For some, the Elton John Verified Fan ticket sale went smoothly. They were able to register on time, whatever background system actually fires up to determine who gets codes settled on them, they got the code on sale day, and went through to purchase their tickets to his astonishingly popular Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
As usual, we’re not terribly interested in those folks. Instead, we focus on the other end of the spectrum, the angst-ridden fans who saw the much-touted system shatter around them, dashing their dreams of scoring a ticket to the show because of some breakdown in the tech, or calling into question their very level of fandom – by not awarding them a code in the first place.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s a recurring theme in this new “Verified Fan” world. A top-tier act is convinced that Ticketmaster’s system is the cure for all that ails the onsale process, and somehow will mitigate the simple rules of mathematical supply and demand. (Or, in the case of a pop star whose name rhymes with “Baylor Whiffed,” a top-tier act is convinced that the “verified” gatekeeper is a perfectly reasonable way to force fans into buying stuff.)
Their fans – at least those who pay attention – dutifully register and submit to whatever of social media and fan profile scrutiny the data-scrubbers demand in their terms of service, and hope for the best. Then codes are awarded and tickets go on sale, and the howling begins.
Given that Elton John is and has been one of the world’s most beloved pop stars for longer than this reporter has been alive, it’s no surprise that the announcement he would be embarking on one final – albeit very long – tour meant demand was going to be astronomical. But once again, fans went through the process, and more than a few felt chewed up and spit out on the other side, with nothing to show for it than angst and hard feelings.
We’ll let their tweets speak for themselves.
Something tells us his next tattoo will not be of David Marcus.
Let the record show, this reporter has actually been fairly fortunate – I’ve received codes for every thing I’ve entered to be “Verified” (yes, I like going to concerts and shows too). My fortune appears to have been the opposite of this individual’s experience.
Sounds breathtakingly similar to the “bad old days” before Verified Fan. But trust them, this kills bots.
Access to tickets for those with disabilities has been a long term issue in the live entertainment world. It doesn’t appear that it has gotten better with the new system.
And finally, there’s this:
We suspect anyone at Ticketmaster that was on her holiday card list just got dropped like my 8AM freshman year fall semester English Lit class. (Sorry Dr. Abromitis).
Again, obviously thousands of fans were able to use the system and get what they were looking for. But quite a few more had a pretty bad time with the whole thing. All of the above tweets were taken from a sample of just TWO threads below Ticketmaster tweets related to the onsales. So it’s not hard to peel the onion of the “everything is going great with this new thing we’ve got” talking point and find a lot of disagreement.
How did today’s regular sale go? Lets check!
Ah. Another day in paradise.
We’ll probably see you again when Pearl Jam twitter explodes with rage at the next stop on this predictable train ride.
