It seems like it would be an easy way to show fans you care, especially if you're a bigger act, but so far plenty of official platinum pricing going around.
It definitely makes me a little sour on the artist knowing they can just say no to it.
Comments
Hobonics OP t1_jebqf18 wrote
Yeah i guess that was where my hope lied. I had hoped (and continue to) that Robert Smith had gotten enough publicity for it that other acts would follow his lead.
TyAD552 t1_jec3rqi wrote
I feel like the artist should know their management team and value as well though. Blink-182 could barely get their own tickets they said. Tickets to see them in my city for the floor were $330. Avenged Sevenfold are playing the exact same venue 3 months later for $170 to get into the floor. Either the bands have helped with that price, or Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing is really picking and choosing where they maximize their profits.
brandonsfacepodcast t1_jebik3m wrote
That's how it's always been. Ticketmaster has been a paid fall guy since the 90s.
The artists take X% of the fees that ticketmaster charges, and ticketmaster gets all the blame. Like the other commenter says: the artists themselves probably have very little to do with these contracts. That doesn't mean they don't know that a) the contract exists and b) they're gonna make money off of it.
GrooseandGoot t1_jec4wfp wrote
I call bs on this, because Ticketmaster NEVER states how much of their fees go to artists. They don't have any transparency whatsoever, they just say "trust us, the artist gets some", without saying what "some" ever is.
It's a smokescreen
brandonsfacepodcast t1_jec5830 wrote
It's honestly really complicated the way it all works out. Last Week Tonight has a great episode on it detailing how it works and how shitty it actually is.
They aren't required to be transparent because they're a private company and those negotiations are done via private party contracts.
GrooseandGoot t1_jec6jqs wrote
Yup, aren't required.
Thats the point. Their claims are meaningless and downplay how much profit they earn from it, it's a smokescreen.
Then you add resale tickets. A ticket that has already been charged the fees at the point of purchase get a 2nd fee hit on the seller, then a 3rd fee hit on the buyer.
Then you add in the broker networks that work directly with ticketmaster to secure sections of tickers to go directly to resale which the public never once has access to.
It's market manipulation and it's all hidden in secrecy.
brandonsfacepodcast t1_jec9xs7 wrote
Yes, ticketmaster makes a fuckload of money off the fees, and you bet your ass they're collecting those fees in double on the resell market. I'm not denying that a bit. You should watch the video I linked in my earlier comment, because it lays it out better than I can but I'll use the same example John uses:
Justin Bieber "sold out" Madison square garden in minutes.
Here's what really happened: say MSG has a capacity of 10,000 tickets to sell. They release 5,000 to general sale. That leaves 5,000 tickets. They sparse those out to the artist (which actually happened in this case) and even ticketmaster themselves to sell on the resale market. All while collecting the fees in double, and paying out commissions to the artist on those double fees. That isn't even touching the companies that use bots to buy tickets and sell on the resale market.
It's most definitely a racket. It's most definitely a monopoly and market manipulation. Ticketmaster rakes in fees and percentages on tickets, then pays themselves as they own the venue. Let's not get it twisted though: everyone involved from the promoter (ticketmaster), venue (ticketmaster), and the artist are all getting paid on a massive scale depending on how large the artist is.
Xizen47 t1_jebv3v8 wrote
I'd say yes if it's a top-tier band that can sell tickets like the Cure. They have power.
DevinBelow t1_jebgs17 wrote
I get what you're saying. If I'm going to play devil's advocate here, I'll just say that most bigger artists aren't all that directly involved with booking their own tours and all the actual administrative stuff that goes along with things like selling tickets. They usually have business managers, road managers, accountants and that kind of thing that figure out the pricing and logisitics. Like, I bet you Ozzy Osborne doesn't know how much tickets to an Ozzy Osborne concert cost.
I guess what I'm saying is that most big (successful) artists spend their time thinking about and creating the art, and they hire people to look after the other aspects of the business of being a musician, so they can focus more of their attention on that.
But you've got to hope that maybe Robert Smith is a big enough name that these types of practices will be brought to the attention of more artists, who may, hopefully, start making decisions that are best for their fans.