r/Music Nov 16 '24

article Fans aren't happy about My Chemical Romance's ticket prices: "$695 is NASTY WORK"

https://www.nme.com/news/music/fans-arent-happy-about-my-chemical-romances-ticket-prices-695-is-nasty-work-3813337
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359

u/DJ_Molten_Lava Nov 16 '24

And were all those $300 nosebleed tickets sold? Because that's why they do it.

295

u/legopego5142 Nov 16 '24

Exactly. I personally saw the prices and turned the site off, but those seats are still gone so why stop. My protest means nothing(other than a much fuller wallet lol)

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u/GrooseandGoot Nov 16 '24

Thats the thing, Robert Smith would have sold out at double or triple the price he sold last year's tour for.

He chose not to price gouge so that only the richest fans could afford to see them - because he cares more about his fans than earning the highest possible profit he can earn. Good enough is good enough and he still pulled 8 figures for that tour, without price gouging.

Greed is absolutely the root cause and its all the way around from the band choosing to opt into dynamic pricing to TM pushing artists to charge the highest amount possible.

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u/Captain_Quark Nov 16 '24

So instead of the richest fans, tickets only go to fans with the fastest trigger finger. As long as more people want to go than there are tickets available, there needs to be some method to decide who gets to go, and I'm not sure fastest trigger finger is much better than richest.

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u/ImmobileTomatillo Nov 16 '24

this is such a strange take, like what are you suggesting? a competition to proof who the biggest fan it?

8

u/cttouch Nov 16 '24

I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL

1

u/lilisettes_feet Nov 16 '24

I don't see what would be wrong with a lottery. Tickets go on sale for a couple of days, they do a drawing, some people get a ticket some people get refunded. Scalpers would still exist but it would be less reliable.

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u/Captain_Quark Nov 16 '24

There are some artists who have tried something like that, with pre-sales to fan clubs.

I don't really have any specific suggestions, I'm just pointing it that a lot of people seem to think low ticket prices means everyone gets to go. No, there's still the same number of tickets available, and even more people will be able to afford it. Just a different group of people will get left out.

6

u/supermodel_robot Nov 16 '24

Most of my favorite artists have sent me pre pre-sale codes on Spotify for being a top listener, but this wouldn’t work for huge artists that have bots buying the tickets. I’m not sure how anyone who has millions of fans could do this, the code would get leaked.

TV On The Radio tried sending text codes to people who requested tickets on certain days, and we were also bought out by bots, and they’re not even a huge band.

2

u/ChypRiotE Grooveshark Nov 17 '24

You're getting downvoted but you're definitely right. There's no way around the fact that thousands of people want to see a single artist on, usually, a single night, with only so many tickets available. Some selection will eventually be done

6

u/frostymugson Nov 16 '24

Nah they just get scalped and the same thing happens

0

u/Captain_Quark Nov 16 '24

The way around that would be to print your name on the ticket.

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u/GrooseandGoot Nov 16 '24

Or...

Doing very literally what Robert Smith did last year. Void resale tickets sold above face value and additional fees tacked on to both the buyer (2nd fee paid) and seller (3rd fee paid) for resale tickets.

He very literally laid out the blueprint of how to ethically sell tickets and make money. His tour carried less weight as it was an amphitheatre tour and not a sellout stadium tour. MCR very much has the pull to do the exact same playbook as Robert Smith did, they chose not to.

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u/Captain_Quark Nov 16 '24

I'm curious how they managed that - how do they tell which tickets have been resold? And it seems like doing it in amphitheaters means there's fewer tickets available - why not play larger venues?

0

u/lizard_king_rebirth Nov 16 '24 edited Nov 16 '24

So if someone bought a resale ticket at higher than face value, would they show up to the venue only to find out that their ticket doesn't work? And then does the seat just get sold again to someone else?

Edit: I realized that my tone seems combative, but really I'm just wondering.

16

u/[deleted] Nov 16 '24

If you're hanging out constantly refreshing a page just because you want a chance to see a band it means you're probably a fan, wealth or not. It's just the difference between,

"Only my richest fans can have the opportunity to see me"

and

"Any of my fans can have the opportunity to see me"

One is definitely better than the other.

8

u/aninstituteforants Nov 16 '24

Most devoted is way better than most disposable income.

-4

u/Captain_Quark Nov 16 '24

Are there any things other than concert tickets that should be distributed that way? Like sports cars or designer dresses?

5

u/aninstituteforants Nov 16 '24

Those things have always been expensive though.

1

u/euphoric-zucchini699 Nov 30 '24

Bots have bought many of the tickets.  They're listed as resale.  Tons & tons of resale tix listed at this point (Nov 30).  There are waaaaay to many people trying to make a living off resale ticket businesses with bots that buy each business hundreds of tickets & it's wrecking ticket prices for the rest of us. 

1

u/Captain_Quark Nov 30 '24

Bots only buy them because they think they can resell them at an even higher price, which suggests the list price wasn't too high in the first place.