leonardcohenforum.com

I was curious to see whether the outrageous prices at Ticketsnow had been reduced as the date for the New York City concert approached (they had not) and was surprized to see that Ticketsnow had four tickets available for a Leonard Cohen concert in Grand Prairie, Texas (a suburb of Dallas) on April 3 at the NOKIA Theatre. I found the website for the NOKIA Theatre - no concert listed. I then searched for Leonard Cohen concert in Grand Prairie Texas and found that the concert was listed in events section of the official Grand Prairie, Texas website
http://www.gptexas.com/calendar/
AEG owns and operates the NOKIA Theatre, and the April 3 date fits with the rumoured opening of the North American tour in Austin, Texas at the Long Center on April 2, so this may well be true. My big question is: how in blazes does Ticketsnow have tickets available for sale for a concert that hasn't even been officially announced?

look what they say on their website, so if you like, you can report it:

A Special Message from TicketsNow:
At TicketsNow, we're always striving to create for fans the most fair and transparent buying experience. To help achieve our goal, we have decided to only allow postings on our marketplace after the initial onsale. By taking this action, we are the first and only resale marketplace to prevent the posting of speculative tickets before the actual onsale. This is another step along the path to making TicketsNow the most fan-friendly ticket resale marketplace possible.

Even with the best intentions, because we're an open marketplace sellers can place items for sale quickly (just as on any marketplace or auction website) and we cannot monitor every posting every time. So please help us enforce this fan-friendly policy. If you notice something, please email our customer assistance at manager@ticketsnow.com. Thanks for checking out TicketsNow.

How would anyone even get a ticket if it didn't come directly from Ticketmaster? Isn't this proof that Ticketmaster is filtering their tickets to TicketsNow prior to sale to the public?

Megan2c2b wrote:How would anyone even get a ticket if it didn't come directly from Ticketmaster? Isn't this proof that Ticketmaster is filtering their tickets to TicketsNow prior to sale to the public?

12 tickets available right now for over USD 600 each
http://www.ticketsnow.com/InventoryBrow ... PID=796776

what's going on, very strange indeed

These tickets are most likely nothing to do with Ticketmaster. All sorts of people get allocations of tickets for almost every concert, including the theatre (who always retain some "house" seats), tour promoter, event promoter. local press, local organisations, local "names" etc etc etc. We were lucky enough to have seats near the front for the November shows at the O2 (bought from the Box Office on the day of the concert) and it was astonishing how many people we recognised from TV, soaps etc etc in the front few rows. The same at the Manchester Opera House - Jeremy Paxman was in the line to go in right behind me and Victoria Wood was just behind him (the Brits will know who I mean). You can bet your life that these people weren't all online at 9.00 am to buy their tickets from Ticketmaster.

It looks like someone who has been allocated a block of seats has "jumped the gun" and put some of their allocation of tickets on Ticketsnow before they go on public sale. This to me is where the real abuse is in the system: people who may not have more than even a passing interest in a show nevertheless get access to tickets in priority to fans.

Wendy

These tickets are most likely nothing to do with Ticketmaster.

But the whole point of this particlar reseller, TicketsNow, is that the tickets are guaranteed by Ticketmaster. I can buy a ticket from a seller on TicketsNow and use the Ticketmaster procedure to print out my ticket. I don't have to depend on the seller to send me the ticket and risk being ripped off when no ticket arrives. So, these tickets have to at least be coming through Ticketmaster. Certain seats could be allocated to the venue, promoter, local press, etc. However, it also means these tickets can be traced. So, they could put a stop to this but why should they. Even if Ticketmaster has to give these tickets away for nothing, they make money when the ticket is resold on TicketsNow.

Hi Marie

If Ticketsnow is the same as Getmein in the UK (which it looks as if it is), they are simply a market place much as the Ticketmaster TicketExchange is. They are owned by Ticketmaster and, because Ticketmaster will often have sold (or are aware of the allocation of) the tickets in the first place, they may be in a position to "vet" the tickets as genuine, which then allows them to cancel the originals and re-issue. However, I had a look at TicketExchange when I was looking to sell some Bon Jovi tickets once and to use it, you have to send your original tickets back to Ticketmaster, which I couldn't in that case because Ticketmaster hadn't sent them out yet! I imagine that Ticketsnow and Getmein work in much the same way. Ticketmaster guarantee the tickets, but interestingly (in the UK at least) the guarantee is no more than they will supply tickets at least as good as the ones you think you bought or give you your money back.

Ticketsnow and Getmein charge an astronomical fee to both the vendor and buyer for their "service" so yes, they certainly make a lot of money from these deals, which is why Ticketmaster have been so keen to buy companies which operate in the aftermarket. However, as I said before, they only rarely control the distribution of all the tickets for a particular event so, whilst I'm not defending them in any way, I don't think you can assume they are siphoning tickets directly in to the aftermarket. I don't know about Ticketmaster Auctions but I suspect they are a whole new ballgame.

Megan2c2b wrote: it also means these tickets can be traced. So, they could put a stop to this.

Personally, I think more should be done by promoters, management and artists to trace the tickets that end up on this type of site, Ticketmaster related or not, and cut off the ticket supply to those who abuse a privileged position. I've noticed that the Allmans' management do a lot to counter ticket abuse for their Beacon shows. Perhaps more should do the same and when tickets are available in the aftermarket before official on sale date it seems quite clear that abuse is what is taking place.

Wendy

I was curious to see if other rogue ticket agencies had tickets listed for the Nokia Theater in Texas and found that ticketsnow is not alone. I found tickets at: just-great tickets, guide live tickets, ticket solutions.com, tickets review.com, stubpass and the list probably just goes on and on....These places all had sections and rows detailed with various ticket prices from $200->$1500. Unbelievable! How naive I am to think that we are all offered a fair shake in our society. It is just really sad that greed seeps into the cracks of almost every thing around us.

Mabeanie1 wrote: ......I don't think you can assume they are siphoning tickets directly in to the aftermarket.....

While I don't know the origin of the specific Grand Prairie concert tickets currently on sale at TicketsNow, I can assume that Ticketmaster does, on occasion, allocate some tickets directly to TicketsNow for resale since this practice is explicitly disclosed in the Terms and Conditions provided on TicketsNow's website:

"WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO
TicketsNow is a safe and secure online ticket resale marketplace for buyers and sellers. TicketsNow, Ticketmaster's resale partner site, provides fans with access to hard-to-get tickets that may otherwise be unavailable through primary distribution channels. When fans buy tickets through TicketsNow, they can be assured of a safe, secure transaction. Tickets are listed by established ticket suppliers and brokers as well as individuals. The tickets offered through TicketsNow are owned, listed for sale and fulfilled by the party listing the ticket (which on occasion may include TicketsNow/Ticketmaster)."

The bold letters are not on the website, obviously, but the above paragraph is otherwise verbatim.

In any event, as drsing pointed out in an earlier post, the listings for the Grand Prairie concert are in violation of Ticketsnow's explicit policy "to only allow postings on our marketplace after the initial onsale".

Of course, after Ticketmaster and Live Nation merge, the resulting efficiencies will certainly be substantial and the savings will be passed on to the fans in the form of reduced "handling fees" and easier access to tickets, making sites like TicketsNow no longer necessary.

Mike

Of course, after Ticketmaster and Live Nation merge, the resulting efficiencies will certainly be substantial and the savings will be passed on to the fans in the form of reduced "handling fees" and easier access to tickets, making sites like TicketsNow no longer necessary.

Mike[/quote]


I very much doubt this will happen The new agency will have a greater monopoly and will charger whatever they like to maximise their profits

margaret wrote:"Of course, after Ticketmaster and Live Nation merge, the resulting efficiencies will certainly be substantial and the savings will be passed on to the fans in the form of reduced "handling fees" and easier access to tickets, making sites like TicketsNow no longer necessary.

Mike"

I very much doubt this will happen The new agency will have a greater monopoly and will charger whatever they like to maximise their profits

You're correct, Margaret. The paragraph from my post that you quoted was an attempt at dry humour. Things will only get worse after the merger, not better.

Mike

well... at least now i don't have to wait in suspense for the announcement on the 20th to see if he will be coming to my town. i will be at the nokia on april 3rd. just don't know how much i will end up paying for my ticket

i like what tom waits did for his "glitter & doom" tour. no hard tix. you show up to the venue. they swipe the credit card you used to purchase your tickets. immediate entry. i was able to get row b for the houston show when tix went on sale through ticketmaster because it was virtually impossible for scalpers eat up all the good seats. unless they were going to take you to the concert with them (which i did see a bit of on eBay).

The tickets for sale before the official on-sale time are usually being sold by season ticket holders for those venues. As a season ticket holder you get, depending on your contract, either automatic tickets for your seats (or box) for every event, or first dibs on ticket purchases for events, before on-sale dates. Every venue I've ever been a season ticket or box holder at does this. Of course, they also have stipulations in the contract agreements that if you're not going to personally attend the event you must sell the ticket back to the venue, but no one ever does, and I've never heard of a venue enforcing the rule.

As a season ticket holder my tickets are printed and sent to me by Ticketmaster when the venue tells them to do so, often before shows are even advertised. When I get them, if I don't want to attend the event I can log into my Ticketmaster account and have them put on Ticketsnow. If they sell, then Ticketmaster somehow voids the ones in my hand, and issues the new ones to the new buyer. I've actually never used the service, only logged on to see how it would work, so I can't tell any more details about it. I just wanted to answer the question of how it was possible to have them on Ticketsnow when they hadn't even been on sale yet.

Detour - Thanks for the explanation.

Mike