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October 11, 2004
Price takers vs. price makers
Summer concert attendance this year was dismal, according to the Wall Street Journal. The most likely culprit is overpriced tickets. The full year may be off by as much as 40 percent.
Clearly, some fans will pay $350 to watch Madonna live; more power to her. But for the majority of music lovers, most artists are pricing themselves out of the market. Concert promoters exacerbate the phenomenon by agreeing to too-high guarantees, and most lose money if they don't come close to selling out. Why should ticket prices for a show at Madison Square Garden be exactly the same at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Minnesota?
One potential solution to flagging attendance: Let the marketplace decide the value of artists' concerts at each venue via auction.
In an auction-based system, fans and artists see the real-time value of their future performances, location by location. Fan communities and fast-moving word of mouth are the key players here: Remarkable, buzz-worthy performances early in a tour could subsequently drive up bids for future tour dates. An auction-driven ticket system is a transparent solution to what's perceived to be a too-opaque industry. A fairer system means more access for a larger community of evangelists.
If eBay were to enter the concert ticket business, it might even compel Ticketmaster to lower its exceptionally high service charges, too.
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» Concert Ticketing Industry from pc4media
Ben McConnell has some recommendations for the big time concert promoters, artists, promoters, and the ticketing industry: Summer concert attendance this year was dismal, according to the Wall Street Journal. The most likely culprit is overpriced ticke... [Read More]
» Concert Ticketing Industry from pc4media
Ben McConnell has some recommendations for the big time concert promoters, artists, promoters, and the ticketing industry: Summer concert attendance this year was dismal, according to the Wall Street Journal. The most likely culprit is overpriced ticke... [Read More]
I don't think it's a good idea. Just imagine all the people standing in line for hours or even days to get one of the rare tickets (whcih are still affordable) before everything is sold out. For some of these people - thos ewith the small pockets - an auction system would push them out of this line. They couldn't afford a ticket anymore. But I think that exactly these people are the biggest evangelists of their band. This would get kicked out of their evangelism club, because they don't earn enough money. Myself, I would stop loving this band.
Are not most ticket purchases today dominated by brokers, not fans? That hardly seems fair to the majority of concert-goers.
In an eBay-like auction, fans would have access to every seat offered by the auction --winning a seat would depend largely on your ability to pay for it (and your ability to stay on top of the auction price, a true test for a fan). Closing the auction shortly before each show could help reduce ticket reselling and potentially put more money in the pocket of artists.
Not to be too grossly economic about the transcendental power of musiuc, but an auction could be a more accurate reflection of the current market value of an artist's music, its connection with fans, and the show she delivers.
I definetely do agree with you. Musicians could profit from teh direct auction-syste, your suggesting.
Maybe it's because we have a different system here in Switzerland, where most of the concerts are regulared in pricing by the goverment. A lot of sponsoring helps to keep the prices down and the goverment pays cultural support. Therefore I think, that I have a different point of view. Some tickets are amazingly high (like U2) but still affordable. So in Switzerland this auctioning system could have more a price increasing effect than decreasing...
How about this combination: Like U2, bands could offer a quantity of tickets for their evangelists (I assume they're all memebers in the fan club of the global band site) to a relatively low price. This would serve teh poor people who can't afford paying auction prices if they go up. And again, here I think that thsi would happen to some prices for superstars, of course the majority would get away cheaper with a eBayauction system. The rest of the tickets would be sold through the auction. It's like a security for the real evangelists who don't earn much.
