discussion Should Ticketmaster's Verified Fan system change?

[joanabt]

Considering all the troubles that the Verified Fan system posed in the sale of The Eras Tour tickets in the United States, should Ticketmaster change the system for Verified Fan and make it for ACTUAL verified fans?

 

I believe only applying for a code which is sent in a completely random way is not the way to ensure fans get tickets, ESPECIALLY with concerts with such a high demand and danger of speculation. I think a certain percentage of the tickets (not all of them) should be reserved for fans, and to qualify as such you should prove you bought albums, merch, or listen to the artist to a certain extent. And then with those fans then send the codes randomly in order to avoid 'classism' (bc there's people who don't have as much time to listen to an artist, or money to buy merch etc...). This way, fans would have more options of buying but locals could buy, too. Taylor did something similar with a Point System for her Rep Tour, but we can't really compare the demand. 

[Gorjesspazze9]

Yeah the whole site needs to be updated to modern times. And they should let you resell tickets but at the same price you bought them for

[mrpartyrocker]

24 minutes ago, joanabt said:

Considering all the troubles that the Verified Fan system posed in the sale of The Eras Tour tickets in the United States, should Ticketmaster change the system for Verified Fan and make it for ACTUAL verified fans?

 

I believe only applying for a code which is sent in a completely random way is not the way to ensure fans get tickets, ESPECIALLY with concerts with such a high demand and danger of speculation. I think a certain percentage of the tickets (not all of them) should be reserved for fans, and to qualify as such you should prove you bought albums, merch, or listen to the artist to a certain extent. And then with those fans then send the codes randomly in order to avoid 'classism' (bc there's people who don't have as much time to listen to an artist, or money to buy merch etc...). This way, fans would have more options of buying but locals could buy, too. Taylor did something similar with a Point System for her Rep Tour, but we can't really compare the demand. 

The fact that you define a verified fan by how many albums, merch they bought… like if you told me am not a Lady Gaga or Rih fan just because I could not afford to buy anything as a child/teenager, then I’d probably think you’re an idiot

[mrpartyrocker]

15 minutes ago, Gorjesspazze9 said:

Yeah the whole site needs to be updated to modern times. And they should let you resell tickets but at the same price you bought them for

Resale tickets should not happen at all

[Gorjesspazze9]

4 minutes ago, mrpartyrocker said:

Resale tickets should not happen at all

Maybe, but I definitely bought tickets before but had to cancel for personal reasons and use the resale option before. 

[joanabt]

4 minutes ago, mrpartyrocker said:

The fact that you define a verified fan by how many albums, merch they bought… like if you told me am not a Lady Gaga or Rih fan just because I could not afford to buy anything as a child/teenager, then I’d probably think you’re an idiot

that's exactly why i said that listening to the artist should count too, and then i made a disclaimer saying people who buy merch should not have an advantage over those who just stream, for example. idc why you overlooked that part hahah. streaming, merch, voting for awards, or even just showing you speak of that artists on your social media could be ways to get into the verified fan sale. if you're a fan but have genuinely no way to prove it, you could still have access to the general sale. that's what i mean. 

[joanabt]

4 minutes ago, Gorjesspazze9 said:

Maybe, but I definitely bought tickets before but had to cancel for personal reasons and use the resale option before. 

the resale, refund and transfer options should be allowed for all concerts through ticketmaster, honestly, especially with concerts with such a high demand. it would make everything so easy but since they don't really get a profit from it they don't bother. sigh

[Alldeezy]

Yes even with matchbox Twenty getting tickets was super hard because people just bulk buy then sell them for more $$$ and its disgusting 

 

I was lucky to get tickets to another venue in Melbourne bit I went to check on them and were also sold out.

 

It's happening with a lot of bigger artist and I dont think it's fair for the fans 

[getBusy]

59 minutes ago, joanabt said:

and to qualify as such you should prove you bought albums, merch, or listen to the artist to a certain extent.

No. A casual fan who has never bought anything has the right to attend a show as much as a hardcore fan. 

 

Reselling should only be allowed at THE ORIGINAL PRICE. No profitting for anyone. That would solve the entire situation. 

[JorgeM]

They should just forbid resale. Only verified resale in TM at face value for the people who can not attend, then nobody who doesn’t want to see the artist would try to bought tickets 

[joanabt]

1 hour ago, getBusy said:

No. A casual fan who has never bought anything has the right to attend a show as much as a hardcore fan. 

 

Reselling should only be allowed at THE ORIGINAL PRICE. No profitting for anyone. That would solve the entire situation. 

i agree! but then don't call that method verified fan lmao. anyways, i do believe a certain percentage of tickets (not all, of course) should be reserved for fans. idk why that is such a controversial take, honestly. you have listened to taylor for more than, say, 10hours in total? you have access to a fan presale. its not that wild to me. 

Edited June 4, 2023 by joanabt

[cockatoo]

Yeah they should just allow people refunds and then they as the sellers can just make those tickets available to purchase again.

[JustHoran]

3 hours ago, mrpartyrocker said:

Resale tickets should not happen at all

Disagree. Resale should be allowed because people can't make concerts, etc. and list their tickets. However, it needs a complete overhaul and they need to not allow people to sell them for more than they bought them originally. IMO.

[JustHoran]

1 hour ago, cockatoo said:

Yeah they should just allow people refunds and then they as the sellers can just make those tickets available to purchase again.

That is actually a good idea.

[Into The Void]

1 hour ago, joanabt said:

i agree! but then don't call that method verified fan lmao. anyways, i do believe a certain percentage of tickets (not all, of course) should be reserved for fans. idk why that is such a controversial take, honestly. you have listened to taylor for more than, say, 10hours in total? you have access to a fan presale. its not that wild to me. 

And how is ticket master going to verify u listen to an artist for 10 hrs? Lol

[Aslan]

I think pre sale access should only be given to those who have bought an album/vinyl which in turn they get a special code to become verified. 
I think that would dissuade any scalpers. 

[magazine]

No. Fans should stay at home and spend the money on more important things! 

[joanabt]

1 hour ago, Insanity said:

And how is ticket master going to verify u listen to an artist for 10 hrs? Lol

partnering with streaming platforms, i believe it can be done pretty easily

[vuelve88]

There’s a lot that needs to be changed. Ticketmaster loves dynamic pricing, bots, and resells, because it means that they make even more money. 

[Saintlor]

5 minutes ago, joanabt said:

partnering with streaming platforms, i believe it can be done pretty easily

Can this be bypassed by scalpers having multiple spotify accounts streaming artists 24/7?

[joanabt]

1 minute ago, Saintlor said:

Can this be bypassed by scalpers having multiple spotify accounts streaming artists 24/7?

probably, but it would still better than the current method of only having to put an email. having a verified fan method paired with resell and transfer options on ticketmaster and with nominal tickets should do the trick to avoid scalpers as much as possible, and an album/merch/streaming presale would allow fans to have an extra opportunity to buy tickets. i hope they start applying all these measures, especially the anti-scalper one.

[NoOneDiesFromLove]

Refunds are usually tricky with tickets, so resale should be allowed AS LONG AS it’s sold at the original price. Anything than that should be illegal. 
 

Also, there’s no perfect solution with Verified Fan. If listening to the artist were a requirement, people would just exploit their Spotify/AM, if buying merch were a requirement then it would obviously become classist. Personally, I think you should ‘apply’ to be a verified fan and not be chosen randomly. 
 

I had to register to all three Mexico dates via Verified Fan praying I’ll be chosen for one of them, wish me luck 

[If U Seek Amy]

I think TicketMaster and LiveNation are legal criminal enterprises, but as long as they exist we are going to have to deal with it. Honestly just many have said only allowing resale at face value would fix most of the issue. No physical tickets to avoid buying and reselling and exchanges only via the verified TicketMaster platform. With no ability to profit reselling is pointless for scalpers. Also eliminate fees (I would be fine with a fee for a few bucks at most, but anything more than $5 right now is criminal to me. It should be rolled into the price anyway but whatever I am not gonna be too picky). 

 

While I think that fixes the scalper issue, it doesn't really fix the demand/supply issue. Obviously if demand is there, you can't just force supply. But there needs to be things done to the system to give everyone a fair chance. Using purchase of merch/CDs and other monetary value criteria would be classist and not right. I don't think streaming numbers also would work because people could use various methods to fraudulently inflate their streaming numbers and in that case all of them would get priority and just lead to more issues (You can even see this in Spotify Wrapped with people with numbers indicating they literally never stopped streaming all year). Also, that would force people to possibly pay for streaming to have the ability to attend concerts and can't use physicals or anything else that could track this.

 

- For one, the system needs to be able and prepared to handle traffic. Companies that are unable to do this need to get multiple warnings/financial penalties and if it keeps happening, I am sorry, but they are unable to provide a service for customers and should eventually be shut down and the owners banned from starting any new business related to the same venture because that is a form of fraud to promise a service/product and fail to deliver that. Stuff happens but every time just about is unacceptable

- Purchases need to be limited to parties of around 4 or so at most if supply continues to be an issue for all of these shows. No having someone buy tickets for all their friends at once and then handing them out and getting reimbursed. Sucks if you want a big group, but it also sucks when people want to have a chance to get tickets and someone wants tickets for their entire family and friend group without those individuals also trying to get in themselves

- Lottery systems while in theory should work for fairness and randomness, these are not transparent at all and cannot be trusted that the company will truly make it random and not give preference to anyone with no one regulating this. If there is regulation of this maybe, but this could also lead to increased costs because of this regulation which isn't ideal

- At that point all you can really do is have the system ready for the traffic, tell everyone what time the online line opens, and first come first serve for who gets in faster. Before opening the ticket sales once, the line builds up long enough where it's possible all the ticket sales may go at that time close the line and cut off anyone not in the threshold. If there ends up being remaining tickets repeat this process and be transparent until sold out. Also, do not just let everyone in that line in at once. Let in only so many at a time so tickets are not just constantly flying and causing chaos. A good probably 30-50 at a time is fine

 

I am sure this is not a perfect fix, but there probably is no perfect fix. There will be angry people who don't get chosen no matter what. Hopefully ideally cutting out resellers from profiting that would help open up inventory and slow down chaos/panic buying causing artificial demand

[Into The Void]

1 hour ago, joanabt said:

probably, but it would still better than the current method of only having to put an email. having a verified fan method paired with resell and transfer options on ticketmaster and with nominal tickets should do the trick to avoid scalpers as much as possible, and an album/merch/streaming presale would allow fans to have an extra opportunity to buy tickets. i hope they start applying all these measures, especially the anti-scalper one.

To be fair....I don't think someone has to be this huge fan to see someone live for instance there's many people id love to see live even tho I don't listen to them a whole lot 

[Into The Void]

5 minutes ago, If U Seek Amy said:

I think TicketMaster and LiveNation are legal criminal enterprises, but as long as they exist we are going to have to deal with it. Honestly just many have said only allowing resale at face value would fix most of the issue. No physical tickets to avoid buying and reselling and exchanges only via the verified TicketMaster platform. With no ability to profit reselling is pointless for scalpers. Also eliminate fees (I would be fine with a fee for a few bucks at most, but anything more than $5 right now is criminal to me. It should be rolled into the price anyway but whatever I am not gonna be too picky). 

 

While I think that fixes the scalper issue, it doesn't really fix the demand/supply issue. Obviously if demand is there, you can't just force supply. But there needs to be things done to the system to give everyone a fair chance. Using purchase of merch/CDs and other monetary value criteria would be classist and not right. I don't think streaming numbers also would work because people could use various methods to fraudulently inflate their streaming numbers and in that case all of them would get priority and just lead to more issues (You can even see this in Spotify Wrapped with people with numbers indicating they literally never stopped streaming all year). Also, that would force people to possibly pay for streaming to have the ability to attend concerts and can't use physicals or anything else that could track this.

 

- For one, the system needs to be able and prepared to handle traffic. Companies that are unable to do this need to get multiple warnings/financial penalties and if it keeps happening, I am sorry, but they are unable to provide a service for customers and should eventually be shut down and the owners banned from starting any new business related to the same venture because that is a form of fraud to promise a service/product and fail to deliver that. Stuff happens but every time just about is unacceptable

- Purchases need to be limited to parties of around 4 or so at most if supply continues to be an issue for all of these shows. No having someone buy tickets for all their friends at once and then handing them out and getting reimbursed. Sucks if you want a big group, but it also sucks when people want to have a chance to get tickets and someone wants tickets for their entire family and friend group without those individuals also trying to get in themselves

- Lottery systems while in theory should work for fairness and randomness, these are not transparent at all and cannot be trusted that the company will truly make it random and not give preference to anyone with no one regulating this. If there is regulation of this maybe, but this could also lead to increased costs because of this regulation which isn't ideal

- At that point all you can really do is have the system ready for the traffic, tell everyone what time the online line opens, and first come first serve for who gets in faster. Before opening the ticket sales once, the line builds up long enough where it's possible all the ticket sales may go at that time close the line and cut off anyone not in the threshold. If there ends up being remaining tickets repeat this process and be transparent until sold out. Also, do not just let everyone in that line in at once. Let in only so many at a time so tickets are not just constantly flying and causing chaos. A good probably 30-50 at a time is fine

 

I am sure this is not a perfect fix, but there probably is no perfect fix. There will be angry people who don't get chosen no matter what. Hopefully ideally cutting out resellers from profiting that would help open up inventory and slow down chaos/panic buying causing artificial demand

This isn't that big of an issue cause its only for people who have high high demand 90% of the artists sales don't have this issue.  I can literally get tickets to most tours right now in my city pretty easily if I wanted to