Taylor Swift’s Gamification of Ticket Sales • Page 2

The more I think about this the more I like it... especially if the tour merch is available to order/move your spot up in queue. If I could take care of my merch raid online and not have to carry it around at the show... that would please my lazy bones.

 

I think a lot about a better way to do ticket sales... what a beast of a problem to solve.

Not a fan of this method, but it really doesn't seem any worse than the current set up. "Buy 13 copies of my album for a better chance to buy tickets" is a bit ehhhh imo, but whatever. Better for fans' $$ to go towards helping her album sales than to scalpers, I guess.

 

yeah this isn't new, artists are all finding ways to do this. VIP bundles with early ticket access, FOB just did it with the new album, you got the presale code with a preorder of the album.

i'm fine with artists doing this because there's also a real chance you would have purchased a tour shirt or something equivalent anyway at the show.

 

bingo

 

all of those albums you buy (multiple albums?) and tshirts (13 shirts?) that doesnt go into the cost of the ticket though im assuming

 

Foo Fighters most recent tour was this way too, wasn't it? I think buying merch and/or the album put you higher in the queue for tickets. The queue may have even been split in to different days - I can't remember exactly.

 

She needs to dip into the custom micro brew trend with Taylor Swift Lager. Each 12 pack gets you one credit towards the concert tickets.

 

Oh didn't see it's just for first row. A friend was complaining about it and I didn't think they were going for front row.

 

Brilliant strategy but my first impression of this is strongly negative. It seems like all tickets are subject to this, even the bad ones. I mean, way more fans are gonna buy merch/extra albums than attend a show, right? The idea of compulsory merch buying to go to a show just sounds wrong.

 

this is why i just listen to independent music

 

lol is that a problem

 

I'm incredibly shocked by the amount of positive responses towards this. This will absolutely evolve into "Pay $X to move up X spots in line."

 

On one hand I feel like the fans dedicated enough to spend that kind of money on her merch and tickets would do so anyway so at least now they get something else from it too??

But on the other hand I find so much merch ugly and i don't need a million copies of the same album so I'm glad Harry Styles didn't do this for his verified fan presale when I got tickets cause screw that lol I'm not buying ur ugly junk for a higher chance for ticket.

 

My friend sent me her link for "boost activity" which made me register for tickets. So she basically promoted an event that's already going to be tough to get tickets to.

How does verified fan work for the kid who wants to go to several shows but can only register for 1 city? Not something Taylor attendees are running into but kids following a band like Twenty One Pilots?

 

Fuck this. Absolutely not cool, and I'd expect more from her camp.

The simple fact is, Ticketmaster support the secondary resale market. In the UK they own Getmein, a secondary resale site, which actively encourages non-face value resale, and Ticketmaster always redirect to them as soon as the show sells out. Ticketmaster directly benefit from the resale market.

This definitely isn't about stopping touts, and its not about rewarding "genuine" fans either. Genuine fans shouldn't have to buy shitty merch to get a better chance at tickets. It's an exploitative marketing approach which will probably work and make people money, but leaving honest & genuine fans out of pocket.

There are so many mechanisms to slow and deter the secondary ticket market - simple ones. But its not in the ticket companies interest, and it will often cost an artist money to implement such a thing. The artists who can afford it, however, should surely be doing their best not to encourage and support the bullshit that the big ticket companies are pulling. Lots do already (e.g. Ed Sheeran), but Taylor Swift doing this is the total opposite. Sucks.

We've got companies over here such as "fee-free" ticket sale site/app Dice, and face-value resale-only site Twickets. Artists are utilizing them, and companies like those will hopefully grow further.

 

Ticketmaster accused of not doing enough to thwart touts
A link for anyone who is interested in examples of how ridiculous it is. Ticketmaster do not care about stopping touted tickets - by far it is the opposite.

 

I don't think anyone is questioning the fact that Ticketmaster is the devil.

 

I've thought about this a bit over the past day or so, and I really dislike this move. This isn't designed to get tickets into the hands of fans; it's designed to pad Swift's bottom line. And for an artist who has a lot of really devoted younger fans, that's kind of sad. And Swift is in a position where she doesn't need to do that.

 

It is an objectively brilliant commercial move, though. Like, if she's ever going to beat Adele's first week numbers, this is the way.

 

Commercially, I absolutely agree. She and her team have always been extremely savvy about this sort of thing.

 

Taylor Swift totally gets it when it comes to marketing. Absolutely brilliant.

 

Kinda crazy to see you guys lauding her for this.. Commercially brilliant? Milking her fans dry? Yeah, really awesome guys. Shitty move from her.

The spirit of AP.net officially dead. up the punx

 

She's a capitalist pop star. Anyone who expects anything less is delusional. What do you think is going to happen? $10 tickets? It's not like fans are being forced to play this game if they don't want to. I don't want to, so I'm not going to try to get tickets for this tour. Doesn't mean it's not a smart marketing strategy for both her recorded music and her live music.

 

Yeah she's a capitalist pop star. Yeah it's savvy and boosts her revenue and sales at the expense of fans who aren't able to spend as much as other fans. I'm not gonna dispute that this is a very good marketing move for her. I am gonna make fun of her for branding UPS trucks and operating a system that rewards rich people for spending a lot.