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Tue 16 Oct, 2007 12:45 pm
Can some one please explain to me why Hannah Montana tickets costs so much? My 8 year old of course wanted to go - when I showed her how much they were - even she could understand it was a bit ridiculous. She then asked if she could get High School Musical on Ice instead.
How/why could anyone that has some degree of intelligence pay those prices? Kids that want to go to such concerts are of the age that next year or two will think Hannah Montana is no longer cool. What are we teaching our children that we should pay such insane prices for a two hour show featuring a young teen?
I Googled and tickets seem to be pricey, but not necessarily as pricey as your figures.
http://www.frontrowking.com/ResultsGeneral.php?stype=0&kwds=%20Hannah%20Montana
Supply and demand, baby.
I remember reading something about this. Basically, there is some racket where people create programs to buy a vast swath of tickets from Ticketmaster at face value, and then sell them at extremely high prices (or try to).
Let me try to find that article...
(What do you think of the show btw? I have mixed feelings. Billy Ray Cyrus is cute though. :-))
Here we go:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E6D61030F935A35753C1A9619C8B63
Quote: LISA SENAUKE, a Bruce Springsteen fan since 1973, tried to get tickets to his Oct. 26 concert in Oakland, Calif. The tickets were to go on sale at 10 a.m. on Sept. 17, and starting at 9:58 a.m., she logged into her Ticketmaster.com account, credit card in hand. But though she tried again and again for the next hour to buy tickets, she was always told the same thing: nothing available.
''I never even had a chance,'' she said the other day. ''Who, then, got those tickets? How many people managed to log in, in between me, and sweep up the tickets?''
Ms. Senauke's frustration is not isolated. The coming concerts of 14-year-old Miley Cyrus, the daughter of the country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and the star of the Disney show ''Hannah Montana,'' sold out in minutes. And the same thing happened with tickets to recent reunion tours by the Police and Van Halen.
Quote:'All hell broke loose with Hannah Montana,'' said Justin Allen, the chief deputy attorney general in Arkansas. ''The tickets were gone in 12 minutes and when people turned around, they were selling at online sites for sometimes as much as 10 times the face value.''
Quote:So what's a dedicated fan to do? If tickets sell out within minutes, keep checking the online ticketing company for tickets in case additional seats are released. Don't rush to buy from brokers or online sites because prices sometimes come down if resellers find they have acquired too many seats, Mr. Pate of Stubhub said. And sometimes, the artist decides to add an extra show, which can provide extra tickets -- at face value -- to satisfy demand.
While I was looking that up, though, I found this too (new):
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Ticketmaster-Lawsuit.html
Quote:LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A federal judge has granted a request by Ticketmaster LLC to block a software company from making or distributing computer programs used to flood the ticket retailer's Web site with orders, beating consumers who log onto the Web site manually to buy tickets.
U.S. District Court Judge Audrey B. Collins issued a preliminary injunction against RMG Technologies Inc. on Monday, barring the Pittsburgh, Pa.-based firm from buying or facilitating the purchase of tickets from Ticketmaster's Web site for the purpose of reselling them.
So hopefully things will ease up...?
Even from your list - the cheapest ones in the Boston area (if you want more than 1 ticket - the single tickets are still at least $149 a piece) for two are $199 each - pretty steep.
It's crazy.
The show itself - I honestly don't see much harm in it. I will watch it with my daughters as I like to know what they see and so if something goes on that I don't agree with or think they are too young or something - I can discuss it with them. I rather take that route than to forbid a show.
I also worry about these types of individuals in the respect that kids want to be like them. I try to emphasize being smart rather than just being popular and beautiful - so even if such a show glamorizes something I'm not fond of, I can discuss it with my girls.
Hopefully this girl will not go the way of other prior Disney girls.
Also I do think it is more than simple supply and demand - these ticket agencies are creating their own sort of "false" supply through buying up so many tickets - pushing up the prices.
I once stood in line to get Stones tickets (in my younger days - before the internet buying) - this ticket agency drives up with a van load of teenagers and gives them each some money to buy up the maximum number of tickets. This sort of thing has been going on for years.
Fortunately at least, my daughter is smart enough to realize that the large prices are not worth it even though she does love Hannah Montana and would love to go - I thank God she is sensible enough to understand.
Linkat--
Children are not automatically endowed with common sense. They are inculcated.
You're doing a good job.
Thanks Noddy - she is a good student - and it is wonderful to see that your child actually does hear what you have to say (at least sometimes).
isn't that Billy Ray Cyrus' daughter?
Yep.
He looks way better without a mullet though.
Not totally sure about that soul patch...
Oh and I totally agree that you deserve a lot of credit for your daughter's sensible-ness, Linkat.
If that's round trip prices, I don't think they are that out of line.
On the radio the other day - I heard this woman say she paid $2K for tickets and was upset about having to spend that amount. When asked if it upset her why did she buy them - it was because she didn't want to disappoint her 9 year old daughter.
What the f*ck! So instead you teach your daughter that she can get whatever she wants even if a parent needs to go into debt for it?
I look at it as a learning experience - of course you do not want to disappoint your child, but they may have to learn that can't get everything that they want. I figure my daughter is better off not getting to go, being a little bit disappointed, but learning from the experience than her daughter being taught that it is ok to pay $2k.
Not sure if anyone will read this but I was perusing through some of my old posts and this caught my eye. In part because I was remembering the other day what happened later in this story.
So a local radio station ran a contest to win 4 tickets to this contest including meeting Miley Cyrus. I tried each day...you filled out a short form online..anyway one morning as we are trying to get out of the house the phone rang...I didn't pick it up ...then it rang again and I thought is this the day they are picking winners I look and it says infinity broadcasting so I pick up the phone...it is the radio station and they ask me to hold...they put me on with the DJ and yep I won. They tell me afterwards that more people tried to win these tickets than a $25k shopping spree.
So yeah we go, meet Miley get great seats and I think I'm ruined my kids 9 and 5 will think this is what you get every time you go to a concert.
@Linkat,
You are a really good mom.
@neptuneblue,
Thanks but I was more lucky than good in this situation.
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