Zep fans warned off touted tickets
Led Zeppelin have warned that anyone buying illicit tickets for the band's O2 Arena gig will likely not get past the tout-busting "stringent security measures", the Daily Telegraph reports. The tickets were allocated in a online ballot in which lucky winners were given a pass code enabling them to buy a couple of seats for £125 …
...just auction all of these tickets from the get go? Same applies for any event where the ticket sales are likely to be oversubscribed - the promoters would make more money and people would pay a price equivalent to the true value of the ticket - not to mention killing the ticket re-sale market.
Dutch auction all the way.
There is a school of thought that not all artistic events should be restricted to those with the most money...
I'm sure the zep don't want to play entirely to a group of bankers, property traders and hedge fund managers.
...the concerned promoters have a fair and equitable returns system so that those who are unable to go at the last moment can sell their ticket back to the vendors and these seats would be available (like at Theatres) at the venue on the night.
...hardly rock'n'roll surely ? Besides, I suspect you'd end up with the fronts rows filled with coporate shirt types, which are hardly going to impress "da kids".
Anything that helps bury these has-beens is a good move. Forgive my cynical views, but all bands who reform or start touring again after so long are purely in it for the money. If it was for love of the fans or for the music they wouldn't have stopped in the first place.
*Yawn* How about El Reg covers some decent music ... like anything apart from Cock Rock ?
I'm not sure zep bothers to whom they are playing. At least when I saw Page & Plant a couple of years ago they (or rather their sound engineer) did not bother whether anybody was able to hear their music - I wonder if there was any music at all - it was nothing but noise for about the first three songs and we were all deafened for the remaining of the concert (and it's not that I'm not used to loud rock music).
So leave it all to auction and only the morons which are willing and able to pay such amounts will attend - I'm fine with that. Although, I admit I would pay a fourtune if I saw the Zep back in the seventies.
EAfH
ps.
where's the deaf vulture icon?
It's a Zep gig. There won't be any kids. It'll be full of middle-aged doods shaking their bald patches and playing air-guitar. I saw them in April 1981 when I was still a teen. If they are anywhere near as good as they were, then whoever goes is in for a treat.
As for the touts, I hope they get royally screwed and lose the lot and the same goes for any muppet who buys from a scalper. Then maybe they will learn something.
errr....excuse me...but the gig by Led Zep is a tribute concert to raise money for Ahmet Ertegun.....
Did you not see this:
http://www.ahmettribute.com/show.html
quote:
Profits from this amazing show will go to Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund which provides students with annual scholarships to universities in the UK, USA and Turkey.
In addition, a music scholarship open to all will be established at Ravensbourne College in the UK.
OK - so maybe LZ *will* benefit from sales of albums, CD's, etc (esp. in the run up to Xmas) but that's not too bad a thing compared to what they are doing to raise money for the charity...
After all, 18,000 tickets @ £125 a pop is £2.25 million...
... the Spice Girls maybe - classic no-cock rock, and certainly NOT just "in it" for the money eh?
mmm - there's a wallet in here, wonder who's coat it is?
On the other hand, it could be nice for people who cannot stand in line at a ticket office or sit by the computer at the right time (when the ticket sale starts) to be able to get tickets. With today's system, those who can't buy the ticket during the 30 minutes before everything is sold out, will have to go to the ticket sharks and risk paying £3,750 instead of the original £125.
Ok, maybe the average ticket price would be higher than £125, but all tickets wouldn't cost £3,750.
"There is a school of thought that not all artistic events should be restricted to those with the most money..."
Not all are. What's your point? You know damn well that these Led Zep shows will be RAMMED with middle aged corporates - just like all those endless Rolling Stones shows are. My point is that there's nothing intrinsically wrong with touting - it only addresses a need created by the stupid first come first served system used today. Don't even get me started on World Cup tickets...
If tickets are sold at £125 but their true value is £200 then there's going to be touting AND the promoters (and thus the 'artists') won't realise full value. WHo wins with the current shambles? The person with the quickest dialling or clicking finger?
Ok, if it's a Dutch Auction, what do you suggest the starting price is?
And anyhow, how can you put a "value" on a concert?
Who puts a "true value" on someone's time?
If a person (or band) wishes to sell their services at some notional rate to a perceived group of buyers (the audience) and determine that they are happy with £X/hour, then that is their right to do so. The fact that "the market" values their time at something much higher is only relevant if they are interested in maximising their revenue for this particular event.
There are always going to be people disappointed when anything is oversubscribed, and this is probably an imperfect system, but by minimising the touting opportunities one would hope that more of the tickets end up in the hands of those who really want to see the band at a lower average price than would otherwise be the case.
It's only going to be hedge fund managers who go anyway. Basically what Led Zepplin is saying is, we're shafting you with the ticket price already and we don't want anyone else to think they can shaft you too, thats our job and our job only.
£125 for a gig, is it just me or have gig prices gone up by about 10 times the rate of inflation in the last few years, touts, the promoter is the main tout here!
"Besides, I suspect you'd end up with the fronts rows filled with coporate shirt types"
Um, I think you put the 'r' from 'corporate' into the following word by mistake?
"And anyhow, how can you put a "value" on a concert?"
By selling tickets for it, perhaps?
"If a person (or band) wishes to sell their services at some notional rate to a perceived group of buyers (the audience) and determine that they are happy with £X/hour, then that is their right to do so. The fact that "the market" values their time at something much higher is only relevant if they are interested in maximising their revenue for this particular event."
Supply and demand is not just about maximising revenue, it's also about making the right number of products (in this case, tickets). Led Zep could satisfy any number of show goers at £5 per ticket if they were willing to play an infinite number of shows. If they care about the 'right people' seeing the show, then why don't they just do that? Or maybe even put on a freebie in the park?
"Basically what Led Zepplin is saying is, we're shafting you with the ticket price already and we don't want anyone else to think they can shaft you too, thats our job and our job only."
Quite. It seems to be standard record company ecomoronics - we can't be bothered to exploit this product properly (either for the musicians OR the public) but woe betide anyone else who tries to work around our broken business model. Is this the same reason why if I want a Stevie Wonder tune to listen to I can't just point my browser at motown.com, enter my CC number and download a lovely, 24bit, 192Khz audio file of it? OK, they have a piss-poor discography outdone by just about ANY fan site or site like allmusic.com and a craptacular link to iTunes, but is that really the way to exploit one of the most talented and prolific musicians of out time?
I used to think that the 'music' business was evil, now I realise they're just incredibly lazy.
So, it's raising money for, well, whatever, [can't scroll up at the moment]. I'd pay some decent cash to even see it simulcast at a theatre in my area.
that would give them, uh BILLIONS to fund whatever.
It's not a first-come first-served. The biggest generally aren't any more, unless they;re trying to make some sort of headline like "Wiggleyourlittletitsandshoutloudly's gig sold out in 4 nanaoseconds!". The Zeppelin gig, just like Glastonbury, was done on a lottery system. People entered, the people were drawn, then they had the oppertunity to pay. Anyone could have won it, from anywhere in the world.
If this first reunion show goes well (I heard it was sold out, and that some folks bid beaucoup bucks -- tens of thousands of pounds -- to attend), there will, one hopes, be lower- priced shows for "regular Joes" to attend down the road. It's a mercenary tactic, but if their first reunion show will in fact shovel truckloads of money at a worthy charity maybe it's better for the tickets to be insanely priced before the novelty (and ticket price) fades.
@AnonCow/ LOL: Led Zep originally disbanded when drummer John Bonham died. While one could argue that if the remaining members were really in it for the music they would have just gotten another drummer and soldiered on, one could also argue that with such a disruption in the band's chemistry (bad pun, given the sex, drugs, rock 'n roll ethos) it might have been time to throw in the towel.
Overated back in their heyday and irrelevant now, hell I'd pay £125 just to stop all the crap I hear about them !
Flame retardant hat .. check
Flame retardant underwear .. check
etc.
I just bought Led Zep's Mothership collection the other day and listened to it. It certainly beats the crap out of a lot of stuff that is being released by bands today. Newer does not always mean better.
Whereas as if you are a celeb, like Kate Moss or Cat Deeley you can bypass all that pesking lottery and "buying" business and just hang around for the publicity.
The wonderful "security measures experiment" proved in my case enough to turn the chance of a ticket down.
I have a good friend who was lucky enough to win tickets in the initial lottery. However the ridiculous "security measures" demanded that I have to travel half way across the country on a different date to the concert, somehow locate my friend at the O2 arena, and then queue for most of the bloody day simply to get a bloody wristband fitted.
The concert ticket cost enough, but travelling twice to a venue instead of once simply because of "security" is just bollocks. It's a waste of my time, it's a waste of my money in extra travel costs. Who's considering the congestion caused and the carbon footprint of this stupidity?
I'm sure those people who bent over backwards (or is that forwards?) would just say I'm not committed enough, but I disagree. The "security" arrangements ruined all chance of attending for rme. It's a concert, not a bloody religious experience.
than the "music" of a certain someone.
Yes, far better to spend our hard earned cash on relevant bands like.. um.. The Spice girls.
it's as if Baby, Ginger, Gobby, Skinny and Doc never went away. GIRL POWER!
Yeah, the prices are screwy today for nearly everything.
And I paid US $8 for my ticket to see Zep at the Nassau Coliseum in '75 (Physical Grafitti tour). Best damn show I ever saw to this day, and Page was playing with a broken finger! Again, back then the average starving college student could afford the 8 bucks. Not so sure about 250 today.
For all who missed them the first time round, the second chance is very attractive. I heard that the show was great, but I will live with my memories,
3700 quid to see any show is sheer madness.
@Stein Tore Dale
With regards to ticketing these days and the rediculously short time it takes to sell out events (3 minutes) . perhaps they should have a time based lottery over a period of several weeks. tickets get divided up into 1000 lots, computer does a secret lottery to randomly decide the date and time an individual lot will go on sale, then people can buy those tickets until all the tickets in the lot are sold and then you have to wait for the next one. yes it might be anannoying to log on several times to see if they are available, but at least it gives everyone more of a chance of getting tickets, and would reduce the burden on telephone lines and internet sites.
Go to a Madonna concert. ticket's start at $300 a pop Barba, cher well be prepared to take out a low interest re fi on your house
