When things go bad, people like to look for a villain.
Ticketing professionals are competitors in a very competitive marketplace. Most people know of my opposition to a lot of Live Nation policies, because I am very vocal about it. However, we should give them credit for their integrity during the past month and the impossible task of sorting through all of the show cancellations and postponements in the Covid-19 pandemic.
The current situation is something that they have very little control over, just the same as the rest of us. With the exception of non-transferable tickets – which both they and airlines must stop if they want to avoid driving at-risk people to events despite the risk of spreading this and other communicable diseases to avoid financial loss – but that is an argument for another day.
I believe most of the people in the ticketing and live events business are here because they love it and this is what they want to be doing. It’s more a calling than a job. You see that in Live Nation CEO Mike Rapino buying large volumes of his company’s stock to help stave off panic-selling, and then foregoing his salary to help stabilize costs.
Leadership like he is showing will help us all get through this event. We saw something similar with Live Nation President Joe Berchtold’s uplifting interview on CNBC. We should all be proud of this – now is the time for professionals in this industry to band together rather than point fingers. Live Nation’s leadership is showing that they love this business, and want to do what they can to help fans continue to enjoy once-in-a-lifetime shows. I know many other folks who love this industry and the fans who come through the doors. Whether it is David Fay at the Bushnell or Robert Wagner with the Schubert Organization, they are concerned with the customers.
The point is, we are all in this together. Promoters, venues, ticketers, teams, and agents need to work together to find a way back to live events that is safe and sustainable. There are government entities right now that are working to define how live entertainment and events with crowds will look in the future. But we – those of us already involved in this ecosystem – need to put out our own plans for how that’ll look and get buy-in from all involved – government officials, scientists, and health care professionals.
We are doing what we can at TicketNetwork to help start that conversation. We have made sacrifices to keep our staff employed, and able to serve our customers while we figure out these next steps. I invite others in this business to join us in that conversation.
Those who know me, reach out to me if you want to be a part of this process. Others, we have launched a LinkedIn group to share ideas and generate discussion. Join it and be a part of the conversation as we share plans and documentation to bring live events back and let fans take part in these events that are such a big part of how we enjoy our lives.
LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12398121/
Lets get through this together,
Don Vaccaro,
CEO, TicketNetwork
Last Updated on April 17, 2020 by Dave Clark
11 Comments
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Perhaps a new policy going forward would be if you have Covid-19 and you have tickets to an upcoming show but you do not want to endanger others, you can get a refund or credit for the tickets you purchased for the event.
sometimes he’s an ass and sometimes a great guy
Sounds like a lot of ass kissing to Live Nation since they have sweet ticket deals with them getting inventory to sell on secondary market.
If someone doesn’t wish to risk his/her health to attend a concert that they currently purchased a ticket to, that person should be entitled to a refund, especially until a vaccine has been made available. Prior to any vaccine, it seems immoral, unfair, prejudicious, insensitive, and a whole lot of other adverbs to make someone “lose their money” in this environment. Equally, or more important, is that a large number of concert goers (including the current ticket holders) saved money for a ticket to a show that, if scheduled between roughly March 1 and the end of 2020, likely needs that concert ticket money back to survive for basic necessities. They should be allowed a refund now.
Two cases in point to illustrate:
1. LA Mayor has said there will be no baseball, football, hockey basketball, concerts, etc this year;
2. San Diego Fair Committee announced cancelled County Fair this year.
All ticket owners should be entitled to refunds. In the case of sporting season ticket holders, this is a different situation, obviously.
While the economic impact on the promoters, ticket sellers is large, with 22m and counting Americans now out of work, the average American is in need of every precious discretionary dollar they can find.
The larger companies, especially those that are publicly traded, can apply for economic help that the CARES Act offers them.
IMHO, ITS THE TICKET BUYERS THAT HAVE BERN DAMAGED FINANCIALLY MUCH MORE THAN THE CORPORATIONS AT THIS POUNT, AND ITS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE FOR THEM!
Hannity was suggesting we can start events sooner by having a test or a temperature taken before entering event & just have everyone wear some kind of a mask/handkerchief/face covering at the event
HI, it is not to kiss ass at all the point is everyone is on the same page. No one in the industry wants shows to get canceled or indefinitely postponed. I’m sorry that point out things good that a competitor does or is not on the same page on other issues. I commented that hold employees. even with a haircut. It’s our lives more than an industry. I remember when I was having an issue with David Fay. We meet and I understood what his goals were he lived for live entertainment and we both have keep in contact in a very friendly way. We don’t agree on all things but everyone agrees that we don’t have a business if the fan does not come first.
I agree 100% with John. Yes, the ticket-holders are the ones that are being asked to “eat” their tickets (lose money entirely) if they cannot make the rescheduled date of the event. They are NOT being “bailed out” by the government, are they?
Meanwhile, MONEY-MAKING companies such as TicketMaster, LiveNation, and some others, who are REFUSING to refund the money, ARE getting bail-outs.
Someone explain to me what’s happening here.
Personally, I am not entitled to a penny of the bailout money. Meanwhile I am losing a lot of money on my Broadway Series tickets that I will not be able to attend due to the event dates being rescheduled, and I am moving out of town.
As always, the little guy loses.
Legend!
It seems to me that a viable approach in the future for those exchanges as well as Live Nation/Ticketmaster/Telecharge and all other primary distributors would be to create a fund designed to simply safeguard against mass cancellations due to Pandemic or other natural disasters. Throwing out an example, and I dont know what the exact number should be, if the customer had 1$ added to the purchase price of each ticket, and that $1 dollar was maintained in a fund specifically designed for natural disaster refunds, the fund would grow tremendously over time. On top of that, each broker should match that $1 per sale towards the fund as well. With the volume of tickets sold by each exchange, and the unlikeliness of something like this being extremely rare again in the near future, the funds would grow rapidly enough to where the issues and challenges these companies are facing now would be minimal in the future. I do not think fans would have a problem in the future with safeguarding their purchase at a very minimal cost after what has taken place up until now. Then and only then can any company offer a true 100% fan guarantee upon purchase. The monies could even be pooled into one large account to represent all exchanges in such a catastrophic event. It is time for all exchanges to work together in unity to solve future crisis such as the one threatening to destroy the industry today. Figure it out but do not hold the fan hostage by adding any huge fees to the fans purchase to protect the companies. Share the costs and keep them as minimal as possible and begin building the fund for the future. This fund can be managed by an outside investment firm or it can be run by an impartial task force that serves all exchanges. It sounds almost union like but I believe it will prevent the industry from ever going down this path again. I would suggest that any fund developed only include events starting on January 1 2021 and going forward. If the fan is comfortable knowing their future purchases are protected by this I believe the trust of the fan will return much faster than it is likely to return today.
Bad situation for us here we can only hope for a vacine by next year so we can have events next year.
To add another piece to my idea, since this would be an ongoing fund with everyone participating, once the fund grows above what is deemed necessary to safeguard the possibility of mass cancellations and refunds, perhaps all who contribute could receive an end of year dividend or return of funds based on contributions. This would help to potentially gain buy in from more brokers and exchanges. Its a win win situation. Now what I outlined is obviously a broad basic idea that needs to be cultivated, but I believe this is the way to go and not have everyone spend extraordinary amounts on insurance. This can be handled in house at a far less expense to everyone involved. After this pandemic, insurance companies will be chomping at the bit to sell tremendously priced pandemic insurance policies so why give them your money?