'Hannah Montana' tix heating up secondary market

[ALIASd]

Hannah Montana Tix Heating Up Secondary Market

Hannah Montana

September 27, 2007, 2:40 PM ET

Ray Waddell, Nashville
Billboard

The intense demand for tickets to the upcoming Hannah Montana tour is shining a bright spotlight on the secondary ticketing market. The tour is a rude awakening to the harsh realities of the modern concert market for an emotionally invested ticket buyer: parents who want to make their children happy.

What seems to be catching ticket-buyers off guard is a) how quickly tickets in the primary market are disappearing; b) in turn how quickly these tickets are showing up on the secondary market and; c) the price tag on those tickets once they hit the secondary market.

The fallout has "touched the heartstrings of the average middle American family who does not have experience in buying concert tickets on any sort of regular basis," says Sean Pate, PR director for StubHub, the leader in the secondary ticket market.

"This phenomenon is not new -- it happens with Bruce Springsteen, the Police, any major act that's out there with insatiable demand," says Pate. "But because it's kids, because it's uneducated consumers, they're up in arms and they're taking it literally to the level of state government, saying 'What's going on with these tickets?' And a lot of that is just the reality of the ticket buying food chain and how things are when there is a limited amount of access and a great amount of people looking to get at it."

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/..._id=1003648197

[Joshrzmeup]

A similar article as reported by my local news station's segment "Don't Waste Your Money"

The anger over Hannah Montana tickets is growing.... as “Tween” girls and parents in city after city are shut out of the popular concert. Tonight, one state is launching an investigation.
The Arkansas Attorney General wants an official investigation into why Hanna Montana concert tickets sold out immediately ....but scalpers were able to end up with so many seats to resell.
Its the same thing that happened in Cincinnati two weeks ago.
Arkansas' Attorney General plans to investigate reports ticket brokers are using computer programs called "bots" to gain an edge over the public.
Web reports say "bot" programs can bypass Ticketmaster's visual security codes, that you and I have to use to get in, and buy dozens of tickets at once.

More at:
http://www.wcpo.com/content/news/loc...d-27b2d922a6bc

[BigPigletFan]

One of the local Minneapolis TV networks did a story about this soon after they came out. I feel bad for the young fans, but the message they said to the kids is that it's a hard message and lesson in economics.

[IMAGINE]

thats just messed up...so sad that a persons greed is so determinant in destroying someones dreams of seeing their favorite act...

[jennasmom]

my daughter is 7 and yes we were lucky enough to get tix. but what has ticked me off is people out of the country bought tix before me to scalp them. I could not have gotten these tix on my own. luckilly, a family member has connections. It was sold out within minutes. I do not nor would not by ebay or scalped tix. the ticketing systems needs to change. whether they make tix like airplane tix with the name or something. remember the good ol days when you had to wait in line? bottom line as long as people will buy them people will continue to sell them. It sucks.

[ZeekSlider]

Her concert here in her home town falls on her birthday. So not only is it a homecoming for her, it's a birthday concert. Don't know how exactly that worked out, but as a result, the show sold out in 30 seconds.

One of my classmates who is a parent tried for three weeks just to find a ticket only to ultimately say to her daughter they can't afford to go.

The cheapest she found? On eBay, the price for a 6th row ticket was $7,000. You don't want to know what the price was for the nose-bleed seat.

Her last chance now are the radio contests. Acts this big (especially a local girl like her) have a percentage of their tickets set aside for radio shows to hold contests. Normally, that number is like 10,000 seats or so depending on the event. Split among five very high-trafficed radio stations? The odds are not in anyone's favor, but that is the absolute last chance unless she wants to take out a loan just so her daughter can go see Hannah Montana LIVE... on her birthday... in her home town...

[HSM Fan]

"What seems to be catching ticket-buyers off guard is a) how quickly tickets in the primary market are disappearing; b) in turn how quickly these tickets are showing up on the secondary market and; c) the price tag on those tickets once they hit the secondary market."

The price tag was high on High School Musical Concert txts too. But it was worth it!

[ZeekSlider]

Originally Posted by HSM Fan

The price tag was high on High School Musical Concert txts too.

But did that show sell out in 30 seconds?

[ALIASd]

Originally Posted by ZeekSlider

But did that show sell out in 30 seconds?

Neither show did. But many of the 'HSM - The Concert' dates sold-out in a comparable amount of time throughout the country & overseas as well.
Couldn't get that hot concert ticket? Blame the fan club

Fri Sep 21, 2007

The Online Buzz When tickets to the Nov. 23 Hannah Montana concert at Nashville's Sommet Center sold out within 15 minutes in late August,

http://search.tennessean.com/sp?aff=...x=8&submit.y=7

[ZeekSlider]

My friend said that it felt like 30 seconds. She was 10th in line, and by the time they got to the third person, the lady at the ticket counter had the unfortunate duty of saying the show was sold out.

Just to give some perspective. I work in a movie theatre, and when we have movies sell out, it does feel like they sold out in 30 seconds, even though it takes a good 10 minutes to fill up a 300 seat theatre.

[ALIASd]

In reality you'd be lucky to get a coke & a bag of popcorn filled and payed for in 30 seconds in a typical movie theatre. Moving tickets and especially bodies certainly takes alot longer, and certainly longer than 10 minutes.

Time it next time and let us know, the scientific community thanks you in advance.

[ZeekSlider]

It is impossible to get a coke and popcorn in 30 seconds at my theatre unless there is a cache of pre-made orders ready to go. However, our guests hate that kind of crap, and insist we get everything out of the bin when it's popped. That 15 minute wait in the line to get popcorn ends up turing into a 20 miute one by the time you get to the back of the line. My personal turn-over rate behind the counter is anywhere between a minute to 10 minutes depending on orders and party size.

But thanks to Fandango, yes, movie tickets do sell out after 10 minutes. Keep in mind that I'm not up there by myself in the box office when movies sell out. Those nights are busy as hell, and we have a full bank of ticket booths running during those nights. (Pirates 3 especially was murder on us, as well as the opening DAY of Harry Potter.) There were times when even an indy film would sell out after what appeared to be two sets of not being sold out at all, of which I personally only have happened once and that took me all of 15 minutes because they were large parties ordering multiple tickets. There was a turn-over rate of at least 4 tickets every 2 minutes (at least at my station), which filled that small theatre just as the trailer pack ended.

Again, just suppling some perspective from the under-appreciated service job community.

[Barbossa]

I just hope Disney isn't incubating another Britney Spears with Miley.

[ZeekSlider]

It can be argued that they already went down that road with either Hilary Duff or Lindsy Lohan.

[mouseinphilly]

As heard under the title "Achy Breaky Wallet" from MSNBC's Countdown, October 1, 2007. Keith Olbermann's sarcastic comments are underlined:

"If a kid wants to see (Miley Cyrus, a/k/a "Hannah Montana") on tour, now's a good time to have that 'We have to make decisions about how we spend our money' talk. The 54-city tour has sold out in minutes, especially in cities where there is nothing for kids to do. One ticket, one ticket was sold for $2,555 in Charlotte, NC, because you know, when it comes to spending money, who needs it more than (The Walt Disney Company) and the Cyrus family."

Now you know why people (especially old-school Disney fans) hate "consumer lifestyle programming."