Ow. My brain. My achy breaky brain.

[Nebu]

The undisputed hottest concert ticket of the year is for 14-year-old pop star Miley Cyrus, star of the Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" TV show.

I have lost all faith in humanity.

[schild]

"I feel like they are ripping off children," Nace said. "I'm sure there are parents out there would pay that much. But the rest of us shouldn't be penalized for that."

You deserve MAXIMUM PENALIZATION. I hope Elton John and Billy Joel take a hit out on this little camwhore.

That's right, I just called a Disney Channel girl a camwhore. I mean, that's what they are.

[Mrbloodworth]

Wow. 

[Salamok]

Not sure why this little factoid is so earth shattering.  As long as I don't have to listen or watch it then I am perfectly fine with this statistic. 

Early/Pre teens have always had alot of buying power, little imagination, and few choices, this quite often ends with a result like this.  It's not for us so we don't have to like it ;P

[Nebu]

Not sure why this little factoid is so earth shattering.  As long as I don't have to listen or watch it then I am perfectly fine with this statistic. 

Early/Pre teens have always had alot of buying power, little imagination, and few choices, this quite often ends with a result like this.  It's not for us so we don't have to like it ;P

Hence why it is posted in worthless news with a stupid title. 

Go go rationalization!

[Trippy]

High School Musical was the best selling CD of 2006. Tweeners rule!

[Strazos]

There's also a game for it on the DS. I've never seen the show. I don't get it.

I mean, how could the kids be so into a show that's about a damn musical?

[Selby]

NKOTB was the hottest shit in town when I was 9 or so.  Backstreet Boys and whatnot as well.  Let us not forget ol' Britney back when she was underage as well had massive drawing power.  Kids with rich\well off parents can really make a group\performer do well for a few years.

[Paelos]

Parents don't say NO enough. Film at 11.

[Trippy]

Spice Girls tickets in London sell out in 38 seconds

[Ironwood]

Yeah, heard that last night.  It was  a bit of a surprise...

[Nebu]

Spice Girls tickets in London sell out in 38 seconds

Don't tell me what I want, what I really really want.

[Sky]

Scalping is a fucking awful thing. I pretty much only go to concerts at the local indian casino because I can stand in line at the box office and get tickets they reserve from online sales. If you buy online, you're guaranteed a shitty ticket because the bots and scalpers...excuse me, ticket resellers  scoop up swaths of tickets.

Up until this year, the best I could hope for buying through ticketmaster was something in the back sections. For a really obscure artist, you might get somewhere in the middle. I've seen Skynyrd and the Allmans from so far away I may as well have sat on my car in the parking lot.

Buying tickets withheld from online sales at the box office? Front row and fifth row, and in the showroom I've gotten the exact table I wanted.

Fuck ticketmaster, fuck online ticket sales.

[bhodi]

I'm kind of confused. I hate ticketmaster myself because of the ridiculous surcharges... you hate ticketmaster for gobbling up tickets but then you also bate them because they can't give you the 'good' tickets through online purchase? You're getting your wish and hating them for it -- they can't gobble up the good tickets... right?

[Nebu]

Tickets should be sold by a lottery on the first day.  That would deter scaplers and allow people a shot at the good seats without creating those overnight lines.

[Mrbloodworth]

Not sure why this little factoid is so earth shattering.  As long as I don't have to listen or watch it then I am perfectly fine with this statistic. 

Early/Pre teens have always had alot of buying power, little imagination, and few choices, this quite often ends with a result like this.  It's not for us so we don't have to like it ;P

I don't think its the fact that group X is popular, the thing that got me was the shear speed at which this stuff is selling.

[Salamok]

Tickets should be sold by a lottery on the first day.  That would deter scalpers and allow people a shot at the good seats without creating those overnight lines.

That would make it worse.  I wont go to a concert unless i have decent tickets.  So under your system I would keep buying tickets until the lottery gave me usable ones.  Then I would be forced to scalp the rest, so you just turned someone who normally wouldn't scalp tickets into a scalper.  The only way you are going to eliminate scalping is to either eliminate tickets all together and have people just show up at the gate first come first serve pay as you enter. 

Personally I hate waiting in line so the above system blows.  Another alternative to lessen scalping would be to just auction the shit from the get go and bypass the majority of scalpers.  This wouldn't eliminate scalpers completely as the world is full of "spontaneous" people who just simply can't grasp the concept of purchasing a ticket 6 weeks before the event but it might make things a bit fairer.

[Nebu]

You're probably right.  I was just trying to envision a system where everyone had a shot at good seats and scalpers couldn't snap them all up easily.

[Chimpy]

Tickets should be sold by a lottery on the first day.  That would deter scalpers and allow people a shot at the good seats without creating those overnight lines.

That would make it worse.  I wont go to a concert unless i have decent tickets.  So under your system I would keep buying tickets until the lottery gave me usable ones.  Then I would be forced to scalp the rest, so you just turned someone who normally wouldn't scalp tickets into a scalper.  The only way you are going to eliminate scalping is to either eliminate tickets all together and have people just show up at the gate first come first serve pay as you enter. 

Personally I hate waiting in line so the above system blows.  Another alternative to lessen scalping would be to just auction the shit from the get go and bypass the majority of scalpers.  This wouldn't eliminate scalpers completely as the world is full of "spontaneous" people who just simply can't grasp the concept of purchasing a ticket 6 weeks before the event but it might make things a bit fairer.

Do it like the campus lotteries they use. You submit your name to the lottery, they then give you a "ticket buying position" and a time slot to purchase tickets.

I was number 45 for the Aerosmith lottery when they came to my school, got great seats, though I had to be at the union to purchase them at 830am :/

The Cubs were using some kind of online ticket lottery like that for playoff tickets if I recall correctly too.

[Yegolev]

The most disturbing thing about this thread is that Nebu knows who Hannah Montana is.  My excuse is that I watch Nickelodeon.

[Nebu]

The most disturbing thing about this thread is that Nebu knows who Hannah Montana is.  My excuse is that I watch Nickelodeon.

I have a 13 year old daughter.  I hope that will help you sleep at night.

[Vinadil]

At one time Disney was in the Theme Park business.  They almost went broke doing that and realized they were in the entertainment business.  They have been nothing if not semi-genious in creating ways to grab disposable income from Americans for decades.  This is their new machine... and it is pretty nuts how well oiled they have it.  They own the outlets to start selling to kids (mine included) starting at age 3 Months... and keep them hooked through high school graduation and beyond.  Then those kids have new kids, and viola... the never ending cycle of money suckage.

[Yegolev]

The most disturbing thing about this thread is that Nebu knows who Hannah Montana is.  My excuse is that I watch Nickelodeon.

I have a 13 year old daughter.  I hope that will help you sleep at night.

Ah, yes, that totally reverses everything... seems like I should have remembered you had a daughter.  My bad.

[Righ]

You're probably right.  I was just trying to envision a system where everyone had a shot at good seats and scalpers couldn't snap them all up easily.

For the Led Zeppelin reunion, they had a big lottery. The lucky winners (I was not one, but I know somebody who was) were sent a passcode for a TicketBastard site. It works like this:

1. You have 72 hours to book and pay for your tickets. 
2. Your individual passcode can only be used once and will be invalid after the deadline as mentioned above has passed. 
3. NO tickets will be mailed out. All concert goers must pick up their tickets and non-transferable wristbands in advance of the show at the O2 Arena between 10am and 6pm on Sunday 25th November and between 10am and 6pm on Monday 26th November. To avoid long queues on the day of the show you are strongly urged to pick up your tickets and wristbands on Sunday 25th November or arrive as early as possible on Monday 26th November, please be aware that ticket collection will be busy at peak times and you should anticipate having to wait to be served. 
4. To collect the tickets each original purchaser and the person accompanying them to the show must be present in order to pick up the tickets and wristbands. NO exceptions 
5. Each original purchaser must provide the actual credit card used for the purchase along with valid state-issued PHOTO ID in order to receive the tickets and non-transferable wristbands. All wristbands will be fitted immediately. 
6. There will be no exceptions to the above, no name changes or letters of authorisation will be accepted under any circumstances. 
7. On the night of the show EVERYONE will be required to present BOTH the WRISTBAND and TICKET for entrance to the show. Wristbands must NOT be removed or tampered with prior to entering the show or your access will be refused. Original ticketholders must bring photo ID to the show as they may be required to present it upon entry to the venue. 
8. The original conditions of sale will be enforced. These tickets are non-transferable and any resale will void the transaction without refund. 
9. If you book the tickets and are unable to attend we will refund the face value of the tickets (£125 per ticket) if you contact us before the 20th October 2007. No refunds will be accepted after this date.

So of course, people started selling many passcodes on eBay, from everywhere from $160 up to $10,000 - I imagine it was pretty easy create a few thousand email accounts and false names for the purposes of ensuring a 'win' so that folk could scalp the passcodes. That's when Harvey Goldsmith (the promoter) pointed out that all passcodes were linked to a name, and that they would check against purchased tickets and cancel those paid by cards that didn't match an application name, and select new lottery winners for those tickets.

Of course, this doesn't screw the (initial) scalpers, but the twits who used them. And TicketBastard gets to sell the tickets multiple times. With their usual convenience fees, booking fees, conveyancing fees, etc.

I would say with the attempted scalping prices, and the many many millions of applications (some say 20 million) that Led Zep beat out Hannah Montana for the hottest concert of the year. Nyah.