I had posted much of these pointers on the Coldplaying forum earlier this year, in an attempt to help other fans get tickets for a sell that was one of those expected to sell out in minutes… as it was appreciated at the time, I thought it would perhaps make a good initial article for the Rock Subculture Journal, so I am plagiarizing myself a bit in this case. Anyone who goes to even a few concerts a year has probably experienced the frustrations that seem to be frequent with even the biggest ticket merchants, such as Ticketmaster.Some of the biggest changes with Ticketmaster and LiveNation in the past year or so is how and when tickets are sold.
Pre-sales used to at least seem more rare and infrequent, and often there was just one pre-sale. These days, it seems that nearly every artist has not just one pre-sale, but multiple pre-sales (sometimes all at once, sometimes staggered). Some of this has to do with catering to a fan base and leveraging social media; some of these have to do with money (I know with the upcoming Madonna tour, one had to join her fan club – at a cost – in order to have access to pre-sale codes). Also, there are other kinds of special interest groups that can have pre-sale access, and with Ticketmaster, there is almost always an American Express pre-sale (which is kind of a joke, as the code is simply a customer service phone number off the backs of various AMEX cards, such as 800-297-6200.
In any event, part of the idea behind pre-sale codes is to prevent ticket scalpers/resellers from buying most of the desirable tickets, though there are sites on the net that cater to scalpers, so if there is a pre-sale, they are likely in on it anyway (though there are other ways that they get tickets as well, but that is a topic for a future article).
And scalpers lead to one of the other big changes with Ticketmaster and LiveNation – special packages, VIP packages, and other methods by which to charge significantly more money for the initial retail sale of tickets. Some of these packages are sold on Ticketmaster, and some (usually the most expensive) are sold on LiveNation. And you really can’t blame them for the change – if people are willing to pay a lot of money for the most choice tickets, why let scalpers make a business out of it when you can capitalize on it as the promoter and ticket agent? Plus, I would hope more of that money would also, in turn, go to the artists themselves. As another added layer of prevention against scalping, especially with LiveNation managed VIP events, the purchaser of the ticket(s) must show up at the event shortly before doors in order to collect the ticket(s) personally, and they do check IDs.
In any event, it can still be a challenge to buy any tickets for a hot show, let alone the best seats. And in addition to competition from other fans, scalpers, and other variables, I’ve found the Ticketmaster website itself to, at times, be absolutely infuriating.
As an example, Coldplay tickets often sell out same day, and if you read any topic on the Coldplaying forum circa sale date for a show, there is often a lot of frustration expressed at glitches in their system and other issues. But we are, as consumers and fans, basically at the mercy of the circumstances and system, and have to try to do our best to anticipate issues and mitigate problems.
Below are some tips from my own experiences buying concert tickets on Ticketmaster…
“Verified by Visa” (and MasterCard)
I’ve had experiences in the past with Ticketmaster, which uses “Verified by Visa” if you have a Visa credit card with that feature, where it glitches when using Mozilla Firefox. So if either applies to you, I would recommend using Microsoft Internet Explorer to buy your ticket, because you can get five minutes into the process and not be able to get past that stage, and have to start over (by which time all the tickets will probably be gone, and any ticket(s) in your cart will be removed). I would check with whoever your cardholder is, if Visa or MasterCard, prior to the sale date for your event, if you have Verified By… on your card. Otherwise, you might go through all the trouble and not be able to buy anything.
I would recommend hitting CTRL+F5 (hard refresh) on the main Ticketmaster order screen for your event, leading up to to the official on sale time (usually 10am California time).
What you choose as far as the options for tickets can be the difference between getting tickets and getting nothing at all, so you should decide ahead of time as best you can. If you click around the tabs in the upper right hand corner of the screen for the event, you can see on sale times and such. Below is an example from LiveNation (they use the same menu/interface with Ticketmaster and direct buyers back and forth between their sites, depending on the event, type of ticket, and venue). See the familiar “Onsale Dates & Times”, with a multitude of pre-sale events. Also included is information about prices and types of tickets, etc.
Also noteworthy is when there are VIP type packages – sometimes people miss the “?” next to the pull down menu, which explains what the package includes (not very intuitive). Below is an example, which shows the box that pops up with more detail when hitting the question mark button:
Usually the VIP ones are set off as a distinct option. Then usually there are options by both placement as well as price level. So the quicker one secures a ticket at the time of the sale, the better the seat placement.
One other problem with Ticketmaster is that it never indicates at the main event screen if any ticket levels offered are sold out. So one could check a certain level of ticket right as they go on sale, miss out, and then miss out on another option in the meantime, while going through the lengthy security check/reCAPTCHA process and “working” screen while it searches for tickets…
I’ve found with Ticketmaster that if you choose “Best Available”, it usually ranks General Admission highest, even if it isn’t the most expensive option, which is kind of weird. May not always be true, but I’ve bought a lot of tickets recently for different shows, and that seemed to hold true.
If you want to try different options at the same time… it is best if you do it on two different devices. If you have two tabs in the same browser, one will usually override the other (same cookie?), and you could lose the better of the two options… I think it you use different brands of browsers on the same computer (have say Firefox in one window and Internet Explorer in another), you get around that (I think they use their own cookies). I have multiple computers and even multiple internet services from different internet providers, so I get completely around that. You can also use your smartphone… But if you really want a ticket, it is advisable, just to give you more options.
Most importantly, keep checking, even a while after 10 am or whatever the on sale time might be for your event. I think some people “juggle” multiple tickets, and then end up going with one option and abandoning the rest, so those get kicked back out to be reoffered… so keep checking and even though you may get a null result, 10 minutes later some may be available again. I also wonder if maybe Ticketmaster lets them out in bunches just to level the playing field more due to the scalper issue… so if you miss out, I’d just keep trying throughout the day even, up until whenever the pre-sale is over.
Also, the expensive VIPs are usually the last to go (due to high cost), so that is always a fallback, as scalpers will probably be selling General Admissions for more than the VIPs anyway… also, a lot of the time with VIPs, as noted, you have to show your ID and/or credit card used to buy them at the venue to get the laminate, etc, so scalpers generally don’t mess with those… though some actually do, which kind of baffles me, but I’ve seen it at shows. But having said all that, if you are going to do a VIP, you should also go for that right as the go on sale, in that if you are going to spend that much money, you should still try to get the best placement possible.
If any other thoughts occur to me, or I experience any new challenges, I will come back and update this article. If anyone has any alternate ideas or opinions, feel free to write a Reader Comment below.
Jason DeBord