Purchasing concert tickets can be a costly, frustrating and dangerous process due to rampant fraud, hidden fees, scalping and sky-high secondary market resale prices. To examine this issue in depth, Aventus, an open-source blockchain ticketing platform, commissioned a consumer survey and found many aspects of the online ticket purchasing process are discouraging potential concert attendees from going to more events.
New Study: U.S. Consumers Fear Scams When Purchasing Concert Tickets (PRNewsfoto/Aventus)
Many concert-goers fear they will be scammed when purchasing tickets. Aventus found that nearly two-thirds of respondents are worried about buying counterfeit tickets or getting scammed when they purchase tickets, and not without reason: 12% of respondents have purchased a concert ticket that turned out to be a scam. The study found that men were nearly 2.5 times more likely to be scammed than women. Of respondents who fell victim to a scam, 54% said it affected their perception of the artist negatively, despite the fact that artists rarely have any control over ticket prices and have zero control over concert attendees getting scammed.
According to the survey results, the majority of concert attendees do not feel safe purchasing concert tickets online, to the extent that it discourages them from attending concerts. In fact, nearly three-fourths (72%) of respondents said they would attend more events if purchasing tickets online felt more secure. Secondary ticketing sites, such as Viagogo, StubHub, or Craigslist, concern consumers in particular: an overwhelming 80% of respondents said they would be more likely to purchase a concert ticket if they could avoid using secondary marketplaces. Overall, two-thirds are worried about getting scammed when purchasing concert tickets online.
“Music fans are being deterred from attending their favorite shows because of unfair ticketing practices,” said Annika Monari, Co-founder of Aventus. “Scalping, scams, extra fees and massive markups on secondary marketplaces cause consumers to be wary when purchasing tickets. It is time to embrace new technology to give organizers, venues and artists the tools to take control over their inventory and build greater trust with their customer base. At Aventus, we are actively working with the ticketing industry to create a fairer, more secure blockchain ticketing ecosystem.”
Clearly, consumers would welcome major changes to the way concert tickets are sold online. However, these changes would not only help the consumer. Artists, venues, ticketing marketplaces and consumers alike would all benefit from major changes to the online event ticketing industry. Venues would be more likely to fill their seats. Artists would play to fuller crowds and would not lose fans who have been scammed. Ticketing marketplaces could see an increase in tickets sold, increased repeat business and improved consumer confidence.
Ticket-buying computer bots play a major role in the event ticketing landscape. These bots can instantly purchase mass quantities of tickets the moment they become available, causing would-be event goers to miss out on shows they were planning to attend. For example, PEW Research states that just one broker purchased around 40% of all “Hamilton” tickets over a 20-month period—about 30,000 tickets.
This phenomenon, in large part, causes consumers to scramble to purchase concert tickets as soon as they are released. In fact, 77% of respondents felt the need to purchase tickets immediately upon their release. Furthermore, 57% of respondents have waited online, ready to buy tickets as soon as they become available. Of those that have waited online, 69% were still unable to purchase their tickets before the event sold out. After missing out on the original tickets, wannabe-attendees are left to purchase tickets on a secondary marketplace, where they will be more likely to face high mark-ups and potential scams. Or, they will turn to scalpers: nearly 20% of millennial respondents have purchased tickets from a scalper.
“We possess the tools and technology to change the event ticketing industry for the better,” added Alan Vey, Co-founder of Aventus, “Now we must work together to implement it—for the benefit of ticketing agencies, venues, artists and consumers alike.”
SOURCE Aventus
Photo Credits: Medium
