Duo to sell show tickets the old way
MUSIC acts, sports teams and their promoters are in a constant battle against scalpers. Where not protected by legislation, tickets can go on sale and in minutes can be bought, relisted online and in a matter of days that person has made a killing from an event they had no intention of attending in the first place.
So how do you stop this? How do you differentiate between scalpers and legitimate, committed fans?
Kiwi comedy-folk favourites Flight of the Conchords announced their own special way of combating the event enemies this week.
Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie will play in nine cities, including two shows at the Michael Fowler Centre in their hometown, Wellington, on June 19 and 20.
In an effort to avoid scalping, 300 tickets for each show will be available for people queuing at local box offices on Friday – with a limit of two tickets a person.
It means that, despite their international success – selling out shows at the 17,000-capacity Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and the 12,500-capacity Wembley Arena in London – prices will be set at between $55 and $79.
That compares with $93.50 to see boy band One Direction at the St James Theatre in Wellington next month.
Flight of the Conchords copromoter Stuart Clumpas is expecting fans to show their true commitment and camp out at booking venues.
‘‘I think it’s going to be an extremely popular tour. Queuing up makes it something special, something exciting.’’
But Hertz Sevens general manager Steve Walters says having 35,000 rugby fans arrive en masse to collect tickets on the day of the tournament is not feasible.
He wants what works best for fans, but now even they are becoming disgruntled by scalpers profiteering and ripping them off.
People with no interest in the game or intention of contributing to the code are getting money in the ‘‘back pocket’’, while those with a genuine interest are being forced to pay far more than organisers would like them to be paying, he says.
The most constructive way to discourage scalping would be to restrict online ticket sales to only at face value, he reckons. But that can’t be done without the help of sites like Trade Me. ‘‘It creates a whole lot of woe further down the track but Trade Me don’t see that. They’re not there on the day denying people entry because their tickets are invalid.’’
Sevens organisers may make moves to get the tournament protected under the Major Events Management Act, but they have to ensure all the limitations of the act are right for the tournament. And it has to meet all the Government requirements.
‘‘It certainly would be great for us if there were stronger legislation stopping [scalping].’’
It is a ‘‘hidden’’ process, which implies they know morally it’s wrong to profiteer from tickets, he says. Wider legislation, protecting more events would be ideal, but it would have to be specific enough to work for everyone.