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Response to a great article in the Tennessean about concert ticket practices.

Response to a great article in the Tennessean about concert ticket practices.

This is a response to an excellent article by Nate Rau of the Tennessean:

Beyoncé tickets sell fast before general public has a crack

Fans who waited until Monday to vie for tickets to Beyoncé’s May concert at Nissan Stadium are starting at the back of the line.

Beyoncé made tickets available one week ago to members of her fan club — which she calls the BeyHive — and American Express credit card holders. Second-hand ticket prices were listed for as high as $10,400 on StubHub.com on Friday.

In an age where piracy & ticket scalpers / resellers reign supreme it’s important for an artist to be able to have some value added proposition for the fans, so I think what Beyonce did here was good. I would rather see a substantial number go to fans than ticket resellers / scalpers which is what the alternative is – even when a huge number of tickets go on sale publicly, a big number end up on Stubhub, where ironically, they get marked up 10x and then 2 hrs to show time they get marked down so resellers don’t get burned – and by then it’s often too late for fans to make their plans. So in that sense I think what Beyonce did is good. It’s a good business decision and good fan service. Value added access to tickets in the pre-sale is one good way to ensure that fans get a hold of the tickets.

I commend Beyonce’s business sense and adding some value for her biggest fans so they can bypass the scalpers and resellers.

I wrote Mr. Rau the following:

Hi Mr. Rau:

I have never emailed you before but keep a dialogue with many others at the Tennessean. I enjoyed your article on Beyonce tickets. I did post another side of it however in the comments section. In short, I think that the presale access is good because it gives fans a chance to access it before scalpers  /  resellers.
I’ve bought on Stubhub several times and watch the cycle of a ticket resale value go from high a few weeks out to low a few hours prior. For my daughter’s birthday I bought a pair of tickets a few weeks in advance for a show then 1/2 hr before we left for the show I bought front row seats for a tenth of what I paid for the advance tickets. I told her to give away the other tickets at the show which she did and made two other people very happy.
I think while there needs to be transparency, the ticketing system is broken as a whole and needs a fix beyond just what has been suggested in the article…
…This goes from “B” grade music artists to Pastor Joel Osteen’s “Night of Hope”. It just boggles the mind.
I certainly hope the ticketing business changes, and while you shed a light on one part, I sure hope there is reform across the board. I appreciate your article but wanted to share another viewpoint, from a father who will never go to a concert but will send his daughter on plenty!
Best,