,” his first work since 2014’s Our Love . “I’m always listening to lots of music and sometimes a loop just jumps out at me — it’s too perfect,” Snaith stated in a press release. “That’s how it was with Gloria Barnes’ ‘Home’. I kept returning to it, meaning to do something with it but not knowing what. Sometimes making music feels like a process I’m in charge of… but there other times… things just present.” Snaith also revealed that he’ll be hitting the road in 2020. The trek will kick-off on March 16, 2020 in Hamilton, Ontario. From there, he’ll visit Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Ottawa, hitting venues along the way like Chicago’s Rivera, Danforth in Toronto, the House of Blues in Boston and Philadelphia’s Union Transfer before wrapping-up at the Brooklyn Steel in New York City. From there, he’ll head overseas for a round of shows across Europe and the UK. While there is no word of a new record at this time, Snaith is likely working on some new tunes. Caribou is best-known for tracks like “Odessa” from 2010’s Swim and “Hello Hammerheads” off of 2005’s The Milk of Human Kindness . Snaith gained massive attention with Our Love , garnering over 40 million streams with the lead single “Can’t Do Without Your Love.” Check out Caribou’s full list of upcoming tour dates below. Visit Ticket Club to find tickets to see Caribou on tour in 2020 Caribou Tour Dates 2020 03/16 – Hamilton, ON @ The Studio 03/17 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth 03/20 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera 03/21 – Detroit, MI @ Saint Andrews Hall 03/22 – Ottawa, ON @ Bronson Centre 03/23 – Montreal, QC @ M Telus 03/24 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues 03/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer 03/26 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club 03/27 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel 03/30 – Brighton, UK @ The Dome 04/01 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory 04/02 – Leeds, UK @ Stylus Academy 04/03 – Manchester, UK @ Victoria Warehouse 04/04 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland 04/05 – Birmingham, UK @ 02 Academy 04/06 – Bristol, UK @ 02 Academy 04/07 – London, UK @ Brixton 02 Academy 04/21 – Hamburg, DE @ Grosse Freiheit 04/22 – Leipzig, DE @ Werk 2 04/23 – Prague, CZ @ Forum Karlin 04/24 – Vienna, AT @ Gasometer 04/25 – Munich, DE @ Muffathalle 04/26 – Zurich, CH @ Kaufleuten 04/27 – Paris, FR @ Olympia 04/28 – Köln, DE @ Ewerk 04/29 – Utrecht, NL @ Tivoli Ronda 04/30 – Brussels, BE @ Nuits Botanique / Chapiteau – Botanique 07/11 – Dublin, IE @ Iveagh Gardens 08/15 – Berlin, DE @ Zitadelle (Caribou and Friends) The post Caribou Drops New Song, Tour Announcement appeared first on TicketNews .
Some of the hottest names in alternative rock music are hitting the stage next year for iHeartRadio’s annual ALTer EGO. The concert is set to take place on January 18, 2020, and will feature A-list stars alt-pop Billie Eilish, indie-rockers of The Black Keys, punk-rock group blink-182, and the folk-rock band The Lumineers. English indie-pop artist Rex Orange County and electropop trio Shaed will also take the stage. Eilish, who has risen to the top charts in a short amount of time with the release of her debut album, will be performing amid her ongoing Where Do We Go? Tour . The Black Keys will also hit the stage during their tour; the group just returned to the scene this year with Let’s Rock . blink-182 are performing in support of their 2019 record NINE , while The Lumineers will follow their recent LP , III . Shaed, newbies to the industry, have been racking up streams with tracks like “Trampoline” and “Lonesome.” Rex Orange County, who last released a record in 2017, has returned with “10/10” this fall. Los Angeles’ ALT 98.7 will host the event, and it will be live-streamed on LiveXLive.com across 70 alternative and rock iHeartRadio stations. Radio personality Woody of “The Woody Show” noted that the event and lineup is “WAY out of our league,” but said the show will be “incredible.” “For the third year in a row, iHeartRadio is bringing the biggest names in Alternative and Rock music together for one huge night,” iHeartMedia Alternative Rock Brand Manager and Program Director for ALT 98.7 Lisa Worden said in a statement. “This is a show everyone will love.” This is iHeartRadio ALTer Ego’s third year; previously, stars like Beck, Muse, Mumford & Sons, Cage the Elephant, The National, Twenty One Pilots, The Killers, and Walk The Moon have performed at the event. Grab tickets to the even via Ticket Club. The post Billie Eilish, The Black Keys To Headline iHeartRadio’s Alter Ego appeared first on TicketNews .
The Michael Jackson-based musical, which was derailed for a bit, now plans to head to Broadway in 2020. The musical, originally dubbed Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, will be called MJ . The show was cancelled this past February due to the recent sexual allegations that surfaced against the late singer. Although the allegations have been around for years, they resurfaced again earlier this year when HBO released the documentary “Saving Neverland,” which focuses on two men who claim Jackson sexually abused them as children. Jackson’s estate, however, has denied these claims. When the documentary was released, the controversy caused the producers – Columbia Live Stage and the Michael Jackson Estate – to cancel a tryout of the show at Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre. Now, MJ will begin previews at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York City on July 6, 2020, followed by an opening night set for August 13. The venue was recently home to The Cher Show, which closed on Broadway earlier this year. MJ will feature a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, with direction and choreography by Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon. The music will rely heavily on Jackson’s smash-hits like “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” and “Smooth Criminal.” While the musical will not delve into Jackson’s personal life, it will reflect on his career, showcasing Jackson and his collaborators preparing for his 1992 Dangerous Tour. The post Months After Cancellation, MJ Musical Back On Path To Broadway appeared first on TicketNews .
by Eric Fuller Fall is here. We are heading to harder times. The temperature is dropping and ticket prices may follow. There are lessons to be learned from Billie Eilish, The Black Keys and Jacqueline Novak. Stay with me, this first part is hard but, on the plus side, we’ll be discussing a $12,000 blowjob later in the article. Seriously. I woke up this morning wondering just how many people currently employed in live event ticket pricing are too young to have been working during the last recession. That recession began in late 2007 and ended in June 2009, more than 10 years ago. Assuming that a 4 year college degree is common for most people who work at Live Nation, StubHub, AEG, EventBrite, SeatGeek or other companies which price and distribute tickets, that would mean almost no one under 33 years old has ever had to make pricing decisions during a recession. Let’s stop and consider that. There is an entire $20+ billion industry of people pricing and distributing event tickets who only know what an economy looks like when it’s going up. They’ve never seen the downturn. I have. Trying to sell something in a recession is like pushing on a string. It requires strategy, patience and multiple distribution channels. And, it usually means you sharply cut prices. Here’s why I’m thinking about recession: Almost every ticket pricing model I see today assumes that people will continue to pay more than ever for access to live events. There’s a massive shift to capturing the most possible money from consumers during primary distribution of tickets. Tickets are sold with dynamic pricing software immediately raising prices if demand appears strong, through a split strategy of selling some tickets at “face” value but limited supply while opening more supply up for “Platinum” tickets which are just tickets marked up as much as 500%, and using drip pricing in which supply is artificially constrained so buyers think they’re lucky to be getting one of the last tickets, unaware that there are thousands more held back to be released for sale later. And, in a new twist, tickets sold to secondary market speculators are being canceled and returned for sale at Platinum prices while the original buyer forfeits the 30% fee paid to the primary market. Tariffs, trade wars and political instability (like impeachment) are never good indicators for continued economic growth. Knowledgeable insiders from eBay to executives at publicly traded companies are beginning to sell assets, whether it’s the entire StubHub secondary market or blocks of their own company’s stock. We are currently in the longest period between recessions in U.S. history. The last recession ended in June, 2009, which is 10 years and 4 months ago. Previously, the longest period in United States history between recessions was 10 years from March 1991 to March 2001. Since the end of World War II, the average period between U.S. recessions is 6 years and 5 months. If the economy continues to slow down, as many experts are currently observing, then money gets tight and people become more careful about their discretionary spending. Here’s simple overview of discretionary spending items: Tickets, fashion, fancy restaurant meals, Yeezy shoes and $24 cocktails. In other words, the stuff that’s really not necessary to survive. So, what happens then to live event prices? Well, basic economics is that when demand falls, prices follow. There was a time when T. Boone Pickens was my neighbor. His fortune rose and fell based upon the price of oil and natural gas, another one of those supply/demand items. When times are good everyone buys big trucks and SUVs, no matter how much gas they burn. When times are bad, it’s back to the small cars with good fuel economy. Boone used to say that there was worldwide demand for 100 million barrels of oil a day. If there were only 99 million barrels for sale, prices went up quickly. If there were 101 million barrels for sale, prices crashed. It’s really similar to the musical chairs game kids used to play at birthday parties. Everyone fights for a chair when you know there’s one fewer than the players. And, that’s really the true metaphor for pricing models. It’s a one chair difference. Eight kids and seven chairs is anyone’s game. There’s no fight at all when there’s eight kids and nine chairs. If you’re wondering what prompted me to write this article, the answer may surprise you. It’s Billie Eilish. I first saw her perform at Coachella Weekend One this year, and made certain to see her again at Weekend Two. She ate the stage with her energy, and the crowd loved her. In some ways she reminded me of the way Lorde came out of nowhere in 2014. Billie Eilish’s new tour onsale may be the first warning sign of the end of the endless pricing increase era for touring acts. Her Verified Fan sale was a mess, stranding fans in endless waiting rooms only to find when they finally were able to select seats that the system errored out sending them back to start. Intense demand for her tickets was easily predicable. Systemic technology failure was bad, both for Billie Eilish and for the primary markets which ran her on-sale. To their credit, Ticketmaster publicly apologized to Billie Eilish fans for the problems incurred during the sale. Regardless, the usual games were played with pricing of her tickets. Waiting rooms required a Verified Fan code. Tickets were dynamically priced. Platinum tickets were available at very high prices for fans who failed to acquire tickets through the Verified Fan sale. Essentially, Billie Eilish consented to scalping her own tickets at the same time her distribution mechanism failure rate was so high for consumers uneducated in the ways to work through ticketing system errors that professional buyers from the secondary market got around 3,000 tickets per show. And, unsurprisingly, the current prices on the resale markets are often lower than the Platinum priced tickets which were made available to fans. This is a very strong signal that people who have their own money at risk believe the value of Billie Eilish tickets is less than the price which her primary distributor is seeking for the remaining inventory which was held back. If you believe, as I do, in the wisdom of crowds, this indicator is flashing yellow. While Billie Eilish may have been one of the last acts to get out of the gate to overwhelming demand price be damned, Teagan and Sara are an entirely different story. Their shows haven’t been instant sell-outs. In fact, demand is so slow in certain markets that the tickets on the secondary market are at risk of wasting for lack of demand. As a result, Teagan and Sara are taking a new and curious step. They are experimenting with the idea that any seats which remain open 15 minutes after the scheduled curtain time for an event are abandoned and can be resold. Their theory is that there were some 200 seats unsold on the secondary market for their show that evening. So, they announced rush tickets would be available shortly after the show began, rather than letting those tickets go to waste. I suppose this follows the airline theory that a plane about to depart can sell the remaining seats to anyone of the standby list. Of course the difference is that once an airplane departs, there’s nothing left for a late arriving passenger to board. With a ticket, you can decide to have one last drink at dinner and still arrive in time to see the headliner, while skipping the opening act. https://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Tegan-Sara-SF-ticket-sale-14484338.php But, it opens an interesting point. Teagan and Sara are upset that “unethical” secondary markets, a metaphor for “scalpers,” got a lot of tickets. They’re not quite right. What happened was a number of people who buy tickets to resell them made a bad bet. They bought tickets which most likely would not have sold, which is why they were still for sale minutes before the show began. This demonstrated the twin benefits of the secondary market which are rarely acknowledged by artists and primary ticket markets. First, Teagan and Sara got paid for the tickets which likely would have never sold otherwise, thereby earning more money than the market believed their show is worth. Second, those people who did get their Teagan and Sara tickets from the secondary market likely paid a price lower than face value — thereby saving themselves some money as their ticket price was subsidized by the seller who lost money. What happens when there is a mistake in estimating demand by either the act or the ticket brokers who speculate on the future value of tickets are the topic of the next two sections of this article: The Black Keys and Jacqueline Novak. Last month I wrote extensively about The Black Keys’ mistake at The Wiltern theater Los Angeles in which they directed Ticketmaster to invalidate any tickets to that show which were resold on any secondary market other than Ticketmaster. This stranded hundreds of people who bought tickets the way everyone buys tickets now, wherever they could be found and potentially undercut the value of StubHub which is currently being shopped for sale by eBay. The Wiltern is a small theater, and it was the first Black Keys’ show in five years, so demand was high. But, there are alternative ways to get up close to the band. That very weekend they were playing the Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas which offered a variety of weekend and single day tickets. VIP festival passes are the single easiest ways to get close to a band. They cost the same or less than a Platinum ticket and offer you close access to the stage all day or all weekend. Opinion: How $25 Black Keys Tickets Could Cost eBay Shareholders Billions After my article was published, it turned out that The Black Keys’ indignant complaint the secondary market had manipulated their offer of $25 tickets to reward loyal fans neglected to mention the band itself had set aside premium seats for that show which sold at $500 apiece. Report: Black Keys Sold $500+ “Premium” Seats at “Fan Club” Show It also appears the band failed to mention to anyone who bought the $25 tickets when they went on-sale that tickets would not be transferable. Black Keys No Transfer Disclosure for Wiltern Impossible to Locate I often talk about two simple concepts when I write these stories. First, it is really important to be honest when doing business. Half-truths and falsehoods are never good for business. That’s a concept straight out of All I Really Need To Know I learned in Kindergarten. The second thing I like to discuss is the law of unintended consequences. I’m sure The Black Keys thought they were fighting the bogeyman of ticket scalping, while they justified scalping some tickets themselves for 20 times the $25 they were publicizing. But, the thing is, no individual can control a market. That power only exists for governments, and even they can’t keep prices completely in check. Here’s the unintended consequence for The Black Keys: their arena tour is not doing well. When I wrote this article on October 5th, their next show was in two days, on October 7, 2019 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA. There are currently 710 tickets for sale on StubHub, beginning at $17.10 before fees. Looking at the blue dots on the Ticketmaster map representing unsold tickets, there is about half of the lower arena unsold. Ticketmaster’s prices start at $28 plus fees. So, here’s a good example of two things: First, when a band goes into an arena which is too large, the fan experience is terrible because you might be the only person sitting in your row, which itself is in a mostly empty section. Second, the secondary market prices are about 40% lower than what the band itself is charging. This is supply and demand at play. No one wants these tickets, so the speculative buyers who bought the tickets are dumping them at a loss, and the consumer is getting a great deal. In fairness, this is a Monday night show, it’s in Pittsburgh and the arena is 20,000 seats. Attached are photos of both the Ticketmaster map and StubHub’s sell page. Now, finally my story about the $12,000 blowjob. I read a lot of different sources looking for ideas about which new shows or artists might be interesting. One day, while reading through a Rolling Stone email list of articles, I saw a story about a small show which had just moved from one off-Broadway theater to another for a short 4 week run. This show, Get On Your Knees, was a one woman show by comedian Jacqueline Novak which ostensibly covered many topics while being centered around the idea of the blowjob. I thought it might catch hold like The Vagina Monologues did many years ago. Get On Your Knees was favorably reviewed in The New York Times. So, I took a position in the show. It all made sense. The show was only running for four weeks. It was playing at the Lucille Lortel theatre which only has 299 seats. It had buzz, moving from the smaller theater where it ran previously to sold-out crowds. Mike Birbiglia, a big name in comedy was the executive producer. The subject matter of the show was the right balance of edgy and interesting to everyone. We bought tickets for each Friday and Saturday night show — 264 tickets in all. I spent nearly $20,000. My team put the tickets up across all the secondary market platforms at very modest price increases. And, right away, the tickets started to sell. This looked like one of those times where I was in the right place at the right time. But, then that law of unintended consequences struck me. Sales stopped and I didn’t know why, until I did. Perhaps as part of an existing plan, or just maybe because my buying 5% of all tickets offered for sale inspired it, Jacqueline Novak added 28 more shows. Each Saturday now had a matinee, and there were three more weeks of shows. The universe of available tickets doubled and my investment crumbled. Ultimately, between discounts and tickets left unsold, I wound up losing $12,000 on a show which I would never see as it was in New York and I am in California. But, as we often discuss, my loss was someone else’s gain. Those people who got wonderful orchestra seats from my inventory at a sharp discount saved money. Jacqueline Novak and her team got $20,000 for the tickets which I bought. And, if in fact my large purchase helped inspire the show being extended, then Ms. Novak and the entire production team had the chance to earn twice the money they expected before adding all the additional shows. Let us never forget that Hamilton, the most popular musical of all time, nearly failed when it first opened in New York. It was the boost the show got from speculative ticket buyers that gave the show enough time to find its audience. Absent the secondary market, Hamilton likely would have disappeared as one more show that just couldn’t penetrate the tough New York market. There was one more curious lesson which came from this Get On Your Knees. Typically, people buy tickets in pairs or more for theatrical events. A show is a nice way to share an experience and then have something to discuss later over drinks. A show with a slightly controversial topic is even more likely to attract couples, friends or dates. For this show I noticed a surprising number of people bought single tickets from me, going alone to Get On Your Knees. I’m not exactly certain why, although I have a theory. Perhaps Jacqueline Novak should do a sequel called “SpankBank.” And, while I’m gratuitously advising comedians, I’d like to take a moment and speak to Louis CK who is very tentatively scheduling shows here and there. You’re better than that. Make a big move. Do it with confidence and a sense of humor. Here’s what I’d do: corral all your friends in the comedy world and remake the Steve Martin classic The Jerk. Make it Blazing Saddles funny. Donate your share of the points to a foundation dedicated to advancing equality of the sexes or protecting all individuals against sexual harassment. Be bold. Maybe your poster should say: The Jerk — come see it. Or, The Jerk — come, see it. I’m never exactly sure about those Oxford commas. Another benefit of an economic downturn is that “woke” culture fades as people seek relief from the oppression of economic distress. Ticket pricing is difficult at best in a loose money economy. It’s much harder when consumers pull back. I’ve seen a wide range of shows this year, from ten music festivals (Coachella, BottleRock, Bourbon & Beyond, Ohana, KAABOO, Beach Life, Outside Lands etc.) to the toughest tickets on Broadway (Hamilton and To Kill A Mockingbird), to concerts by touring stalwarts such as Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, and The Who. Even though I’ve been to every major event I wanted, these were not the shows which really stood out. There were four artists who really made me react this year: Lukas Nelson who I’ve seen about 15 times in the past couple years and continues to deliver. Then, there was Fantastic Negrito who combines ferocious musicianship with intelligent stage presence and patter. Next, Billie Eilish who created a whole new style of rhythmic music under whispered vocals and finally Lizzo who instantly owned a crowd like no one I’ve ever seen. None of these shows were expensive or particularly hard to buy, although Billie Eilish and Lizzo have now ascended to the ticket distribution level I lovingly call a clusterfk. 95% of shows don’t sell out instantly, or at all. Most of them are affordable. This is where we need to concentrate. Sell those shows and build those audiences. And, for any of you who are fans, I can testify that falling quickly and deeply in love with a new artist reinvigorates your love for live music. Familiar is fun, discovery takes your breath away. One more thing — sometimes the big hitters spring a surprise. I’ve been transparent about how I thought Taylor Swift made a massive mistake during the last tour running a bait and switch “priority for social media” ticket sale. I’ve written about the predictable backlash when dynamic pricing reversed and her biggest fans discovered they’d way overpaid for tickets and later when it came out that up to 20,000 tickets per night were given away to avoid the embarrassment of wide open empty seating areas. But, this year seems different. Taylor is making a couple of Jingle Ball appearances and also promoting her own branded “Lover” festival on the East and West Coast. That’s scarcity working to promote demand. One more thing: I’ve seen her make a couple of appearances on television recently. She looks grown up. She looks happy. And, her new music is sophisticated. I believe the words of her Lover song. They come from her heart. Music undeniably has the power to move crowds. It’s really special when the artist feels the song instead of pandering to her audience. With Lover, finally, Taylor Swift moves the audience through authenticity. She’s always been a gifted songwriter. The ability to deliver genuine emotion is another level of achievement. I hope she continues to grow and demonstrate through her path what others behind her can accomplish. There’s more than a canary in the coal mine warning about price resistance and purse tightening. There’s also a mouse. The Los Angeles Times just published a story about the effect of Disneyland opening its new Star Wars themed land Galaxy’s Edge and pairing it with higher prices. Attendance in August dropped 3% . While I think that concerts, plays and sporting events are absolutely discretionary spending items, I’m not so sure that’s true of Disneyland. Disneyland is almost a mandatory pilgrimage, and in particular parents will sacrifice mightily to take the children there. When Disney park attendance weakens, that’s a real telling sign. Demand is softening, prices will follow. Beware of any business strategy depending on continuously pressing ticket prices higher. Trees never grow to the sky, and their leaves drop frequently. It might be time to prune the prices before the entire event ticket market follows the lead of Major League Baseball fans and chooses to stay home instead. This post was originally p ublished at Medium . It is republished here with the author’s permission. About the Author Eric Fuller is an $895/hour consultant advising leading companies in the live event space. If you are an investor, artist, promoter, team, producer, venue operator, primary or secondary market of ticketed events or have comments on this article, please don’t hesitate to contact me: eric@fullerfacts.com The post When there’s no more up….what happens to ticket pricing in a recession? appeared first on TicketNews .
The mother of late rapper Lil Peep has filed a lawsuit of wrongful death this week against his former management team. According to the New York Times, Lil Peep’s mom, Liza Womack, is seeking damages against First Access Entertainment,as well as several staff members that played a role in his death. She is claiming negligence and breach of contract. In 2017, Peep, who was born Gustav Ahr, died at age 21 due to a Xanax and fentanyl overdose. Womack is targeting First Access Entertainment’s CEO Sarah Stennett, a member of Peep’s management team Bryant Ortega, and his tour manager Belinder Mercer in the suit, claiming that Mercer had sexual relations with Peep and provided him with drugs. The suit also claims that Stennett gave Peep a bottle of pills during a group dinner, rather than seeking help. During the tour, Peep was continuing to use drugs, and during a Los Angeles show in May 2017, Womack claims that her son was “barely able to communicate, let alone perform, due to his use of drugs.” However, the management staff still allowed him to perform, and on other occassions, when he expressed that he wanted to quit the tour, they wouldn’t let him. His team reportedly ignored his requests and “pushed [Peep] on stage after stage in city after city, plying and propping” him up with drugs. After the news broke, First Access Entertainment responded to the lawsuit in a statement to Billboard , noting that while Peep’s death was a “terrible tragedy,” the claim that the company, as well as its employees, contributed to his death in any way is “categorically untrue.” The spokesperson went on to claim that the management team consistently encouraged Peep to stop his drug use and distance himself from negative influences. “It is extremely disappointing that Peep’s mother would file this meritless lawsuit, since she is well aware of the numerous efforts made by First Access and Chase Ortega to steer her son away from his concerning lifestyle choices,” the spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, in spite of our best efforts, he was an adult who made his own decisions and opted to follow a different, more destructive path. “After comprehensively reviewing the facts, the Medical Examiner ruled that Peep’s death was accidental; likewise, the Tucson Police Department conducted a thorough investigation and concluded that his death was the result of an accidental overdose.” First Access Entertainment went on to note that while they are “deeply saddened by Lil Peep’s untimely death,” they will “not hesitate to defend ourselves against this groundless and offensive lawsuit,” looking forward to a “swift dismissal.” Peep released his debut record, Come Over When You’re Sober, Pt. 1 late August, which gained attention with tracks “Benz Trucks,” “The Brightside,” “Awful Things,” and “Save That Shit.” His posthumous record, Come Over When You’re Sober Pt. 2 , was released last November. The LP garnered success and reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. The post Lil Peep’s Mother Sues Management Team Over Late Son’s ‘Wrongful Death’ appeared first on TicketNews .
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