«Fear not, Led Zep fans, there can be a better way - The prospect of going to see Led Zeppelin perform for the first time in 19 years will excite some readers – but those who would enjoy hearing a live rendition of “Stairway to Heaven” may be greated by a stairway to hell in their struggle to get tickets for the Zep’s tribute concert in memory of Atlantic Records’ founder Ahmet Ertegun.
The circus that has ensued would dent anyone’s confidence in promoters. A crashed website, a ballot with a window of less than a week to enter and no guarantee of a ticket at the end of it. Add to this, of course, the blood-spitting opposition of such promoters to reselling your ticket if you turn out to be unable to attend. “Be patient”, was the concert spokesperson’s answer to the debacle. Be realistic, is my response, and look to the US for a healthier way of ticket allocation.
State after state in the US is repealling so-called “anti-scalping” (touting) laws, freeing the resale of tickets both on- and offline. Eliot Spitzer, governor of New York, said “ticket scalping laws historically have not worked” and signed a la allowing tickets to be resold with certain restrictions.
(...)
The evidence points to the conclusion that anti-scalping laws, or rather, laws preventing the online resale of tickets, can drive prices up and are in the economic interest of event promoters. (...) the reason for inflated prices is a restricted supply on the secondary market owing to anti-scalping measures.
(...)
Yes, there will be some unscrupulous operators who will attempt to abuse the system. I take inspiration from the British parliamentarian Lord Salisbury, who wrote in the 1860s that parliament could easily legislate that gravity should not cause window cleanears occasionally to fall of their ladders, but there are limits to its true power.
As Paolo Nutini, who will be playing at the concert, sings: “Jenny, don’t be hasty”; well, let’s be honest, Jenny will have to be if she is going to get a ticket for events like this.»
Financial Times, 21 de Setembro de 2007
The circus that has ensued would dent anyone’s confidence in promoters. A crashed website, a ballot with a window of less than a week to enter and no guarantee of a ticket at the end of it. Add to this, of course, the blood-spitting opposition of such promoters to reselling your ticket if you turn out to be unable to attend. “Be patient”, was the concert spokesperson’s answer to the debacle. Be realistic, is my response, and look to the US for a healthier way of ticket allocation.
State after state in the US is repealling so-called “anti-scalping” (touting) laws, freeing the resale of tickets both on- and offline. Eliot Spitzer, governor of New York, said “ticket scalping laws historically have not worked” and signed a la allowing tickets to be resold with certain restrictions.
(...)
The evidence points to the conclusion that anti-scalping laws, or rather, laws preventing the online resale of tickets, can drive prices up and are in the economic interest of event promoters. (...) the reason for inflated prices is a restricted supply on the secondary market owing to anti-scalping measures.
(...)
Yes, there will be some unscrupulous operators who will attempt to abuse the system. I take inspiration from the British parliamentarian Lord Salisbury, who wrote in the 1860s that parliament could easily legislate that gravity should not cause window cleanears occasionally to fall of their ladders, but there are limits to its true power.
As Paolo Nutini, who will be playing at the concert, sings: “Jenny, don’t be hasty”; well, let’s be honest, Jenny will have to be if she is going to get a ticket for events like this.»
Financial Times, 21 de Setembro de 2007
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