MartinB Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 I'm not calling out anyone in particular, as I've come across this with multiple different bands and promoters. It's just puzzling. A promoter is putting on a gig at a small venue (<250 capacity). They have their online ticketing set up. Any normal person who wants to go to the gig is going to buy their ticket on the web, and their name will be on a list when they arrive at the venue. Either that or they pay on the door. Simple, secure, no chance of losing a ticket. Why, then, does the same promoter want to send a book of paper tickets to every band on the bill, and ask them to attempt to sell them directly to punters? Why would any customer choose the extra hassle of getting in touch, arranging payment, and waiting for physical tickets to turn up in the post? It's effort for them, it's effort for the band, and given that online ticketing is set-and-forget, it's no reduction in effort for the promoter. It's not about attributing ticket sales to the different acts. This is 2018 - you give each band a slightly different ticketing link with an attribution code in it, or you just ask each ticket buyer which band they're most interested in seeing. This is usually what happens for sales on the door. To be 100% clear: I am not talking about pay-to-play. The bands are not asked to buy the tickets and re-sell them. There's certainly some pressure along the lines of "we need you to sell x tickets", or "if you sell y tickets, we'll book you for another show". But this has no bearing on whether the tickets are virtual or physical. Does anyone have any ideas about this? Is the industry just a bit technologically backward, or is there a scam element that I'm missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertbass Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 Not something I've ever been involved with and wouldn't do it if I was but I would imagine it's the impulse buy thing. See the band, like the band and buy a ticket for the next show. Most audiences probably wouldn't go to the bother of going online to try to find tickets after the event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 I've got a shoe box full of tickets kept as souvenirs, I'd rather have that than a long lost email folder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger2611 Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 Yodaclub were recently offered a support slot with a Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds tribute band...err OK, surely them High Flying Birds are not really big enough to command a tribute band at this point in time...but hey ho! Anyway, the terms were that we needed to sell a couple of books of tickets if we wanted to be paid for the gig, our managers response was "we are musicians not promoters so sorry, but we are not interested" We are not from the town where the gig is so selling tickets to friends and then expecting them to travel 60 - 70 miles to see us play was not going to happen, my gut feeling was that the promoter knows full well it will be a poorly attended gig so thought getting the support bands to sell tickets was the way to get people into the venue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 15 minutes ago, Woodwind said: Absolutely incredible bot post. Yes, we appear to have a persistent one... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 "Promoter". Isn't it their job to promote the gig and get folk through the door? I fundamentally disagree with having to do any of this work - I'm here to play music and entertain - it's what I've spent years of my life honing and improving while spending boatloads of money on gear, travelling, rehearsal time, releasing music. If I wanted to be a "promoter" then I'd do that instead - it's clearly a difficult job if you're pawing off half your work to the bands. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernaut Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 On 12/05/2018 at 12:30, MartinB said: I'm not calling out anyone in particular, as I've come across this with multiple different bands and promoters. It's just puzzling. A promoter is putting on a gig at a small venue (<250 capacity). They have their online ticketing set up. Any normal person who wants to go to the gig is going to buy their ticket on the web, and their name will be on a list when they arrive at the venue. Either that or they pay on the door. Simple, secure, no chance of losing a ticket. Why, then, does the same promoter want to send a book of paper tickets to every band on the bill, and ask them to attempt to sell them directly to punters? Why would any customer choose the extra hassle of getting in touch, arranging payment, and waiting for physical tickets to turn up in the post? It's effort for them, it's effort for the band, and given that online ticketing is set-and-forget, it's no reduction in effort for the promoter. It's not about attributing ticket sales to the different acts. This is 2018 - you give each band a slightly different ticketing link with an attribution code in it, or you just ask each ticket buyer which band they're most interested in seeing. This is usually what happens for sales on the door. To be 100% clear: I am not talking about pay-to-play. The bands are not asked to buy the tickets and re-sell them. There's certainly some pressure along the lines of "we need you to sell x tickets", or "if you sell y tickets, we'll book you for another show". But this has no bearing on whether the tickets are virtual or physical. Does anyone have any ideas about this? Is the industry just a bit technologically backward, or is there a scam element that I'm missing? The answer is... lazy promoters use the bands to do all the work but they keep all the money. F those promoters and venues. Musicians and bands aren't doing this for the exposure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinB Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 Well this is a blast from the past! Here in 2021, I'd like to think that all the crappy promoters have found themselves new careers over the last 18 months, leaving only the good ones who treat the bands well. But I'm not holding my breath... 😆 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crawford13 Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 On 12/05/2018 at 12:30, MartinB said: To be 100% clear: I am not talking about pay-to-play. The bands are not asked to buy the tickets and re-sell them. There's certainly some pressure along the lines of "we need you to sell x tickets", or "if you sell y tickets, we'll book you for another show". But this has no bearing on whether the tickets are virtual or physical. My take on this is that, it is still pay to play, and just not being advertised as such. They give the tickets to the band and want the percentage of the money, in my experience the band is usually given X amount of tickets and have to give the promoter X amount of money regardless of how many tickets sold, hence stil pay to play. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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