i just scored some sick ass oasis tickets when they roll into town on the 17th of june. i skipped school toget these having learned some online presale mumbo jumbo is taking place this morning. i've always doubted the hype behind internet "pre sales" and and those radio station promo passwords but they appear to have paid off this time. usually presale tickets in a seat venue are bollocks and you got stuck with the smoking section. lady friend of significance's valentine day present has been purchased but she'll be gratified months from now. she's more less a patient soul so these tickets cancel out the need for a dinner or something equally trite come monday evening. i kid i kid.

i hate ticketmaster though in that they have the balls to charge me $3.50 to either mail the tickets through standard mail or if i pick up the tickets the night of the show. the hell is that all about? i guess pearl jam's fight against the man in the 1990s wasn't worth it in that they are charging me to go down there to get my tickets. it's absurd. my favourite added price is of course the vague "convenince" that adds another $12.50 to each ticket. i know a guy that works for ticketmaster and says this fee is the only revenue ticketmaster collects. well that's the company line. according to him this is how the company pays it's employees and maintaints its business. fine, makes sense ticketmaster is a for-profit operation and i can't argue against that. however, their tactics however are awfully greedy. the idea of them collecting such a fee based on one ticket while they control the north american ticketing industry seems a little steep. this fee is based on a ticket to ticket basis, not per order. meaning i order 5 tickets, i'm charged with five service fees while a single person process this order NOT five ticketmaster employees separately. is the system that rigid that their fragile employees, who make not much more than minimum wage, can justify this processing fee? yeah, this isn't revenue but price gouging. in the end, i ended paying over 25% per ticket in additional fees, excluding government taxes.

how is this not a monopoly? the US government can go after microsoft but ticketmaster has strangled the entertainment market with its outrageous price setting. but until people like myself continue adoration for bands like pearl jam who play venues with exclusive ticketmaster contracts, collectively we'll continue to be financially raped. if a band like pearl jam comes to town they have no choice but to play big venues like ontario place and air canada centre because of their demand. surely an intimate show at the horseshoe tavern, kool haus, or the opera house would be a lot more special but too many fans would be shut out if a chance to see the band. you can't blame bands for giving in to ticketmaster when they are trying to reach out to their fans. there would more backlash if a large band abandoned ticketmaster in pursuit of alternative ticketing agencies and small venues. pearl jam tried that in the past and proved to be an utter failure with tour cancellation. they had little choice to come back with ticketmaster if fans are to see the band in large urban centres with sizeable venues. but it doesn't have to be this way folks.

pearl jam's fan club is fantastic in fighting ticketmaster with its own ticketing system for members. us members get dibs on pj tickets shortly after the tour is announced and way before the public uses ticketmaster. bigger bands need to look at the pearl jam model as a way of accomodating their fans. this isn't going to change if the public doesn't revolt the existing system. however like i said, until we continue to dish out tons of money to see our favourite bands, plays, etc; nothing is going to change and further costs will be added. such as ticketmaster charging you to print out the ticket and rumours of them adopting an ebay system of bidding on tickets. if that's the case, yuppies will kill my chances at ever seeing rem again.

the u2 fan club system is a joke in that it guarantees a ticket but not the best tickets as the pricey ones continue to be alloted for ticketmaster. so paying for a u2 fan club membership ensures you'll get fucked over by the band and ticketmaster. if a band like u2 was to adjust its system, the ticket market would actually become a market. people would actually join fan clubs knowing there is a way to combat the ticketmaster machine. bands would establishe their own "monopolies" exclusively for fans. large urban venues would abandon ticketmaster in favour of consumer driven agencies. companies would pop up left and right offering packages best suited for non-fan club members. but this system can't change if the entertainment product does not initiate it.

like that asian kid in school of rock, "stick it to the man!"