Big Blinding Flash of Discounted Concert Tickets
Submitted by Steve on November 15, 2011
More on the debate over Ticket Discounting from Future of Music Coalition:
Back in May, Live Nation and online discount service Groupon announced a joint venture to bring live event tickets to the deal-a-day online discounting space. The service, dubbed GrouponLive, is meant to combine the local distribution power of Groupon’s online coupons with Live Nation’s broad reach as concert promoter and ticket broker...
With the initial success of the model, many believe that ticket discount sales will continue to grow in popularity and frequency. Benn, in an interview with BBC’s Radio 1, continued, “It’s definitely emerging. In tough economic times people will look at varying ways of pricing their tickets.” But others in the artist and promoter communities are concerned.
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Here’s what some musicians and artist advocates are most concerned about:
- Flash ticket sales could change the perception of the live concert experience for the worse. By heavily discounting tickets, flash sales could change the perceived value of the live concert experience and cheapen the value of live shows in the minds of fans.
- Flash sales could change consumer behavior and expectations when buying concert tickets. By offering heavily discounted tickets just days before a show, many believe fans will simply wait until the tickets drop in price. This pattern could severely weaken artists’ ability to sell tickets at full price and could undercut profit margins for artists on tour.
- Many believe flash ticket discounts like the GrouponLive venture could harm the artist-fan relationship. By offering heavy ticket discounts to fans that are on the fence about a show, artists could alienate their most loyal fans who bought tickets the day they went on sale.