#and there were other venues on this pop up that did not use only Ticketmaster

[lynsburner]

I am once again asking Hozier to stop using Ticketmaster 🙃

[suchalilyofthevalley]

What kind of path do you see Camila’s career taking, outside of her connection with Shawn Mendes? How do you feel about her publicity/marketing teams? Are they doing too much or too small, based off of your own experiences?

Full disclosure – I am not a fan. Wasn’t into of 5H (which I mentioned herein the Normani ask earlier today) and really wasn’t a fan of her once she went solo. I’m approaching this solely from PR professional/music industry perspective here.  

Her team first and foremost needs to understand what I call separation of churchand state. Right now, ALL you see is her and Shawn. There’s little to no separate entity of it. They played it all through from the drop of Senorita to album press to tour press to second single push. It’s all her talking points seemed to be about during anything on press. Little on the album, heavy on the relationship and the Shawn of it. They’ve had a loud social buzz from her fan base through it all, but it has not translated into transactions, sales, traction with general mass pop or anything of the like. And let’s be honest the approach they’ve been taking - it ain’t working. That’s not opinion (which of mine it is) it’s fact. 

Let’s break it down for proof’s/facts sake:

Album sales were lackluster stateside for a sophomore release with the amount Sony was throwing at it. It may have somewhat ok overseas, but the US - it didn’t move the units. Yes, it was a top 5 debut on the charts coming in at 3 with 86K in equivalent units, but it only moved 50k in pure sales, 30,000 stream-equivalent sales resulting from 40.6 million on-demand streams (which I would love to know how many are Seniorita pre-album drop), and 2,000 track-equivalent sales. Sourcing/thanks to Billboard and the charting master Keith for this. It maxed out at a top 2 position before sliding off the top of the chart. 

Singles really didn’t get high up (not taking into consideration Seniorita because that success came before the album dropped as much as it’s on her album) nor get a ton of spin on the radio. Streaming numbers can be shifted the same way due to the single “non-single” being included. The secondary push of My Oh My was a valiant effort, but considering it dropped so soon after the album push/press, other than Fallon, you didn’t see a lot of major outlets doubling up on the press ops or support. 

Let’s not forget the tour that they couldn’t sell and fill. Scaling for it was high meaning ticket prices weren’t too forgiving I think at ON SALE the cheapest ticket was 99 upwards of 899 for platinum/VIP (give or take a few bucks on either side on both of these). It was a new promoter for this tour (went from smaller scaled/smaller venue Live Nation produced tour playing theatersand smaller GA venues to AEG/Messina Touring production in a massive haul across the globe). The first headlining tour kicked off in Spring 2018 so not too far in the distant past, something like 16 US/Canada dates but again,smaller venues. This new tour also jumped from places like Terminal 5 in NYC where she played on the first tour straight into a venue like MSG. T5′s max cap is 3,000. MSG depending on the concert setup is almost 21,000. That’s a MASSIVE JUMP in a short period of time. This new tour routing was 28 across US/Canada/Mexico in venues that are 3-5-7 times the size she was playing last. I did see they added some dynamic pricing models for some buildings, doing me + 3 ticket packs with TM and dropping some price points through their scaling. It also was super telling when Ticketmaster went from the dot map matrix for some venues that they’ve been loving to tout to fans so you can see exactly down to the minutia where you’re sitting, to the greyscale here’s the map and this is what we’re pulling for ‘best available’ for you. Last I had seen, venues were looking somewhere between a 20-45ish% capacity. Even with as far out as some of the dates were, from a building/promoter perspective, that raises some red flags.

PERSONAL OPINION ON TOURING (given I’ve worked touring and venues before): They never should have transitioned her into venues like that just yet. This should have been a summer/fall/winter outing starting in sheds/amps outside here in North America where max caps can range from 9k to 15k depending on the market and are probably more forgiving when ticket sales aren’t there - ex: PNC Bank Arts Center in NJ, their set up is seated amp then a whole back lawn for GA seating. Then, transition over to closed buildings in Europe/South America/wherever else they had her routed where you’ve got some more flex over closed building size.

She was everywhere and anywhere pimped out to the max. We all saw it. Anywhere she could have been on, she was and then some. Like it got to be well-oversaturated overkill. The partnerships they did like The 1-800-Flowers Valentine’s day promo with buy roses and here’s a pair of tickets, the CD bundles, concert ticket bundles they were throwing at it, the sheer amount of PAID radio, digital and streaming ad promo. There were entire FULL WEEK LONG takeovers of ticket giveaways for this well after the on-sale date. Like one Adult Contemporary station in New York, Fresh 102.7, it was anytime ANYONE calls in, even if it’s not a call in to win, we’ll give you tickets. There were long blocks of giveaways like that on Z100 here in NYC too, like 6 times a day we give away for a long weekend Fri-Mon. Like Sony threw everything and the damn kitchen sink at this and now we can look back and see the results.

PERSONAL OPINION: I don’t think they’ve done a good job, I think they need to work smarter and definitely more strategic. It shouldn’t be about volume and quantity and mass overload spray and pray - it should be about quality and making moves that matter. It should be about the music, and her as an artist, not who she’s seeing and sleeping with now. They need to brush up on the media prep and media training for sure before any ops or big press tour undertakings. They took a massive jump and risk this go on a sophomore release/campaign and they lost a bit. It’s in the numbers. You can’t dispute that. Coming off COVID pandemic, it’s going to be interesting to see how the industry shakes out, let alone how labels shift perspectives here. They had to have dropped massive bank on this album and tour support, and there’s not a lot of real returns. In talks of touring/rescheduling - building avails are going to be few and far between with everyone wanting to reschedule PLUS need to take into consideration there are already tours that have booked out dates for the next two years or have dates on hold with buildings that we don’t even know about yet. It’ll become do you tour even at all at this point, do you do abbreviated swings meaning fewer cities/more compact routing based off avails, do you push to 2021/2022 where there may be better avails but risk the fact it’s so far out from album release that is it even worth it/relevant at this point, do you shift from arenas to sheds/amps/outdoor spaces and you need to factor in the economic impacts of it all.

[promisenolies]

So... I never want to forget what BTS Chicago Night One was like... the pictures and video will help that I got.. but I wanted more. Something concrete...so I wrote this: 

I have sincere doubts that I’ll ever be able to accurately describe what going to BTS’s Speak Yourself show in Chicago on May 11, 2019 meant to me. Part of being able to convey why it was such a life-altering experience for me would include y’all having an understanding as to why I love these guys so much, what their music, and general existence means to me. And that, is a task that is beyond my capabilities…but I’ll try.

               I didn’t know what I was missing. I shrugged my daughter off when she’d try to tell me about them or get me to listen to their music. I didn’t understand why anyone would listen to music outside of their native language. How do you even enjoy it? But then…in July…I heard Fake Love on the radio while on my way to a Hanson String Theory show. Something about it called to me. I jumped in and started reading lyrics (as the message is always my number one concern—after having a good groove/sound) …and I fell in love. –Do you know how hard it is to find a great beat and fat bass WITHOUT sexually degrading lyrics? Damn near impossible until BTS for me. Instead of ‘bitches, hos, money, drugs, and pimping’ they’re singing about chasing dreams, rejecting status quo, finding home with those you love and who love you, about love, relationships, and connection. They sing a wide range—pop, pop/rock, rap, hip-hop…it keeps my many moods quite satisfied.  Their music fully transcends language. You can just FEEL it, so deeply, so wholly, you don’t need to know every last word to get the message.

Then, I fell in love with THEM. I fell in love with their message of loving ourselves, speaking our truths, of not trying to meet anyone else’s expectations, to do what makes YOU happy. They are so engaged, humble, gracious, and kind. They’re funny and dorky. They’re reflective and intellectual. They’re driven and talented.

               Yes, they’re a “boy band.” Yes, they dance and wear ‘costumes.’ But these boys also write and produce their own stuff (with others as well…but still—active participants!) and always sing live. They give 110% for a minimum of two hours-even to the point of getting sick/passing out/injuring themselves.

               And the fan base!! Holy mother! Sure I feel a little isolated here in small town MN in my love for these boys (aside from my kid, my cousin’s kid, and a few friends of theirs) but the fan base is MASSIVE. And incredibly welcoming (for the most part). There’s drama of course—I mean, there are at least 20 million of us. But it’s pretty easy to stay out of and find people to connect with. It’s one thing to know there’s a network of us online… it’s a completely different thing to experience it.

               Which, I guess, brings me to this past weekend. After a roughly 8 hour drive, we arrived in Chicago. Right away, the streets were sprinkled with ARMIES—BTS and BT21 gear proudly worn and displayed. A sense of belonging and home seeped in. And that’s not a new sensation for me, as I’ve felt that every time I went to Tulsa, or Back To The Island or any other Hanson event/show. It’s a beautiful feeling. We got checked in and decided to head to Soldier Field as the merch lines were already open and apparently essentially non-existent. The field area had a small number of ARMY milling about, nothing too crazy. We stopped and took a picture of a few BTS banners, then found the merch area. And yeah, after less than a half hour later we were at the front of the line, mostly certain of our merch choices. I pretty much wanted it all, but had to limit myself. We wandered a bit more, and that’s when it finally started to sink in…I was in the same city as seven men who had altered my emotional well being over the last 10-11 months, I would be seeing them LIVE in around 12 hours. I was quickly overwhelmed and started to cry. It feels somewhat embarrassing to say, and I don’t even fully understand what it was that overwhelmed me so much. The rest of the evening was pretty chill—grabbed some dinner and mentally tried to prepare ourselves for the next day.

               The next day we went back down to Soldier field—equipped with layers and an umbrella because the weather was turning cold and rainy. When we arrived we knew we made the right call by going to get merch the afternoon before because the merch line was RIDICULOUS – we’re talking thousands of people in line. There were multiple merch locations—all with the same size lines! But we wanted to get pictures done at the BTS Studio – a very neat little booth where you get to “interact” with one of the guys via a sort of hologram like thing, but the pictures turn out so freaking legit I was dying to get one. ….however….BigHit/Mattel (I don’t know who made this call..but!) cut off the general line after we waited for two hours. There were at least a couple hundred more behind us waiting, as well as about a hundred in front of us, and there were five hours left before doors opened to the stadium so it literally made ZERO sense to cut the line. BTS SOLD OUT Soldier Field (roughly 70,000 seats) and they only allowed 250 general people into the studio (there were more QR holders—which tons of ARMY tried for an only a few got) … it was a disaster. I suppose I would have been less angry had it not been so ungodly COLD out. We certainly did not plan for 40 degree weather in MAY.

               We decided to hop an Uber and go back to the hotel until showtime. After lunch we drove downtown to check out the BTS Pop-up Store situation, and then made a quick decision to avoid that line as it literally wrapped around an entire downtown Chicago city block – INSANE—but beautiful. So, back to the hotel. The weather was not clearing up, and I was starting to worry about the show—both for our comfort but also and more importantly the guys’ safety. Wet stages are slippery and these boys don’t hold back, the risk of injury was high. So, we joked and tweeted a bit about how Yoongi (Suga) needed to say out loud that he wanted the rain to stop and skies to clear because anything Yoongi says out loud tends to happen – saying he wanted BTS to win daesangs (Korean absolute top awards – they now have 15 from 2016 to 2018) saying he wanted to go to the Grammys (and they presented at this year’s Grammy Awards) saying he wanted Billboard top 200 (done) Billboard top 100 (done) A Billboard Music Award (done x4 – three top social artist and this years top group award). So we called on Yoongi to say he didn’t want the rain… and while the boys may have said it was the power of ARMY that cleared the skies I still say it was Yoongi.

               When we got into the venue another rush of realization hit me when I saw how CLOSE to the stage we were. I may have missed out on the VIP tickets (thanks to the stupid ticketmaster app freezing on my phone) but level 100 was INCREDIBLE. Absolutely astounding really. We got our ARMY Bombs paired to our seats and then waited. They play music videos while we wait, and it was amusing to have fans scream for those as well – and indicative of how insane it was going to be once all the fans were in and seated because it was loud even with just around a few thousand inside. My brain still couldn’t quite comprehend that I was about to see BTS live, that I was as close as I was, and that it wasn’t a dream.

               The thing about it is…once it started, I had no idea what to do. Do I watch the stage, do I watch the screen, do I not try to capture any video or pictures and just dance, sing, and scream? I tried to do all of those options, but I still feel like I missed so much. I feel like it all went so quickly.

               They opened with DIONYSUS – from their new album Map of the Soul: Persona. A heavy hitting, party-anthem type song. A great opener to get the crowd hyped up (as if we needed the help) The pyrotechnics warmed it up a bit when they went off (holy shit we really were close!) The stage was amazing! Large silver leopards behind them, Greek pillars adorning the sides…totally fitting of Dionysus.

               They transitioned straight into NOT TODAY—another heavy hitter for bass, power, and intense choreo. Theses guys BURST into their stage presence, taking no prisoners and leaving us all breathless and trembling. The sensation of hearing tens of thousands of other fans screaming with you, singing with you, and doing fan chants for the guys…well, that’s a feeling I’ve never felt before.

               My first round of tears started when they did their introductions/welcome speeches. Let’s be honest, I’m Jimin biased through and through. He will always hold the biggest part of my heart out of the seven. And, honestly, I thought he was the most beautiful being I’d ever seen…but to see him in person…holy mother, there is no comparing it. He’s absolutely ethereal. An angel just walking among us. But each of their moments touched me, made me smile or laugh or just bask in the feel of love they send to us. And then…WINGS. I was so excited to know that they were performing Wings as it’s one of my favorite songs and I worried I’d never hear it live since it’s an older one. My teary-eyed state did not go away once they started it, even though it’s an upbeat song. There’s just something about BTS singing about facing fears and chasing dreams, having their wings spread and taking them to where they want to go…feeling that it was the work of ARMY helping them get there…but I know for a fact that ARMY also feel that BTS are our wings too—the way we feel encouraged and empowered to live authentically and without apology, to chase dreams and find our passions.

               A small break and then we got J-Hope’s solo JUST DANCE Hobi is a great entertainer, clearly loves the stage and his passion for dance is legitimately felt through the entire stadium. After J-Hope we got an iconic performance of EUPHORIA by Jungkook. Kookie is stunning! Absolutely beautiful. He goes from adorable baby bunny to professional rockstar in half a second. His vocals are solid and his choreo locked down. But who thought up the crazy idea of hanging onto a giant hook-like-thing and just soaring over the crowd on a cable!? My mama bear heart struggled with that, fam. But he did great and seems to really enjoy it so we’ll let it pass.

               BEST OF ME!! Ugh, another song I was DESPERATE to hear live and worried I never would. A stellar performance! The energy was still high with them and us, everyone singing along and dancing. So many of their songs are “one of my favorites” but this one definitely is. And I was GIDDY hearing it live. And yes, the answer call between Jimin and Jungkook was a highlight.  

               Clear the stage, play a quick video… and then… SERENDIPITY. This experience STILL feels like it didn’t happen. Jimin singing live… wow… just… I lack words to express Jimin and his performance. His choreography is always some of the most intricate and demanding and yet he does it flawlessly while maintaining his angelic vocals. He didn’t get the title main dancer by chance. The level of professionalism is incredible. You can tell he feels so loved by ARMY, his smile is so genuine and gracious as he’s absorbing all our cheering and screaming…and yeah, maybe a little bit of sobbing. He’s a soft, sweet person and an absolute powerhouse on stage—even with a ballad such as Serendipity.

               And then RM brings us back up in energy with his solo LOVE. They’re all great performers, and RM is no exception. It’s hard to capture a good picture of him because he’s constantly moving on the stage, making rounds to every corner. Another beautiful moment to be chanting “salam salam salam (person person person) and salang salang salang (love love love)” with tens of thousands of fans… it’s quite overwhelming.

               BOY WITH LUV is like a blur for me. They all looked AMAZING. I loved the mix of pink and blue clothing. I probably missed a ton of moments through that song because my brain short circuited, I tried to get some pictures but the movement is so constant that not many of them turned out. Strong vocals, a ton of fun together, an all around great performance.

               From the newest to some old school – DOPE followed Boy With Luv. I love the energy and power in Dope. I also loved the cute little moment I got on video between Jimin and Jungkook. Dope blended into BAEPSAE and FIRE … this medley is INSANE. I LOVE watching the guys freestyle their dancing and then effortlessly joining formation and nailing the song’s choreography. It’s stupidly impressive. JHope jumped out and attacked us all with some power dancing and then the dreaded/desired hip thrusting.

               I got absolutely zero pictures or video from IDOL because I was so enraptured by them on stage. I couldn’t take my eyes off them. It was pretty neat as Idol faded out, they went back to the top of the stage then went full in to the Idol choreography again. Like a second dance break when it appeared the song was over. Another small break and then Tae (V) comes out in pajamas on a freaking bed. The crowd lost their minds. It was a stunning performance of SINGULARITY, and I’m really hoping I can find video of the small dance break he has in it where he flung off the jacket. Sometimes Tae fades a little into the background but this performance wasn’t one of those times.

               After Singularity we got a seamless transition into FAKE LOVE—another song I have zero pics or video from because the whole thing was an experience. Seriously. Damn. From the strong, solid vocals to the hard hitting, precise choreo, to the passionate fan chants…Fake Love was perfection. …And do I really need to mention Jungkook’s abs? Oofta. I was utterly enraptured by this performance. Also, since Fake Love was the comeback I came into the fandom during, it holds a unique place in my heart.

               I don’t remember Fake Love ending, but I do remember the next song starting. SEESAW. Shit. Again, I shall remind you that Jimin is by bias—always has been always will be. But I’d be a bold-faced LIAR if I tried to say that Yoongi isn’t the most amazing performer I’ve ever seen. They are all phenomenal. But Yoongi has something extra. Something you don’t expect from him. He often flies a little under the radar, not often the highlight of red-carpet appearances or interviews, fairly soft-spoken. But when he hits the stage—watch out! Min Yoongi was BORN to be on stage. Even with a softer song, and less intense choreography Suga owns it. He commands all attention. He’s claimed in the past that he can’t “sing”, since he’s a rapper, but Seesaw (and First Love—his solo from Wings) prove otherwise. Gorgeous. I was speechless, and a bit teary watching him.

               And if I wasn’t already an emotional mess by then, Jin gets the stage to perform EPIPHANY. Oh my heart!! This was a song that when I first heard it, my heart and soul KNEW it was intense and it touched me instantly. And then, when I listened again with subs/lyrics I had a little bit of an emotional breakdown. Epiphany live was like the first time all over again. And to be surrounded by tens of thousands of other fans singing “I’m the one I should love…” Well, cue me crying.  A message of needing to love yourself before being able to find love with anyone else…well that’s a message we all need to take to heart. A stellar performance. An emotional experience.

               But then! Then you know what they did!? When we’re already emotional hot messes? They go into THE TRUTH UNTOLD. Whhyyyy!? Why would you do that to us!? The Truth Untold is a transcendent song, no way around it. A song about feelings of inadequacy, of being rejected if people knew who we really were, hiding behind masks because we’re so afraid… God, just rip out my heart. And our dear vocal line (Jimin, Jungkook, Jin, and Tae) were so lovely and beautiful and somber. The song has no choreo, no fancy stages… just four guys singing their absolute hearts out.

               Cue the rap line (Suga, RM, and JHope) coming to pull us from our emotional state with OUTRO: TEAR. Oh lord, as it started there was a woman the row behind us who asked her friend, “what song is this?” and her friend was so offended! She screamed, “Tear, bitch!” It was slightly hilarious. All three rappers dominate the stage, and having never been to a live rap show before, I gotta say the ability to maintain the flow at the speed they do is impressive. TEAR flowed into MIC DROP and ooooooh how I lost my mind! MIC DROP was the song that really got me to jump into the BTS scene head first. It’s always been a favorite, will always be a favorite. I tried to get video, but I couldn’t stop dancing so it’s pretty bad video. (also, no one wants to hear my horrible voice fan chanting and singing along) The choreography to MIC DROP kills me. The choreo (and the song itself) just screams “we’re badass and we have no apologies” so get on board or get the hell out.

               A small pause so that they could set up the guys’ giant Anpanman bounce house! ANPANMAN has always been a fun song and a great live performance, but it hit a new level when you get to watch the guys play on a giant bounce house. It’s easy to forget how young they all are and how much of their youth they kind of missed out on as they chased this dream. I mean, Jungkookie is only 21 now, was 15 when they debuted. Jin, the oldest is only 26 and was 20 at debut. They lost a lot of freedom and playful years as they trained for debut. It’s freaking adorable to watch them play on stage. Even cuter when Yoongi goes from savage rapper in MIC DROP to soft and playful on the inflatable. Jungkook chased Jimin to the top, did a little dance and then they slid down (JK after Jimin though I think he had wanted to go down together)

               Anpanman transitions into SO WHAT which is truly a sight to see. No set choreo, just the guys dancing along every last inch of the stage to spread their love to everyone in the stadium. Playful moments, a lot of laughter. It’s BTS being authentically them. And I love it.

               We all got a bit emotional during the closing speeches. Jin being classic Jin and screaming AARRRMMMYYYY at us, “today is so cold, you know…thank you for coming out today even though it’s cold and rainy, I’d like to hug you with my warm heart” (and he hugs JK) “I actually really hate being cold, I was so happy though because I was with you, Army. I LOVE YOU ARMY!!” Jimin showing us how floored he was by our presence, soaking in our cheers—eyes wide and smile bright. “I’m so so happy today. But! I hope you guys don’t catch a cold.” He then essentially points a finger at us, daring our immune systems to go against his wishes.  (the screams overtake the next part of his speech so I’m not positive as to what he said) Jimin always finishes with “I love you” and lots of hearts. Jungkook and his adorable bunny smile, acted shy when it was his turn. He starts with “…It’s been awhile. I know it’s was rainy and cold, rainy and chilly…but you warmed my heart. I hope you also felt warm energy from us. One more thing, please, don’t catch a cold. Alright? See you all again!”  Suga – commanding the stage once again. “Chicago make some noise! I heard it’s actually really cold in Chicago but I didn’t know it was going to be this cold. But because of you Army, you guys melted this place. Chicago make some noise! Today’s going to be such an unforgettable day. Thank you so much for coming out today, see you tomorrow!”  JHope: “My lovely Chicago!! Did we have fun today? Since it was raining hard, and cold, I was worried for you all. However, as I was watching all of you, having fun, with your smiles on your face, my worries disappeared and I gained my power back. Army, you guys are my hope, you’re my hope, thank you so much Army Chicago, see you tomorrow.”   Tae: “How you feeling Chicago? Make some noise. A few days ago I had a dream about chasing some stars and this scenery was exactly my dream. I really wanted to chase and make sure to grab a star. I want to keep this scenery forever (Tae fooled me and I thought his speech was over so my video stopped)…ssshhhh…we will come again next year!”  RM: (gets bundled up by Tae, fans chant KIM NAMJOON) “My parents are gonna love this.” (in response to the chanting) “Guys, welcome to the first BTS winter concert. You might catch a cold, it’s freezing but whatever, it’s special right!? It’s fresh. It’s Chicago. Is the weather a serious problem for us? So right before we get onto the stage, like during the sound check, um while we were coming to the stage it was raining a lot and like these friends and every staff were so worried that it was raining and maybe we might do the little dance not very good, so we were worried, but I told them ‘don’t worry Chicago army is going to stop the rain.’ And you guys did! Seriously you guys gave us a miracle and I love this special weather in Chicago. So when the snow comes in Korea I’ll definitely think of Chicago. …”

               And then they came right for my heart and soul performing MAKE IT RIGHT and MIKROKOSMOS. Two of my absolute favorite songs off the new album. Sweet, personal, emotional. And the realization that this euphoric experience was coming to an end and I started to lose my composure during MIKROKOSMOS. “Shine, dream, smile” …always for you boys, always for you.

It was around this time that Jimin stood at the corner of the stage facing my section and started to blow kisses. And I teared up because somehow, in a crowd of thousands of people the way Jimin sends his love into the crowd every last one of us feels like the ONLY one of us at that moment in time. You just FEEL the pure love emanating from him...and it’s a feeling unlike any other. A feeling I’ll never forget. 

               I still don’t think, almost 4000 words later, that I’ve even scrapped the surface of how incredible that night was for me. How touched I was not just by the band, but by being surrounded by thousands upon thousands of people of all ages, races, nationalities, sexual orientations, classes, genders who love them just as much as I do. BTS is so much more than seven beautiful men who dance well. BTS is connection and love. BTS is inspiration and encouragement. BTS isn’t a phase, they’re making an impact far beyond what anyone imagined. Music with a message? It’s been far too long since we’ve had that. BTS is like a long drink of fresh water after being stranded in a desert.

               BTS – Seven lights in an otherwise dreary and sad world, reminding us to find our own lights and share it with the world.

[davewakeman]

StubHub, platforms, and the challenge of far too many empty seats...

  I was thinking about open ticket markets and a relatively closed market like we have in the United States over the last few days and the ongoing sales process that involves eBay looking to sell StubHub.

In general, I am a proponent of having more means of open distribution like you see in Europe where companies receive allocations of tickets and are incentivized to market and sell tickets to ensure that they continue to be able to receive tickets.

As I’ve been reading articles about the decline in attendance at college football games, baseball games, and pretty much everywhere. I’ve drawn a few conclusions and that’s one that I think is pretty familiar to folks around the world: the biggest challenge facing the business of tickets and experiences is one of marketing.

By this I mean that in far too many places we just aren’t doing a very good job of bringing the basics of modern marketing or the best practices of marketing and sales 101 to the way that tickets and experiences are sold.

Which gets me back to the overwhelming utilization of platforms to sell tickets in the States.

Far too often, we are finding that our content producers are wed pretty tightly to one platform on the primary side, maybe one on the secondary side, and they can find themselves stuck in a position where there is little control to their strategies and their marketing and selling.

In looking through this idea, I’ve come back to three insights that I think are the most important to keep in mind. (And, are likely relevant to anyone selling tickets or experiences to anything.)

When you are so platform-dependent, you see the following things pop up over and over:

You may gain data, but you have no relationship with the consumer.

You often end up as a commodity and not differentiated in your positioning.

You end up at the mercy of your platform partners’ marketing and sales efforts.

Let me explain these a little more completely.

You get data, but you don’t have a relationship:

For some reason, it feels like everyone is chasing data constantly now and that data is always held up as the saving grace of every new initiative.

Recently, we’ve seen the bidding for StubHub allegedly include people like Vivid Seats and Fanatics. With Fanatics coming in late in the process under what has been described as a potential play for StubHub’s data.

Obviously, knowing more about your customers is better than knowing less, but there are limits to what data can and can’t do for you.

In the way that many organizations are using their data and partnering with platforms to gain more data, they seem to be making the assumption that all data is good data.

When all data isn’t good data.

All data is just a lot of data.

Relevant and contextual data is the really important stuff.

In the process of chasing data at all costs, many organizations have lost the art of building relationships.

What is missed in this lack of relationship-building is the reality that the most important data could be gleaned more efficiently if organizations, teams, and venues did a better job of relationship building and managing the relationship from cradle-to-grave of their fans, supporters, and guests.

Just the other day, I got an email about a playoff ticket pre-sale from an MLB baseball team that I don’t remember having received an email from in several years.

Maybe they have my information from years back, maybe they are utilizing partner data that shows I went to about 3-4 baseball games this year, or maybe they are spraying and praying. The point is that I looked at an email from the team after not receiving an email for years as a little sketchy and a little desperate.

I think about it in the same way that no one pays full price at J.Crew any longer. They discounted and acted desperately so much that it never seems like I should pay full price.

Compare that someone like Apple that never really discounts. When I need a new phone, I buy it. Laptop, same.

Two things set Apple apart from J.Crew or many organizations:

They own me as a customer. I’m brand loyal and don’t shop around for my Apple products.

They market to me consistently not just when they are in a snit because their iPhone sales are down.

In today’s world, the tools to achieve a greater degree of knowledge about your customer exists everywhere. For sports or other experience organizations, you can easily do any of the following that would go a good way towards developing a better relationship with your audience. This list isn’t anywhere near complete, but here are several ideas that you can use to gain relevant and contextual information that you can use constantly:

Create a membership program like teams like Tottenham Hotspur or Man City do that offers value, connection to a global fanbase, and gives you the chance to engage with your fans year-round.

Develop a frequent guest program that could look something like Starbucks’ rewards program or Peet’s or any number of frequent guest programs. The technology to drive these is pretty simple and you turbocharge it by adding in the membership program data too.

Have a content calendar that uses assets that you own like your website, your email list, and your building to drive engagement, data collection, and other information to you and not through partners.

I could go on, but the key is that you must return your focus to owning the relationship with your customers and the tools that can deliver on this promise readily available.

You often become a commodity and that’s a problem: 

I have a number of friends and colleagues that take the point of view that a ticket is a commodity and I’ve often pushed back on that.

But, lately, I’ve come around to the idea because if you are neglecting to sell an event as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, which every live event or experience is, you are a commodity because you’ve done absolutely nothing to differentiate yourself from every other event or experience going on in your market or in other markets where the events are being broadcast.

This is only emphasized further by the nature of how the platforms market and sell your tickets and experiences.

Do a Google search for any event you might be thinking about, I’ll wait.

I did Madonna in Brooklyn tomorrow night (September 19th, 2019) because I went to her “Confessions of a Dancefloor” tour at MSG and despite being hotter than hell, it was awesome!

The point is that I know from reading the WSJ article about the tour launch yesterday that there are VIP options available. I know the venue is intimate. I know several things.

But when I visit the sales page, primary tickets are mixed in with secondary tickets. VIP tickets aren’t well marked. There isn’t a lot there to build anticipation of the event that is likely really cool because it is seeing Madonna in a venue of the size that you would never have seen her since she was just starting out.

I point out this because this happens across the board for events.

Your event is presented as a standard Thursday night in NYC, not the once-in-a-lifetime event that this most definitely is.

At what cost are you allowing your events and games to become commodities with your pricing flying up or down built on uncontrollable or difficult to control buzzwords like “buzzy”, “hot”, or “huge”.

The thing about this is that these once-in-a-lifetime events are too precious and valuable to allow to become commodities, especially with “The Experience Economy” being a bigger part of people’s attention and their recreational spend.

The answer, again, to controlling the narrative around your events and not allowing them to fall into commodities is:

Marketing better and consistently.

Storytelling.

Creating more and more value that is unique for your buyers and potential buyers.

In the end, you become a pawn at the mercy of your partners and platforms to market and sell you effectively: 

This is the worst thing in the world to happen to a lot of companies.

I was listening to Scott Galloway talks about how dangerous Amazon is for retailers, not the stores, but the people selling products because on a whim they can change the way your product is presented, if is presented, or the terms of your relationship and you have no power.

That comment was the one that got me started down this rabbit hole of platforms.

I did a really well-received webinar for the NATB a few years back where I talked about if you rely on platforms like StubHub, Vivid Seats, or Ticketmaster to sell your tickets, you aren’t anything but a commodity.

I went on to highlight that you have to have something of unique value that you can use to differentiate yourself and make your tickets more valuable to the platforms you are partnering with.

This is a lesson that everyone can and should learn because it plays itself out daily.

I’ve been working with a few events around the country and I’ve needed to partner with the secondary market to ensure that tickets are available in places that people are likely to search for them.

I’ve learned 2 important lessons, at least:

Your primary partner contract can make or break you.

You don’t want to be at the mercy of having to figure out how to effectively use the primary and secondary market once you’ve gone on-sale because you are at their mercy once you’ve made a deal with your platforms.

This is important to keep in mind because it is all about strategy. Which I’ll remind you comes down to 3 points:

Your value

Your customer

How you are reaching them

Back to the platforms, you might be listed on a platform, but if they aren’t allocating spend to promote your event when you need to be promoted, you are at the whims of them and you have to figure how to scramble and fill in the void in your marketing and sales efforts that you were hoping to have alleviated by your platform partners.

And, if the same lack of urgency befalls you on the primary side…well, good luck!

You’ve now fallen into the commodity trap.

All 3 of these points really come down to marketing, strategy, and focus. Things we all talk about with great frequency, but often don’t execute on with enough consistency.

Which brings me back to StubHub and the sale of the top platform on the secondary market. eBay is going to make a lot of money off their initial investment, I’m sure of this. But the company that buys StubHub under the hope of utilizing their data more effectively to open up another market or revenue stream likely needs to be reminded of my warning about Big Data versus contextual data.

Why?

Because we’ve seen this story before and it typically ends poorly for the business making this play.

What say you? Let me know in the comments!

Please follow and like us:

StubHub, platforms, and the challenge of far too many empty seats… was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

[jonathantaylorthomas]

They’re among the biggest stars in the world, but Taylor Swift and Beyonce have struggled to sell out some of their UK and Irish stadium shows this summer.

Tickets have remained available for every date of Swift’s UK tour, and fans in Dublin, where she plays this weekend, have reported that free tickets are being given away.

According Scottish fans, tickets for Beyonce and Jay-Z’s joint OTR II show were being handed out for free in Glasgow last weekend.

The concerts have been far from empty, however, and many more people have seen the stars than if they’d played in arenas.

Other singers like Ed Sheeran, who plays four shows at Wembley Stadium this week, have had fewer problems shifting tickets.

So what’s going on with shows that have sold less well? Here are some explanations for why ticket sales may have been lackluster

1) The empty seats are deliberate

Strange as it may seem, failing to fill those stadiums could be a good thing.

Taylor Swift’s tour has been used as a test case in turfing out the touts - with priority given to “verified” fans who pre-registered with Ticketmaster. Those who watched videos or bought merchandise could jump the queue and get discounted tickets in a pre-sale.

The scheme wasn’t without critics but, according to Ticketmaster, only 3% of tickets made their way to secondary websites like StubHub and Seatwave. For a regular tour, that figure can be as high as 50%.

In the past, touts have bought more tickets than they can sell, leading to gaps in the audience. This time, the empty seats are Taylor’s problem. But she’s ensured fans are paying a fair price which, research shows, means they’re more likely to buy a T-shirt at her merch stall.

It’s a complicated calculation - but according to box office analysts Pollstar, the US leg of the Reputation Tour made more in its first two months than Taylor’s previous tour did in total.

2) Eye-watering ticket prices

Putting on a stadium show is expensive and ticket prices reflect that.

Taylor Swift is cavorting around Europe with a gigantic, double-sided stage, a pair of inflatable cobras, a jewel-encrusted microphone and hordes of dancers. Beyonce and Jay-Z have floating platforms, stadium-wide video screens and multiple costume changes (OK, Jay-Z’s wardrobe of hoodies and beanie hats probably didn’t bust the budget…)

Accordingly, fans are being asked to stump up between £60 and £200 for tickets, with VIP packages reaching a staggering £735.

Such prices aren’t abnormal. The Rolling Stones charged £399.95 for a premium standing ticket to their No Filter tour in London - but their audience is older and better off, and there’s an added incentive in seeing them for what might be the last time.

According to Pollstar, average ticket prices have tripled over the last decade, while wage growth has slowed down.

Although concert-going has so far been resilient to the spending squeeze, perhaps the tide is turning.

3) Bad timing

“Old Taylor” may be dead, but it seems UK fans preferred her songs.

The star’s new album Reputation may have sold two million copies in the US but over here it’s only been certified gold - representing sales of 100,000. That’s a precipitous drop from the 1.2 million people who bought its predecessor, making her decision to launch her first-ever stadium tour look like hubris.

Beyonce and Jay-Z have a different problem. While their recent albums have been well-received, they’ve already taken them on the road. Dropping a joint EP (Bonnie and Clyde ‘18 anyone?) might have given ticket sales a shot in the arm.

4) We’re spoiled for choice

An average music fan spends between £40 and £50 on gigs each year, according to a recent survey. Attending a stadium show blows that budget in one go.

So with Beyonce, Jay-Z, Ed, Taylor, The Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters all playing in the same four-week period, fans will inevitably choose one artist at the expense of another.

What’s more, tours from Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Little Mix, Noel Gallagher and Shakira are also competing for fans’ attention. And that’s before you factor in festivals - where £150 will get you access to dozens of bands over several days, rather than one headliner playing on a cavernous sports field.

5) Who are Taylor Swift and Beyonce anyway?

Taylor Swift and Beyonce are two of pop’s most private stars, rarely granting interviews and rationing TV appearances like they were Densuke Watermelons.

That’s great when it comes to building up a sense of mystique - but not so handy when you want people at your show.

A stint on Graham Norton’s sofa or a friendly chat with a local radio station can help shift hundreds, if not thousands of tickets. But the two titans of US pop remained resolutely tight-lipped when their tours went on sale.

Swift belatedly popped up on BBC One, giving her shows a hefty plug while playing BBC Music’s Biggest Weekend. It probably put bums on seats but, coming two weeks before opening night, it was a little too late.

6) Touts have given live music an image problem

It happens all the time. You log on to Ticketmaster at 9am to buy tickets for your favourite artist the second they go on sale. After three minutes “in a queue” you’re told the show has already sold out - but, hey, there are hundreds of tickets available on another website if you want them, and they’re only three times face value.

It’s a hugely frustrating experience - and one that’s only become worse as touts use sophisticated methods to “harvest” tickets as soon as they go on sale (there’s also evidence that some venues and promoters have given tickets directly to secondary sites, bypassing the public).

The knock-on effect is that some fans have given up hope. Last year, 68% of concertgoers said they would attend fewer gigs because they’d paid high prices on the secondary market.

Hopefully the efforts being made by Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and Arctic Monkeys can restore confidence.

[teamjungkookie]

Long Story about Getting Fucked Over by Some Asshole Selling Bad BTS Tickets

I just need to rant for a bit. Read this if you want to hear about my recent struggles and the anxiety it has been causing me but you don't have to. This post is me venting to my feelings so maybe I can be a little less angry and stressed out.

My friends and I are huge BTS fans, if you can't tell by my blog, so a few months ago I promised my friends that the next time BTS was around I would get us floor tickets to the show. I wanted to be able to give my friends the concert experience of a life time and see our favorite band up close in person. So when the Speak Yourself tour was announced, I did everything I needed to do to get ready to buy tickets from ticketmaster as soon as tickets went on sale. Unfortunately I, like everyone else trying to buy BTS tickets that day, had endless technical difficulties with ticketmaster and didn't end up getting tickets through them.

We all immediately started scouring resale sites for floor tickets trying to get our hands on any floor seats we could. When we finally had tickets and were in the process of paying for tickets, my card got declined and I received a call from the fraud detection center because these tickets were so expensive. By the time I cleared up my card, I had lost the tickets I was previously trying to buy and had to start all over. I finally found good seats in section 2 on VividSeats and I excitedly and quickly bought the tickets. I then reached out to my friends to tell them that they could stop looking because I had bought tickets finally. When I contacted them however they tell me that they too had just purchased tickets from VividSeats in section 2 as well. We decided that as annoying as it was that we had two sets of tickets it wouldnt be too hard to sell them online again.

A few days later both sets of tickets came in the mail and we ripped open the packages and discovered that both sets of tickets had the same name on them. We saw this as a red flag for fraud and immediately called VividSeats. VividSeats has a 100% Gaurentee policy on their tickets so when I called to ask about the strange tickets we had received I was told that they gaurentee the tickets they sell are valid tickets. We felt reassured by this and then went on to sell our tickets on StubHub.

We sold our tickets on StubHub because they were not selling on VividSeats. We ended up selling each ticket in our order individually and was never able to sell a ticket for the amount that we purchased it at so for I lost money on every single ticket that was resold. At the time though I was staying positive and was grateful that we at least sold all four tickets.

So fast-forward to the day of the concert. We were having a great day, we went to the pop-up store in New York, and had lunch in Times Square and then we went back to the hotel to get ready for the concert. We got to the concert with plenty of time to get through the line for the merch tent outside and get into the concert to our seats. After we bought even more merch at the tent outside of the stadium we went to security. When we got there one of our friends was told she had to go check something at bag check back outside the stadium so we gave her a ticket and held her stuff so she wouldn't have to take her stuff through security again. After our friend left she we went to scan the three tickets in our hands but they wouldn't scan. When we’re told the tickets wouldnt scan I felt my heart drop. I couldn't breathe and it was like I was in a nightmare. The lady saw our panic and told us that we would still get it in but we had to go to ticket resolution which was back through security. We found our friend and told her what happened and then we immediately started calling VividSeats and headed for ticket resolution.

When we got to ticket resolution the lady there tried to get our tickets to scan but they wouldn't and she told us that someone had already scanned our tickets and gone into the concert. She wrote void on all of our tickets and told us we had to either call VividSeats or go to the box office to buy tickets that I guess they had on reserve? We were on hold with VividSeats waiting to speak to a representative and didn't seem to be getting anywhere with it and so we decided to buy more tickets (as I'm typing that and in my head saying "more tickets” like John Mulaney). While all this is going on we are also starting to worry about the army who bought the other tickets on StubHub. We really hoped that at least they made it into the concert just fine.

So we finally got into the concert with about 20 minutes to spare before the concert started and we were still on hold with VividSeats. The tickets we got were so bad we were in the very last section on the right side of the stage so far back we could barely see the one screen that’s on that side of the stadium and we couldn’t see any of the main stage. We could see more of backstage than the actual stage. Finally 10 minutes before the concert started we finally get in contact with a representative and they got us tickets in another section on the complete opposite side of the concert with about 3 minutes to get there. So we fucking sprinted to the other side of the venue and got to our seats just as the concert was starting.

The following day we filled out a claim with VividSeats about the tickets we tried to use. Then the day after that StubHub finally reached out to us and told us that two of the tickets we sold didn’t work and so now we owe StubHub for the price of the tickets we sold and the price of the ticket they gave to the other army to get them into the concert. This was the worst part for me. We sold invalid tickets to other army. I know we didn’t know they were fake but I still feel responsible for this and I really want to apologize to the army who bought those tickets and got turned away. I know nothing I do will ever make up for this and I truly am sorry that we did this to them.

Currently we in the process of having VividSeats investigate the tickets we tried to use and we contacted StubHub and told them that we bought the tickets we sold from VividSeats. StubHub and VividSeats are both now investigating the tickets we resold and we are caught in the middle relaying information back and forth.

This whole situation has made me so stressed and anxious and has been a dark black cloud looming over my whole concert experience. I want to remember the fun times I had with my friends and how amazing the concert was when I’m asked about it. Instead when ever the concert comes up I immediately think about the tickets and my mood takes a nose dive. I can’t wait for all of this to get resolved but I know that even when that happens I will still always be angry about the whole ticket situation.

To the asshole who sold us the bad tickets in the first place, I hope you fucking get what’s coming to you. You have fucked over at least 6 army that I know and I’m sure we’re not the only ones. I have no idea how you managed to pull this off but I want you to know that I will do anything I can to help further these investigations and help bring justice to armys. I may not be able to do much but I’m pissed off and ready to fight so I will do anything I can to bring you down. Even if bringing you down only means that you just have to pay for all of the tickets and the extra tickets we were given to replace the bad ones. What you did is so not okay and you fucked with the wrong fan in the wrong fan base.

[theexcogitativelibrarium]

Happy 1st EXO Concert Anniversary!!

As stated above today marks the anniversary of your admins’ first EXO concert!

Last year on this day we were in fact just getting back to our hotel after trekking through Newark from the Prudential Center to see EXO Planet 2: The EXO’luXion (February 21st 2016)

So to celebrate we thought we’d talk briefly about our concert experience and perhaps what we hope to experience the next time around...

Pisces: The entire day felt like a whirlwind. There was so much excited anticipation leading up to getting to the venue. It almost felt like we weren’t going to make it there. It’s still bizarre to me how we’d only started listening to the group a couple months before officially going to our first concert..definitely a huge first for this admin personally speaking. 

Aqua: It all started in December when the EXO’LuXion in North America was advertised. We were on the phone when....who found it? Was it me or you, Pisces?

Pisces: Not sure at this point anymore. I believe it may have been you though. Either way it was like there was no way it was going to be missed. THE FIRST USA TOUR? Nah can’t sit at least the first one out. No matter how much penny pinching I’d have to do afterwards. Haha still feel like I’m wiped out since that (not really actually)...haven’t done anything as big since but that’s kind of purposeful...definitely looking forward to the next time I’ll be able to go.

Aqua: See, this is why we’re friends. Pisces is always ready to go along with all sorts of schemes I concoct. It popped up and I immediately said “We’re going.” And Pisces said, “Ok.” There was no discussion on should we go. Like she said, there was no way it was going to be missed. (Even though we skipped school to go lol) 

Pisces: Yep. I really...all that I told my professor was that I would be going out of town and turned in my paper early. I feel like I handled it professionally. I wasn’t missing anything huge from what I remember. *shrugs*

Aqua: True, we really didn’t miss anything. But let me tell y’all getting the tickets was crazy. Like even if you were the first ones on the site you might not get close seats recommended to you. They wouldn’t even give me the option to choose my seats at first. How was it I got better seats the 3rd time around?!?! I ended up selling my other tickets to people who weren’t able to get any because there were no more side by side seats close enough available. But Ticketmaster needs to do better. 

Pisces: That was really wild and then of course the Facebook page for My Music Taste and the fan created EXO’luXion pages....there was even a meetup page dedicated specifically to EXO-L’s who wanted to go drinking before the concert I believe...? I mean do what you do because I enjoy a glass of something here and there but...since EXO-L’s are usually already on 10000 it didn’t seem like we needed to be engaged in that as well...

Pisces: It was also interesting to see the polls going around about the age groups. As new fans that weren’t surrounded by so many others who were also familiar with K-Pop or even liked the music....I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as age groups and the demographic of the crowd. 

Aqua: The polls were cool but they didn’t really prepare us for the age demographic of the crowd when we actually got there. There were kids who’s parents were sitting in the row behind them at the concert. Even close to middle aged couples there on a double date.

Aqua: But as Pisces alluded to earlier, getting to the venue was an adventure in and of itself. It began after arriving to the hotel MANY HOURS before the concert. Unfortunately after we got all dressed up, beat faced and stuff we tried to print out our tickets in the business center of the hotel but no such luck. We ended up having to go to Office Depot to print them out. But finding an Office Depot was an adventure as well. The first one we went to wasn’t at that location anymore.

Pisces: Uber was definitely our friend throughout the day but transportation getting to the Prudential Center was wild.....by the end of the night we’d taken the hotel tram, several Uber cars, the subway, the public bus, the train....(also remember to bring and charge portable chargers everyone! You may not have access to a charging station for a little while. We were blessed to find one at the train station so we could take the few photos and video that we did.)

Aqua: And thankfully the concert started late. We breathed a little sigh of relief when we saw them pop up on the V-App. (How adorable was Kai eating that Chipotle burrito???) We happened to be in the train station at the time. When we finally arrive, many catcalls later, we walked into our seating area just as the My Answer stage started. Y’all Baekhyun on a piano live...........**loses ability to speak for a moment**

Pisces: For a LONG time I didn’t actually believe we were there or that they were either. I kept saying aloud and to myself “wow we’re actually here.....” I mean obviously they were because they were bouncing around in front of us and screaming and singing and just wow.....YouTube really isn’t enough. I will forever appreciate the uploaded videos and the live streams but it’s nothing like being there yourself. 

Aqua: And the energy in the place. Yo, the EDM section was so lit!!!! We had on heels and were still jumping and dancing around. One time for DJ Yeollie though! AYE!!!!!!

Aqua: There is something about being surrounded by fellow EXO-Ls when Promise (EXO 2014) comes on. The collective oneness of heart and mind is just something that we can’t even put into words.

Pisces: And the chants! EXO-L’s are so supportive. (We just needed to stay together because suddenly there were 200 different chants happening at once at some points.) 

Pisces: The boys were so proud of us singing along with them and not just chanting...they seemed really surprised and maybe kinda proud that we were following along. I’m not sure what they expected....maybe they came with no expectations...maybe they were just curious to see what the tour would turn out to be...? I mean they’d been to K-Con some time ago but that’s a whole lot different than headlining your own global concert tour....maybe they thought the USA crowd couldn’t hang...? Lol....well....

Aqua: The Ments are soooooooo much funnier live.They are a mess! Xiumin going through a thesaurus worth of synonyms for beautiful, Chanyeol singing ‘Let it Go’, Baekhyun being.....Baekhyun, the KaiYeol confetti angels, etc. They had us rolling. The translator was scrubbing. Where did they get her from??!!!! But she gave us some great moments including interrupting Nini’s ment and the infamous Baekhyun “YOU ROOOOOOOOOCK!” We wouldn’t have had them without her so thank you for that lol. And it was interesting seeing Suho pushing Chanyeol to take the lead and talk more.

 Aqua: One thing I didn’t like was that we were judged because we weren’t wearing any EXO gear. We kept getting looks from some of the people around us and one girl literally said “Who do they think they are?” Was that really necessary?!?

Pisces: Well....I mean that’s the inner issues within the fandom. As much as we’re supportive of the guys, it seems that every now and again we do tear each other down or at least try to. I did notice that we weren’t the only ones not wearing EXO gear...and I don’t think you have the mark of a true stan just because you have gear on from head to toe or because you dressed as if you walked out of one of EXO’s VCRs (you think I’m trying to make a joke but I’m not. Aqua literally pointed someone out to me...) For me it was enough to just get to the venue and enjoy the evening. The gear will come later. (I want some cute stuff too so what’s the point in rushing to buy things?) I really liked my outfit. I thought for a night out in Newark...I want to look good and I think we both accomplished that. Weren’t we all out here for the same concert....? Didn’t know there was such a strict dress code....yikes

Aqua: Oh yeah I remember her. But seriously even with that happening you couldn’t take away the awesomeness of the experience. Those men are blessed with immense talent. To be able to move like that and sing live that well.....smh..... Truly amazing. I tell people all the time when they ask me about it that it was the best concert I’ve ever been to. It really was. I was entertained and alert the ENTIRE time. There was no down time. It was really that good. It will only be topped by EXO’rDium this year lol

Pisces: Looking forward to EXO’rDium and hopefully bringing more friends along this time so they can enjoy the experience too! Lol come get lifted people! Elevate! 

Aqua: Come and Experience Otherworldly Multi-Sensory Transfiguration

[davewakeman]

Taylor Swift's Reputation Tour Victory Lap

  Taylor Swift has been in the news a lot lately.

First, she signed a new record deal.

Second, she negotiated, what seems like, a really great deal for other artists around Universal Music’s Spotify shares.

Finally, her team announced that her 2018 tour set the record for the highest grossing concert tour of all-time.

This brings up some ideas that I offered up at the beginning of the year in a couple of pieces on “slow ticketing” and one on the bad press that was flying around at the start of the tour.

To save you the trouble of going back and rereading the pieces, my hypothesis throughout this was that:

“Slow Ticketing” was a bunch of marketing jargon to hide the fact that Ticketmaster is just trying to, rightly, maximize the number of tickets they sell.

The “Swift Tix” model of boosts and pressurized engagement was ripe for malpractice and abuse.

Now we have a lot of people running out to tell you, I told you so.

But how much has really changed from my initial thoughts on the tour?

The big thing is that she reportedly made a lot of money and “sold” a lot of tickets. Reports say that she sold over 2 million tickets and grossed over $265 million dollars.

Great! I hope she did make money. I think 1989 is one of the most perfect pop albums ever put together and it spawned the greatest cover album ever, Ryan Adam’s version of 1989. 

My challenge with the numbers is that when you look at them, something doesn’t add up. The average ticket price comes out to around $125 which is pretty great except for we know that a lot of tickets were priced and sold at 4x, 5x, and 10x that average.

We know this because we saw lots of people on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media calling out the fact that they had rushed into the “Swift Tix” program, purchased tickets early on, believing that they were getting the best tickets at the best prices only to find that this wasn’t the case.

When you look at the average dollar amounts of all the tickets sold, that would lead me to believe that my initial concern about the danger involved in poorly executing a program like this happened to some extent.

The other thing that these numbers point to is that she played to about 55,000 people a night on her tour.

That’s a phenomenal number.

The only problem with this is that most of the venues she was playing could hold many more people than that.

I’ll paraphrase Bob Lefsetz here, “perception is everything in the music business.”

And, even when you are playing to 55,000 people, if the stadium holds 75,000, you have a problem.

All of this argument on both sides boils down to perception.

Jesse Cole, the owner of the Savannah Bananas, asked me recently about what the motivation for my work in sports and entertainment was and I listed a whole bunch of things that came back to the idea of “putting people first.”

For me, this whole debate about whether or not Taylor Swift did the right thing or the wrong thing with her tour and the way she runs her business comes down to how are you treating people.

Take the premise that she is trying to beat the secondary market, cool.

I’m all for anyone maximizing their ability to market and sell their own goods and services to the greatest extent possible.

My challenge with what Taylor Swift did in partnership with Ticketmaster and their Verified Fan program was that they acted in a way that could easily be seen as manipulative and disingenuous.

Has the announced revenue and ticket sales of the tour changed that?

Absolutely not.

As I’ve often said, it is likely we won’t know the true impact of whether or not her fans tune her out until the next tour.

But in many places, the Swift Tix program and the way that after her most fervent fans were rewarded for their dedication by having comparable tickets offered to less dedicated fans at cheaper prices, has had the effect of training people that you should wait because a better deal is on its way.

Which if we are looking at the state of the ticket market in the States currently, is something that dominates almost every event.

Here’s the thing, if you found yourself having trouble moving premium tickets, instead of discounting, you could have used the same Swift Tix program and data to offer even greater rewards to those fans that participated in the boost process.

Possibly you could have offered fans that had high boost totals and bad seats the chance to upgrade for an additional fee.

You might have opened up a social media contest of some nature similar to the way that the Starbucks app offers “races” for bonus stars.

I could go on, but the point is that you could have easily maintained the integrity of the program and rewarded the best fans for doing things that you want them to do.

Just as much as you have begun to train your customers to wait, you’ve also broken the trust between Taylor Swift and her fans.

Sure, this won’t be true in 100% of the cases, but the thing is when you trick and pressurize your best customers to take action only to reward less dedicated customers, it is unlikely that your fans will ever trust you 100% again.

Don’t believe me?

Maybe you will believe Seth Godin, he just published a new book that is all about how marketers can do better than trick, pressure, and disrespect their customers. It is a fabulous book and would make a great gift for anyone this holiday season.

To me, the huge sales numbers are great, but the question still remains did these sales numbers come at an even bigger price over the long term?

Truthfully, we won’t know that for a little while.

Please follow and like us:

Taylor Swift’s Reputation Tour Victory Lap was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group