One small step for concerts, one giant leap for fans?
This summer has brought concert go-ers a fully free festival in Ozzfest. Sure Ozzfest this year blows because they can't pay for good bands to show up, but what would expect in a free show?
In a further step forward, Lollapalooza has absorbed all surcharges and add-ons to their ticket prices. This means if the face value for the ticket is $55.00, the ticket actually costs you $55.00. You will not have to pay a "convenience charge," "building facility charge," and an "order processing fee"These charges traditionally add almost $15.00-$20.00 to the ticket price. Let's take a look at what YOU get for those extra charges.
YOUR "convenience" charge covers fees that allow "Ticketmaster to provide the widest range of available tickets while giving you multiple ways to purchase tickets. Tickets are available in many neighborhoods via local ticket outlet locations, our [Ticketmaster] telephone reservation system and Ticketmaster.com. The convenience charge varies by event and is determined by negotiations with arena operators, promoters, and others based on costs for each event."
Look at the convenience charge as a "ticketmaster is charging you to do their job" charge. The convenience of the charge is that Ticketmaster can allow you the ability to buy tickets whenever you want. Don't you feel better that you COULD buy tickets to an event at 2 am? Is that worth $9.00 to you? I bet not.
Your building facility charge is a charge placed onto the final price of the tickets as determined by the venue. Most building facility charges go to security at the event. The more security that the venue believes they need, the higher the facility charge. So Slipknot or Limp Bizkit (who are not touring, but it illustrates the point) will have a higher facility charge than Neil Diamond. For $5.00 you are getting the added security of not dying at the show...which is still questionable at best.
Your order processing fee "covers the cost to fulfill your ticket request when you purchase the tickets online or by phone. This charge includes services, such as taking and maintaining your order on our [Ticketmaster] ticket systems, arranging for shipping and/or coordinating with the box office will call.
So you are paying for Ticketmaster to hold your ticket order on file and then paying them to ship it out to you. The server bandwidth each ticket order would occupy on a large server like the ones Ticketmaster has, is so minor that it would probably cost them $.0000003. Since they are a business, they get discounts for shipping in bulk.
The kicker is Ticketmaster now has a service where they will email your the tickets. That service costs MORE than standard shipping, even though they provide you only with a PDF file. The process to create a PDF is as simple as File -> Print -> Print as PDF. So for your $2.00, you get your tickets shipped to you. Thanks Ticketmaster!
In the end, the extra money gets you nothing. It is the price you pay to buy from Ticketmaster, but of course, you have no other options.
All that aside, Lollapalooza has decided to do away with those charges claiming:
"The fans have complained and spoken pretty loudly about how they don't like the service charges and the add-ons," C3 Presents VP Charlie Walker told Pollstar. "And they've spoken fairly loudly through attendance about super-high prices for certain shows. While they may be willing to pay extreme ticket prices for certain headliners, they're not willing to pay that across the board."
"I think we're all trying to wrestle with listening to our fans and trying to deliver. I think that's what you're seeing with Ozzfest and what you're seeing with service charges," Walker said. "I think you'll continue to see that as people try to adapt, become more fan-friendly and figure how to really embrace the customer.
"It's going to be hard to stay in business with no customers if we're going to keep treating them like we don't listen to what their concerns are."
Wow, that is a refreshing comment. In the face of digital downloads and swapping music, concerts are going to become the only way an artist can make their money. Albums will become more like a marketing device for the concerts. But if you piss off the fans with convenience charges and facility charges, they will not show up. The music industry needs to change their model or they will die a slow, painful death.
(picture is of a hair metal band that died a slow, agonizing death in the face of a changing global music scene)
In a further step forward, Lollapalooza has absorbed all surcharges and add-ons to their ticket prices. This means if the face value for the ticket is $55.00, the ticket actually costs you $55.00. You will not have to pay a "convenience charge," "building facility charge," and an "order processing fee"These charges traditionally add almost $15.00-$20.00 to the ticket price. Let's take a look at what YOU get for those extra charges.
YOUR "convenience" charge covers fees that allow "Ticketmaster to provide the widest range of available tickets while giving you multiple ways to purchase tickets. Tickets are available in many neighborhoods via local ticket outlet locations, our [Ticketmaster] telephone reservation system and Ticketmaster.com. The convenience charge varies by event and is determined by negotiations with arena operators, promoters, and others based on costs for each event."
Look at the convenience charge as a "ticketmaster is charging you to do their job" charge. The convenience of the charge is that Ticketmaster can allow you the ability to buy tickets whenever you want. Don't you feel better that you COULD buy tickets to an event at 2 am? Is that worth $9.00 to you? I bet not.
Your building facility charge is a charge placed onto the final price of the tickets as determined by the venue. Most building facility charges go to security at the event. The more security that the venue believes they need, the higher the facility charge. So Slipknot or Limp Bizkit (who are not touring, but it illustrates the point) will have a higher facility charge than Neil Diamond. For $5.00 you are getting the added security of not dying at the show...which is still questionable at best.
Your order processing fee "covers the cost to fulfill your ticket request when you purchase the tickets online or by phone. This charge includes services, such as taking and maintaining your order on our [Ticketmaster] ticket systems, arranging for shipping and/or coordinating with the box office will call.
So you are paying for Ticketmaster to hold your ticket order on file and then paying them to ship it out to you. The server bandwidth each ticket order would occupy on a large server like the ones Ticketmaster has, is so minor that it would probably cost them $.0000003. Since they are a business, they get discounts for shipping in bulk.
The kicker is Ticketmaster now has a service where they will email your the tickets. That service costs MORE than standard shipping, even though they provide you only with a PDF file. The process to create a PDF is as simple as File -> Print -> Print as PDF. So for your $2.00, you get your tickets shipped to you. Thanks Ticketmaster!
In the end, the extra money gets you nothing. It is the price you pay to buy from Ticketmaster, but of course, you have no other options.
All that aside, Lollapalooza has decided to do away with those charges claiming:
"The fans have complained and spoken pretty loudly about how they don't like the service charges and the add-ons," C3 Presents VP Charlie Walker told Pollstar. "And they've spoken fairly loudly through attendance about super-high prices for certain shows. While they may be willing to pay extreme ticket prices for certain headliners, they're not willing to pay that across the board."
"I think we're all trying to wrestle with listening to our fans and trying to deliver. I think that's what you're seeing with Ozzfest and what you're seeing with service charges," Walker said. "I think you'll continue to see that as people try to adapt, become more fan-friendly and figure how to really embrace the customer.
"It's going to be hard to stay in business with no customers if we're going to keep treating them like we don't listen to what their concerns are."
Wow, that is a refreshing comment. In the face of digital downloads and swapping music, concerts are going to become the only way an artist can make their money. Albums will become more like a marketing device for the concerts. But if you piss off the fans with convenience charges and facility charges, they will not show up. The music industry needs to change their model or they will die a slow, painful death.
(picture is of a hair metal band that died a slow, agonizing death in the face of a changing global music scene)
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3/20/2009 2:50 PM
Blogs N' Roses wrote:
Thanks to a shitty economy, concert tickets will be cheaper...kind of. No Doubt, Toby Keith, U2, and Dave Matthews Band, have all agreed to have lower ticket prices. (in the 20-30 dollar range)."They're creating lower price levels so that everybody will be able to come," says Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni. "I don't think anybody is looking around and going, 'Boy, I think I can sell out at $150 a ticket.' That's just not today's reality." (article)But we all know it isn't the artist that rings up the price of the ticket. Last tour a top level ticket for U2 ...
You could have gone with Toys R' Us, CDNow, the Democratic Party, or Communism, yet you go with White Lion. Don't call me again!!
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