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John Mayer tour to use paperless ticketing for premium seats
Singer-guitarist John Mayer will use paperless tickets for premium seats for some shows on his upcoming arena tour, the popular songwriter announced this week in an email to fans who have signed up for his fan club.
Mayer is the latest artist to use the system, following the likes of Miley Cyrus and Bruce Springsteen, but how it will be received by fans is unknown. While some venues have reported no problems with the paperless system, many fans and ticket brokers have taken to the Internet to complain about the lack of transferability of paperless tickets, and the delays in entering arenas.
The paperless ticketing system Mayer and the other artists are using is implemented by Ticketmaster Entertainment, and it is a central part of the company's strategy to combat the ticket resale business, though Mayer makes clear in his announcement that fans can use Ticketmaster's exclusive TicketExchange site to resell tickets they can't use for face value:
At most of the arena tour dates, the best seat locations will use Paperless Ticket delivery option only. Paperless ticketing is an alternative delivery method to Ticketfast, Mail, UPS, Will Call or In Store Pick Up. Instead of receiving your tickets ahead of the event, the credit card used to make the purchase will serve as your ticket, similar to an airline e-ticket. All a fan needs to attend the concert is the credit card they used to purchase the ticket and their valid, government-issued ID (such as a driver's license, state ID or passport). All members of the ticket purchaser's party must be present at the same time to enter the venue. The venue's ticket usher will swipe their credit card upon entry and present each person in their party with seat locator slips for quick access into the show.
Paperless tickets are non-transferable, however fans unable to attend the event will have an opportunity to post their tickets for sale on TicketExchange for the face value price.
The first show listed on Mayer's Web site that will use paperless tickets is scheduled for Toronto on November 24. While not all shows will use the paperless system, more than three dozen shows will have paperless tickets for premium seats.
Representatives for Mayer did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
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I was just about to buy the tickets but there is no way I can with the paperless option! I have children and if one of them gets sick and I have to give the tickets to someone at the last minute, I can't. What a joke! Argh, I really wanted to go too :(
You would think after the Miley Cyrus debacle and the way this program has been running in Alltel Arena they would have learned.
Paperless tickets DRIVE UP prices on premium seats, while at the same time putting LESS PEOPLE in seats.
Miley Cyrus couldn't sell out many dates on her tour and offered them for 1/2 price and STILL couldn't move them. HP Pavilion, Staples Center, big markets all went without ever selling all tickets. However, a simple meet and greet and brokers were selling premium tickets for far higher than her last tour.
Alltel arena has been running this little experiment for a while and they even put out an e-mail to anyone whoever bought tickets there trying to convince them it was for their own good. Shows that had the paperless tickets? not sold out. non paperless events? sold out. Similar shows in similar markets without paperless.. sold out.
I guess it is going to take another round of price gouging for premium seats before they learn their lesson.
Once again, Ticketmaster shows it's true sentiments towards the secondary market...that it's pure, unmatched evil...unless, of course, they can find a way to profit off it, then it's OK. All this does is allow Ticketmaster to double-dip off ticket resales, both in the markup TicketExchange charges and the commission they charge the seller. If they truly believed in the concept of fans only re-selling tickets for face value, then they would waive ALL fees and commissions for TicketExchange resales for this tour.
On a side note, I REALLY hope there is an ambitious, litigation-loving consumer advocate out there who buys a pair of tickets and then sues Ticketmaster and John Mayer for forcing them to resell their tickets only on TicketExchange. This does not seem like a fair trade practice to consumers especially when ticket resale is LEGAL in the majority of states.
On a quick sidenote...ALL the arenas that use Ticketmaster have paperless ticketing. The only arenas that aren't doing paperless ticketing are the ones who do not use Ticketmaster for their ticket vendor.
How and when did all those venues suddenly acquire and install the additional hardware and software to accommodate such? Did TM, at its own cost, buy and install it?
Yes.
You'll need to substantiate that claim.
This is completely ridiculous! Why are legislators putting up with this bs anti-competitive behavior?! Re-selling tickets or giving tickets to a friend is NOT illegal in almost every state in this country. Not giving people the ability to transfer ownership to another person after a sale is completely unfair and to top things off now Ticketmaster is requiring that if you cannot attend you can re-sell your ticket only using their exchange. That's like saying after you purchase a car from Toyota you can only sell it to an official Toyota dealership! You can't sell it to your neighbor or a used car lot because every time the new owner goes to use the car they will be required to swipe the credit card that YOU used to purchase the car. This is a free market country founded on the principles of free trade and equal opportunity. It is about time lawmakers step in and start allowing the free market to flourish in the ticket industry. WAKE UP PEOPLE everything Ticketmaster is doing is WRONG. Sure, give people the OPTION to select paperless ticketing if they so choose (go green, make your life easier but not having to remember your tickets, etc). But if they don't want to be locked into going to a concert or they actually want a souvenir ticket then let them CHOOSE another type of delivery. THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT ARE BEING HURT HERE ARE THE CONSUMERS. THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT ARE PROFITING IS TICKETMASTER AND THEIR EXECUTIVES. This needs to stop and it needs to stop soon or Ticketmaster will control every aspect of the ticketing industry which = monopoly; which = ILLEGAL!
Ticketmaster acts like they are doing this for the fans, but the reality is that Ticketmaster just wants to monopolize both the primary and secondary markets. They will fee you to death when you purchase tickets from them. If you want to turn around and re-sell them, they will fee you again when you sell them on TicketExchange. This is a billion dollar company. They aren't looking out for the fans, they are just looking for a way to further increase their company's wealth.
On top of that, paperless isn't going to stop scalping. Doesn't anybody else realize the increased number of "VIP packages" and "Premium seats" being offered for concerts on Ticketmaster lately? $1000 to see Mariah Carey... $1800 to see Bon Jovi up close. If paperless is being implemented to end scalping, then this is all you will see. Any one who thinks they are going to be scoring primo seats left and right for these kinds of concerts at face value because of paperless is dead wrong. You won't even have the opportunity because the good seats will all be held back for "VIP packages" costing fans hundreds and thousands of dollars. We saw it first hand with Britney Spears and Elton John/Billy Joel. They held back thousands and thousands of tickets, and resold them directly on TicketExchange for inflated prices. If you want tickets under face value like the Springsteen concerts last spring, forget about it. Ticketmaster will implement a price floor so that a ticket cannot be sold below a given price, normally face value.
Of course nobody will realize this until it's too late. People have anti-scalping beliefs so deeply embedded into their minds that they just cannot realize the consequences of what could happen if a company like Ticketmaster monopolizes both the primary and secondary market. Azoff will continue his smear campaign against the secondary market until he gets his own way, and the NATB will just sit back and take it.
Ticketmaster acts like they are doing this for the fans, but the reality is that Ticketmaster just wants to monopolize both the primary and secondary markets. No doubt about it, Ticketmaster/Live Nation is forming a serious monopoly of the secondary market with paperless tickets. Pretty much, I like all the things you wrote, they are basically my same thoughts.
I don't know why people complain about the NATB but aren't members. They don't want to spend the money (this is the real reason ) but then love to complain about them.
The NATB is GIVING away memberships right now, so there goes the cost argument. As someone who was solicited by them multiple times, my reason for declining is because I do not feel an organization that claims to represent brokers but yet lists TicketsNow as a member, and has their last President under suit from the AG of NJ for fraud, it is hard to believe they represent the industry effectively.
show me where.. http://www.natb.org/join/index.cfm
Well there goes the idea of buying John Mayer tickets for my parents for Christmas. I cant give them decent tickets because of this paperless garbage. Also, this is a bad idea on thier part. This guy is not popular enough to sell out southern and midwestern states.