[link]

Pretty pictures for Gus.

All my extra tickets for the Vegas screening I sold at face value. I need the good karma more than the money.

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There's a tradition in fandom that you don't make money off of other fans. It's why selling zines at a profit is so frowned on (in addition to copyright issues). The problem comes when fandom intersects with capitalism.

I think it's shitty to exploit people by selling tickets at so high above face value. On the other hand, no one's holding a gun to the buyers' heads.

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I think Nutty's right and it's mostly a marketing issue. Sports teams are forever blackmailing the cities where they operate for stadia and tax breaks and whatnot. Consequently, they're obliged to at least act like they're available to everybody in that city, instead of just letting the market determine the upper limit of the costs.

Also, they want to shore up their fanbase, which extends well behind paying attendees to folks who watch on TV which is where the really big revenue can start. It's important enough to have walk-up fans at most stadiums that when the Giants built their new stadium they were careful to always have a bank of sets available that day even though they could have sold out season tickets at first.

So scalpers (from the team's perspective) are poaching on the profit that the team has sunk as a marketing cost.

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Everyone needs to go to Tamara's link and look at the Washasaurus. It's something else.

We need guerilla marketing stories from Boise and Kansas City and Bangladesh.

I'll see what I can do from the KC end come Friday, assuming I'm still alive.

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Just think how much better it will be seeing it for the first time with a complete score & all the neccesary tweeks done!

This is my guiding star. I have actually wondered if I *would* go, were there a screening here, because I'd like to see the finished product. But I think my decision would be that I could see it now AND in September, and that would be ideal.

...regarding all this scalping talk, back in the time of the first screening I was complaining about the people on eBay, so I feel a need to weigh in.

My take on this is ridiculously simplistic. I myself am a big fan of capitalism, and in no way have problems with resale of most anything. I don't know that I would propose or support laws to restrict resale at a higher price, though I suspect when it started hitting my pocketbook I would, because at base most people are self-interested, and I rank myself near the top of the self-interested people list. I see no legal problem with scalping.

I just think it makes you not very nice.

I have a tendency to compartmentalize things, and here I have separated "nice vs. not nice" from "good vs. evil." The people buying tickets up for the express purpose of selling them at way-high prices are not nice. This does not make them EVIL, just not nice.

Though I suppose one could argue that were it not for them, the people who were unable to get their own tickets for whatever reason might not go at all.

So, I am not looking for a long discussion of market dynamics, or a debate over the morality or immorality of scalping.

I just don't like that people are doing it for something I care about. Mine is a purely emotional reaction.

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I'm in the corner with Kiba, on the whole scalping issue.

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NKOTB reunion concert

Oh my GOD, there's a....oh. Wait. Not your point.

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I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the ticket price for that Firefly Convention in Century City. Over $700.00.

That's NUTS.

As for Ticket Scalpers (Or "Ticket Touts" as we Brits call 'em!), its a naughty bad thing, but doubtful something that will ever truly be stamped out. Which sucks. Unless one is a scapler, I guess.

Okay, so that was a little Fire Bad Tree Pretty of me, but my Brain is a little Frazzled tonight. It's late.

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but doubtful something that will ever truly be stamped out.

Actually, Bruce Springsteen and the Pantages Theatre recently stomped the life out of scalpers here.

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Do tell - please.

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