THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604190090
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
TICKETS FOR Poi Dog Pondering's show last Sunday at the Abyss were promoted as costing ``$8 in advance.''
Logically, a person might think two things: ``I can purchase a ticket in advance. And ``A ticket will cost me $8.''
In reality, a person could have purchased a ticket in advance. But not for $8.
How's that? Well, Ticketmaster was the ticket source for this one. Just as Ticketmaster is the ticket source these days for almost everything playing just about everywhere.
Past or upcoming Ticketmaster events in Hampton Roads include: George Carlin at Willett Hall, O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran at Norfolk State, the Hampton Jazz Festival, British rock band Bush, Jimmy Buffett, the American Music Festival over Labor Day at the Beach - even the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.
Tickets for Bruce Hornsby at the grand opening of the Virginia Beach Amphitheater will be sold through Ticketmaster. Tickets are ostensibly $10 for lawn seats, $15 for reserved and $25 for gold circle seats.
However, those prices do not include a $3.75-to-$3.85-per-ticket service charge from Ticketmaster, plus $2 per order, plus a $1.50 ``facility fee'' for parking.
It is possible, in some cases, to avoid Ticketmaster and buy tickets at the venue. But the effort it took to get tickets for Poi Dog Pondering shows why people use Ticketmaster.
The Abyss, a Virginia Beach nightclub, lists a phone number in the white pages. That number is for a recording that refers callers to another number for concert information. That second number gives concert information and refers callers to a third number - which refers them back to the first number - and to a fourth number: Ticketmaster.
The while-you're-holding recording at Ticketmaster advises the concert-goer that Mastercard is the smart way to pay, plays him some music and offers him a year's subscription to a listing of Ticketmaster concerts for $18.
Eventually, an actual human voice - or at least a good computer simulation of one - picks up the phone.
Tickets for Poi Dog Pondering were indeed $8. Not counting the $3.25 service charge per ticket and the $1.50 ``convenience charge'' for the order.
Ah.
Had Ticketmaster not used the term ``convenience charge,'' a person could think he was merely being charged an extra buck and a half because Ticketmaster could get away with it. Not to mention that the $3.25-per-ticket service charge was plenty of convenience already.
I was looking for three tickets that cost ``$8 in advance.'' Through Ticketmaster, the total price of three tickets, plus $3.25 service charge per ticket, plus $1.50 convenience charge for the order added up to $35.25.
I majored in English, but I'm pretty sure $35.25 divided by three doesn't equal $8 per ticket. I'm almost positive it equals $11.75 per ticket. Actually, $3.75 in fees added to an $8 ticket is a 46.8 percent markup.
It might be worth noting here that rock band Pearl Jam thinks Ticketmaster is a monopolistic bunch of price gougers who made it difficult for the Seattle band to keep its ticket prices around $20 and affordable for its teenage fans. In fairness, Ticketmaster denies it is a monopolistic bunch of price gougers.
Pearl Jam tried last summer to put on a tour without Ticketmaster, but found itself playing in places like Casper, Wyo. Ticketmaster's exlusive arrangement with venues larger than 5,000 seats on the West Coast locked Pearl Jam out of putting on shows there.
You can avoid Ticketmaster, but it's a risk. You could wait to buy tickets at the door, but the show you want to see might sell out in advance.
For the Poi Dog Pondering concert, we got our tickets at the door. They were $10. For you English majors, that's $1.75 cheaper per ticket than the ``$8 in advance'' tickets from Ticketmaster.
Go figure. ILLUSTRATION: Buy a Bruce Hornsby ticket from Ticketmaster and expect a steep
servicing charge.
by CNB