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U2 Snafu Shows Downside of Effort to Provide Fan Clubs With Special Deals
By ETHAN SMITH
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
February 1, 2005; Page D1
Thomas Miller, a 36-year-old real-estate title-insurance broker in Columbus, Ohio, says U2 has been his favorite band since high school. So when he heard the Irish rockers would be mounting their first tour of the U.S. in four years this summer, he joined the band's online fan club.
"I was led to believe that by paying a $40 fee I would get access to better tickets," Mr. Miller says. Instead, when he logged in to the band's Web site for the club-only "presale," five days before tickets went on sale to the general public, he was furious to discover the only tickets available cost $165 apiece -- and would seat him on an upper level of the arena, behind the stage. It is unclear exactly how many people were affected by the snafu. Based on postings on numerous official and unofficial fan Web sites, a number of the band's dedicated fans were either left without seats, or wound up paying far more than they had expected for subpar seats.
The U2 tour has sold out in every city where the tickets have gone on sale. But in recent years, as attendance at many acts' concerts has dwindled, an increasing number of musicians have found various ways to offer fans goodies that include perks such as admission to the act's preconcert sound check, a meal with fellow fans or premium seating at the show. The practice has become ubiquitous in the music industry, with everyone from pop princess Christina Aguilera to aging rockers such as Van Halen jumping in.
In general, the early-access ticket programs work smoothly, people in the music industry say. They typically function in one of two ways: Either as one of the perks of being in a fan club, whose annual membership fees usually run from $15 to $60 a year; or as VIP packages, where a surcharge of as much as $470 on each ticket adds a package of extras. Sometimes, with artists including Bob Dylan and Interpol, the early-access programs are free.
Some in the music business say premium ticketing is the future of the concert industry: A mechanism to let deep-pocketed fans for whom price is no object subsidize less expensive seats in the back of the house.
But the U2 case demonstrates all too clearly the ill will that can arise when sales of special tickets go awry. "You've got to take care of those people," says Kelly Curtis, manager of the grunge band Pearl Jam, referring to die-hard fans. "They'll turn on you if you don't."
The concert business doesn't need any more reasons to worry. Revenue for the concert industry totaled $2.8 billion last year, according to Pollstar, a trade magazine that covers the business. That was a 12% rise from the 2003 tally of $2.5 billion. But the rising top line masked what many in the industry called the most-unprofitable year in at least a decade. One reason is that rapidly rising ticket prices drove fans away, leaving many tours, including those by Norah Jones and Kiss, woefully undersubscribed.
Even some tours that had relatively strong turnouts, such as Simon & Garfunkel's reunion tour, were financial busts for many involved, because the promoters agreed to guarantee artists' unrealistically high fees.
In the case of U2 , the finger-pointing already has begun. People close to the band blame Ticketmaster, saying the ticket seller's equipment failed to keep up with demand; meanwhile, people close to Ticketmaster say the fault lies with U2 , adding that the band's management should have limited the number of fans allowed to join the club.
In the past, U2 fan-club members got early access to premium seats via a paper newsletter they received as part of their club membership. The fans would send in a form indicating what city they wanted tickets for, along with a check. For the upcoming tour, U2 streamlined the process of joining to a few mouse clicks on U2.com.
No one has yet disclosed just how many tickets were sold to U2 fan-club members, but a statement posted yesterday on U2.com apologized to fans who experienced difficulties, saying that for the entire tour "demand has vastly exceeded supply."
The statement went on to assert that "thousands of U2.com subscribers in North America and Europe did manage to successfully purchase tickets for these shows." Furthermore, the site promised that the band would return to the U.S. this fall and would offer fan-club members another first-come, first-served presale.
Some early-access ticketing leaves fans satisfied. Last summer, Van Halen offered VIP tickets, for $125 to $300, to 100 to 300 fans in each city on their tour. The tickets, which were offered online, included a buffet, special-collection T-shirts and a backstage tour, as well as the seats themselves. The top price for regular seats, without any extras, is $75 to $125, depending on the city.
Pearl Jam's fan organization, known as Ten Club, long has used a lower-technology method to allocate tickets for its members, precisely to avoid the kind of problem that occurred with the U2 tour. The band issues a number to each Ten Club member, in the order in which they join. It then allocates the best seats at each venue to members who order them, in order of their membership numbers.
The band plans to execute the same system, by hand, for a nine-month world tour kicking off sometime this summer.
Mr. Miller, the U2 fan, decided not to buy a ticket through the presale, writing off his $40 membership fee as a loss. Instead, he paid $140 to a scalper for a single ticket with a face value of $49.50. He says he still holds out hope that U2 will somehow "fix this mess." In an attempt to do that, U2's Web site said yesterday that the band would offer refunds of the membership fee to fans who couldn't get tickets.
Thanks David!
By ETHAN SMITH
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
February 1, 2005; Page D1
Thomas Miller, a 36-year-old real-estate title-insurance broker in Columbus, Ohio, says U2 has been his favorite band since high school. So when he heard the Irish rockers would be mounting their first tour of the U.S. in four years this summer, he joined the band's online fan club.
"I was led to believe that by paying a $40 fee I would get access to better tickets," Mr. Miller says. Instead, when he logged in to the band's Web site for the club-only "presale," five days before tickets went on sale to the general public, he was furious to discover the only tickets available cost $165 apiece -- and would seat him on an upper level of the arena, behind the stage. It is unclear exactly how many people were affected by the snafu. Based on postings on numerous official and unofficial fan Web sites, a number of the band's dedicated fans were either left without seats, or wound up paying far more than they had expected for subpar seats.
The U2 tour has sold out in every city where the tickets have gone on sale. But in recent years, as attendance at many acts' concerts has dwindled, an increasing number of musicians have found various ways to offer fans goodies that include perks such as admission to the act's preconcert sound check, a meal with fellow fans or premium seating at the show. The practice has become ubiquitous in the music industry, with everyone from pop princess Christina Aguilera to aging rockers such as Van Halen jumping in.
In general, the early-access ticket programs work smoothly, people in the music industry say. They typically function in one of two ways: Either as one of the perks of being in a fan club, whose annual membership fees usually run from $15 to $60 a year; or as VIP packages, where a surcharge of as much as $470 on each ticket adds a package of extras. Sometimes, with artists including Bob Dylan and Interpol, the early-access programs are free.
Some in the music business say premium ticketing is the future of the concert industry: A mechanism to let deep-pocketed fans for whom price is no object subsidize less expensive seats in the back of the house.
But the U2 case demonstrates all too clearly the ill will that can arise when sales of special tickets go awry. "You've got to take care of those people," says Kelly Curtis, manager of the grunge band Pearl Jam, referring to die-hard fans. "They'll turn on you if you don't."
The concert business doesn't need any more reasons to worry. Revenue for the concert industry totaled $2.8 billion last year, according to Pollstar, a trade magazine that covers the business. That was a 12% rise from the 2003 tally of $2.5 billion. But the rising top line masked what many in the industry called the most-unprofitable year in at least a decade. One reason is that rapidly rising ticket prices drove fans away, leaving many tours, including those by Norah Jones and Kiss, woefully undersubscribed.
Even some tours that had relatively strong turnouts, such as Simon & Garfunkel's reunion tour, were financial busts for many involved, because the promoters agreed to guarantee artists' unrealistically high fees.
In the case of U2 , the finger-pointing already has begun. People close to the band blame Ticketmaster, saying the ticket seller's equipment failed to keep up with demand; meanwhile, people close to Ticketmaster say the fault lies with U2 , adding that the band's management should have limited the number of fans allowed to join the club.
In the past, U2 fan-club members got early access to premium seats via a paper newsletter they received as part of their club membership. The fans would send in a form indicating what city they wanted tickets for, along with a check. For the upcoming tour, U2 streamlined the process of joining to a few mouse clicks on U2.com.
No one has yet disclosed just how many tickets were sold to U2 fan-club members, but a statement posted yesterday on U2.com apologized to fans who experienced difficulties, saying that for the entire tour "demand has vastly exceeded supply."
The statement went on to assert that "thousands of U2.com subscribers in North America and Europe did manage to successfully purchase tickets for these shows." Furthermore, the site promised that the band would return to the U.S. this fall and would offer fan-club members another first-come, first-served presale.
Some early-access ticketing leaves fans satisfied. Last summer, Van Halen offered VIP tickets, for $125 to $300, to 100 to 300 fans in each city on their tour. The tickets, which were offered online, included a buffet, special-collection T-shirts and a backstage tour, as well as the seats themselves. The top price for regular seats, without any extras, is $75 to $125, depending on the city.
Pearl Jam's fan organization, known as Ten Club, long has used a lower-technology method to allocate tickets for its members, precisely to avoid the kind of problem that occurred with the U2 tour. The band issues a number to each Ten Club member, in the order in which they join. It then allocates the best seats at each venue to members who order them, in order of their membership numbers.
The band plans to execute the same system, by hand, for a nine-month world tour kicking off sometime this summer.
Mr. Miller, the U2 fan, decided not to buy a ticket through the presale, writing off his $40 membership fee as a loss. Instead, he paid $140 to a scalper for a single ticket with a face value of $49.50. He says he still holds out hope that U2 will somehow "fix this mess." In an attempt to do that, U2's Web site said yesterday that the band would offer refunds of the membership fee to fans who couldn't get tickets.
Thanks David!
