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from the no-wonder-I-couldn't-get-tickets dept.
Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
When Adele fans went online to buy tickets to the pop superstar's world tour last year, they had no idea what exactly they were up against.
An army of tech-savvy resellers that included a little-known Canadian superscalper named Julien Lavallée managed to vacuum up thousands of tickets in a matter of minutes in one of the quickest tour sellouts in history.
The many fans who were shut out would have to pay scalpers like Lavallée a steep premium if they still wanted to see their favourite singer.
An investigation by CBC/Radio-Canada and the Toronto Star, based in part on documents found in the Paradise Papers, rips the lid off Lavallée's multimillion-dollar operation based out of Quebec and reveals how ticket website StubHub not only enables but rewards industrial-scale scalpers who gouge fans around the world.
CBC News obtained sales records from three U.K. shows that provide unprecedented insight into the speed and scale of Lavallée's ticket scam.
Despite a four-ticket-per-customer limit, his business snatched up 310 seats in 25 minutes, charged to 15 different names in 12 different locations.
The grand total? Nearly $52,000 worth of tickets at face value.
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/paradise-papers-stubhub-1.4395361
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 14 2017, @02:36PM (1 child)
I suspect the attraction of the concerts is not the headliner but the collective experience itself. You can get a better technical experience by watching televised coverage of the performance. In fact, unless you have really great seats up front at a concert you're gonna be watching the damn thing on jumbotrons anyway. So why go? It's the mass of people all focused on the same thing at the same time. It pushes limbic buttons that few things do.
If you realize that, you don't have to shell out big bucks to scalpers. Find other mass events that are free or pay-as-you-go. Taste of Chicago is one. Summer Stage in NYC is another. Best concert I ever saw was a free one we stumbled upon in Central Park by Ricky Skaggs, opened by Tuvan throat singers.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday November 15 2017, @09:42AM
Surely it's both - attendees want both the buzz of the crowd and their favourite stars.
Indeed, but a shared enthusiasm for the performance helps too. A big crowd in front of a performer they don't like, won't have that good a time.
But surely this subtracts from the 'collective enthusiasm', no? (I'm sure there's a less awkward way of phrasing that...)