Tickets for the local U2 show go on sale next Monday. I should be happy, thrilled, ecstatic.
Instead I feel nervous, anxious and angry because obtaining concert tickets is such a negative experience. In some ways its like playing the lotto - a few get lucky, but many will walk away with NOTHING. Its grossly unfair and the ticket industry’s greed is disgusting.
I’m not referring to the price of tickets (that’s for another day), what infuriates me is how ticket scalpers (aka ticket brokers or agencies) buy huge quantities of tickets than turn around and sell them for two, three or even four times face value. It forces fans that want choice seats to shell out big bucks. Its just plain wrong!
Its at times like this that I ask myself, where the heck are Eddie Vedder and Trent Reznor when you need them?
Remember back in 1994 when Pearl Jam addressed Congress? They clearly spelled out what goes on behind the scenes. They did an excellent job of showing the world how greedy and unfair it is to have one company, specifically Ticketmaster, controlling ticket sales for all the major events in the
Then there’s Nine Inch Nails. Those guys took things a step further and made sure their fans had a fair shot at getting GOOD seats at face value! Trent Reznor does a great job of summarizing how NIN deals with this issue (read the article for details of the hows and whys, I found it very enlightenting):
"We have essentially stopped scalping by doing these things - because we want true fans to be able to get great seats and not get ripped off by these parasites."Once again, my personal thanks to
I am seriously considering starting a grassroots movement to put an end to unfair monopolization of concert ticket sales!! Anyone want to join me? Lets do it!
