Has this happened to you? It’s announced that one of your favorite performers is coming to town and tickets will go on sale in a few days. You make note of it in your calendar but something prevents you from being in front of your computer at the assigned time. You log in an hour later or the next day, only to find that seats are at least twice the cost that they were originally advertised. What the hell just happened?

The Music Mafia is buying up the tickets you wanted and are now looking to double their investment, or more! Computer systems are circumventing the “I’m not a Robot” boxes that you check to let you know you’re not them. Organizations such as described are gambling on the fact that you will shell out big bucks for the tickets you want. Recently I sat down with Charles Carmody, Executive Director of the Charleston Music Hall, to gain his insights on this dilemma from an operator’s view. What I learned from him along with my research and experience is the basis of this blog.

Demand for quick action on your part is going to be key when it comes to buying tickets for the shows you’re excited to see. Here’s what we’re up against. As I mentioned above, there are “businesses” that employ people and technology to systematically buy up the available tickets to a show and then put them back out on the market, often for obscene prices. They set out the bait and see who bites. Ticketmaster allows you to resell the tickets that you just bought for a higher fee because they charge another service charge to the buyer. Hell, Ticketmaster would probably let those seats churn as many times as possible as long as they can charge a fee. Now, reselling tickets for a small profit or to recoup your cost is beneficial to the purchaser. What if, in your excitement to get those tickets, you accidentally bought tickets for another city? It’s convenient to sell them at the site such as Ticketmaster! You put them back on their site and hope yours sells and you get your money back.

As a concert goer, you need to know what you’re up against. First, you need to know which ticket vendor your favorite venues employ to sell their tickets. Is it Ticketmaster, Ticketfly or another regional or national company? Get to know which is the right service for the concert you want to see. Beware of sites designed to trick you into believing that they are the actual seller and not a reseller of tickets. Is it Ticketmonster or Ticketmaster? Even sites such as StubHub, who spend a ton on advertising, want you to think you have no other choice but to pay these prices.

We can’t blame the venues for not fighting harder to keep the ticket prices inline. Every venue manager wants a sellout. It maximizes their revenue and ensures that food and beverage sales will make the event profitable. But many venues don’t want a backlash from their audience who may see the venue as condoning the ticket sale practice or even promoting it.

Ticket prices to concerts have skyrocketed in recent years and show no signs or coming down anytime soon. When you add in the escalating prices being charged on the open market, it can have a big impact on your entertainment budget. So what can you do about it? Don’t expect venues to return to the practice of selling all of their tickets through the box office. Instead, join the fan clubs of performers you want to see. Often, these members get to buy tickets before they go on sale to the general public.  Your favorite venue may often sell to their fans in advance, those who ‘like’ their Facebook pages or are on the emailing list of that venue. Credit card companies often give their cardholders advanced buying opportunities. The main point is you need to act and act fast. If you can’t buy tickets in advance, get on your computer when those tickets go on sale and make the move fast. Waiting an hour or a day and you may pay twice as much or more as the ‘penalty’ for your inaction. Employ a friend to use your CC and buy the tickets for you when you can’t. The second thing to do is to NOT BUY the tickets of these resellers. If they don’t sell the tickets, they will eat them or reduce the price to a more reasonable level. But that will never happen if they get you to buy these tickets at their prices.

Many performers hate what is happening to their fans and a few have taken steps to protect the public. Some have gone so far as canceling entire shows and demanding that the tickets be refunded. They turn around and have found ways to get those tickets sold to people who really want to be there, but not at any price! I believe Pearl Jam was one of the pioneers of not making the the ticket brokers rich.  If only more performers cared enough to promote effective methods of selling tickets to their shows.

Perhaps you have a procedure to get your tickets and would be willing to share it with our readers. Write your comments below and tell us what you think or what you do to avoid getting ripped off.

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