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| Louis CK: For The Fans |
There are real implications as a result of this that could change the industry. Rolling Stone reported that the tour had already sold $4.5 million worth of tickets in just under 2 days. Obviously Louis CK is a big act, but the thing that impresses me the most about this is that it has not come under fire from any major ticket agencies, nor has it failed. If a smaller artist were to attempt this (let's talk music, not comedy), I'm not sure it would completely work. The die-hards of course would support the show, but how would you get the people on the fringe? An obvious answer seems to be publicity and social media, but it's not as easy as it sounds.
Nathan Hubbard, CEO of Ticketmaster, even went as far as embracing the ticket movement on Twitter saying "We love what Louis C.K. is doing and support it - wish more people had the stones to do all-in ticketing." A later tweet also said "We have been a huge champion of protecting what he is trying to do - delivering a great seat at a fair price to an actual fan." While this is comforting to hear that someone at Ticketmaster has a soul, despite many consumer opinions that would indicate otherwise, the whole concept of ticketing includes more than just a fee.
The way ticketing is broken down is that the artist gets a major majority of the ticket price. The fees are not just a Ticketmaster surcharge, but a way for the promoters and the credit card companies and, yes, Ticketmaster to make some kind of profit off their service. If they weren't making profit, then how could their service be worth anything? It's a double edged sword.
While I agree that sometimes the fees are ridiculous, you can't fault the companies for trying to make a profit because, after all, that's what a business is about. The thing I love about what Louis CK is doing is he is making it more accessible for a fan to attend his show without that fan feeling like he paid a fortune to see an act that may not be his favorite, but one he wanted to see. While you may not get to see CK at a venue that is more popular, you will still get to see his act. As a fan, do I really care specifically where I'm seeing the act? Not usually. I think this is definitely a step in the right direction for getting fans, the artists and the industry to work together on a system that is fair to all.
What do you think of Louis CK's approach to ticketing? Leave a comment and let me know!
Pearl Jam did the same kinda thing when they played the last 4 shows at the Spectrum in 2009. Every seat in the house was $77 including fees (with the idea of first come first serve in mind), and that was actually through Ticketmaster. Still, I think the only way to guarantee that actual fans get the seats they want is to only make them available in person at the box office and through contest giveaways. Then you're forced to camp out at the venue or work your ass off to win the contest (online/phone/text/etc; contests require more skill than random luck). As far as borderline fans go, this benefits them as well, because it cuts down on incentive for legal/illegal scalpers, and in the long run keeps a majority of tix at a reasonable price. And I think we're starting to get to the point where people are so fed up with how the internet screws them over that they won't mind putting out the extra effort to get their tix in person. But I could be wrong (maybe some people would just prefer to pay more than do anything in person)...We'll see...
ReplyDeleteI think it's awesome that he did that. I tried to get tickets but there were no tickets left that were next to one another. Sucks. Louis CK has long been a cutting edge type of performer, in his act and his perspective, so it's no surprise that he would do something like this. When his new stand up came out he made it only available on his website for $5. I think it comes off as a lot more personal. He looks out for his fans and tries not to let us get taken advantage of.
ReplyDelete@Malcolm Do you think people would really be willing to camp out at venues in this day and age? I definitely agree that more of the "real" fans would get tickets, but what's to stop a scalper from doing the same thing at the venue? A lot of people think the ticket companies are the only ones screwing them over, but that's because that's where they buy the tickets. You have to also think about 1. how much the artist is getting paid, 2. how much the promoter is getting paid, 3. how much the venue is making.
ReplyDelete@Ava I don't know too much about Louis CK's history, but a lot of artists are definitely putting out their stuff for very cheap or for free. Artists make a lot of their money from touring and merch sales, rather than albums now (though some acts can still sell a lot of albums). An artist that cares about his fans is more likely to keep 'em!
ReplyDeleteI'm ready to camp out, sounds like fun to me!!! But no I don't think a majority of people would be up for that even though it really is the fairest system. Even with the system the way it is now though, if you don't want to pay service fees, all you gotta do is get your tickets at the venue (cash only). In most cases, I don't fault the ticket agencies, promoters, and credit card companies for trying to make money off surcharges seeing as how they are providing some sort of convenience. I just don't get why so many people are willing to pay those extra fees when they could avoid them completely by getting off their ass and going to the venue.
ReplyDeleteOnline ticket sales wouldn't even be so bad if it weren't for the rediculous presales and presales before presales. By the time tickets actually go on sale to the general public, they're almost sold out and real fans don't even have a chance. Presales just provide a great opportunity for scalpers to snag as many as they can with minimal competition. I don't know a whole lot about how scalpers do their internet purchasing so I can't really comment on that. But the internet definitely makes scalping (both buying and selling) a lot easier than it was in the past, and therefore more prevalent.
Credit card-only presales are really just another form of scalping as well. There is no option in a credit card/internet presale to pay face value for a ticket, therefore it is nothing more than scalping.
As much as I would like ticket sales to be done the old fashioned way (in person and NO presales!!), I know its not gonna happen. However, something definitely needs to be done with the online system to ensure that real fans are the ones that have access to the seats they want without having to pay scalpers (or ticket/credit card companies) outrageous amounts of money on top of already expensive tickets. I'm not opposed to tickets being expensive. I am opposed to paying more than face value. So I will continue to go to the venue in person and pay cash whenever I want to buy tickets.
I'm all for camping out! BUT I think a lot of people are willing to pay for convenience because they are lazy, like you say. The presales do get a little bit crazy, but I'm not sure that tickets really get that close to being sold out. A lot of presales today are also going directly to fans AND those who have American Express cards per say. Plenty of artists send out presale codes to their fans via email, Facebook, etc.
DeleteI agree something needs to be done to ensure fans get the tickets, rather than scalpers or people who don't care - and I think Louis C.K. is on to something with what he has done.