Geoff Ellis, T in The Park, hasn’t learnt

by Chris Dawson

This post was written in February 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

It’s the annual ticket fest on eBay as thousands of fans open the purse strings hunting for tickets to the popular Edinburgh festival T in The Park. Geoff Ellis, chief executive of T in the Park, complains “The Government has failed to give us the support we need. They don’t seem to see what the problem is“.

The problem is quite simply that more people want to attend than there are tickets available and some of those have the funds available to buy tickets regardless of cost. It’s called supply and demand, and all the time someone has tickets and someone else can name a high enough price, they’ll be willing to exchange them for a boost to their PayPal account.

Ellis has no room for complaint, it’s not like he didn’t trot out the same complaints last year, he knows that there is a thriving secondary market for these tickets. If he wants to prevent tickets from being resold at a profit it’s time he (and other concert organisers in the same position) started issuing named tickets with photo ID. If it works for Glastonbury it can work for T in The Park.

In the mean time nothing has changed since I wrote “Why ticket sales on eBay should not be restricted” in January 2007. It’s a free market economy out there and the sooner Ellis et al realise the fact the better.

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Author: Chris Dawson
Posted at: Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Filed Under News
 

Comments

18 Responses to “Geoff Ellis, T in The Park, hasn’t learnt”

  1. Dan Wilson on February 19th, 2008 11:16 am

    One might even imagine that they enjoy the annual press coverage, raising the event’s profile. Oh hush my mouth.

  2. Sue Bailey on February 19th, 2008 11:21 am

    Dan! Such cynicism in one so young :grin:

    The thing that gets me is this “it prices the genuine fans out” argument. I mean, if you’re prepared to pay three times face value, you’re a GREAT BIG FAN, surely?

  3. northumbrian on February 19th, 2008 11:58 am

    Balerno is in Kinross an awful long way from Edinburgh

    the lord preserve and save us from Sassenachs

  4. northumbrian on February 19th, 2008 12:00 pm

    yer as bad as the yanks that think everyone lives within a mile of buckingham aplace

  5. Chris Dawson on February 19th, 2008 12:17 pm

    My apologies North, geography wasn’t ever my strongest point

    (You mean I don’t live just down the road from Buck house? :shock: )

  6. northumbrian on February 19th, 2008 12:59 pm

    we must be neighbours

  7. northumbrian on February 19th, 2008 1:01 pm

    :oops: balerno is in Edinburgh lol

    T in the park is Balado

  8. Des on February 19th, 2008 1:05 pm

    I’ve always said that if promoters for these events put say 10,000 tickets on ebay they would wipe out the tout market and probably make a bit more profit for themselves.
    But all they do is whine. Perhaps they should wake up to the fact that demand will always outstrip supply for quality music and sports events.

  9. Store Your Stuff aka Jade on February 19th, 2008 1:14 pm

    One might also imagine that if he was getting his % from the re-sales, that his bleating would diminish somewhat.

  10. vzaar Jamie on February 19th, 2008 2:12 pm

    You have to ask that when it comes to accusations of touting how is that the same PowerSellers have the tickets in bulk week in week out? How do they manage to acquire so many to sustain a business model if the ticketing agencies (Ticketmaster et al) work on a one-system-for-all model?

  11. Peter King on February 20th, 2008 4:08 am

    I doubt the organiser really gives a [beep] about people reselling on ebay, but its good PR to appear to care and he’s told to comment buy his PR firm.

    If you did put 10k, or however many ticket up for sale on ebay the touts would probably buy them up and sell them as corporate packages.

  12. Dan Wilson on February 20th, 2008 1:23 pm

    I am the happy customer today of a gig ticket, having paid x3 it’s face value.

    I love the secondary market.

  13. Chris Dawson on February 20th, 2008 2:01 pm

    Ohh nice one Dan, just don’t let Mr Ellis know how happy you are :twisted:

  14. Sue Bailey on February 20th, 2008 2:50 pm

    Just testing…

    Here is a link for T in the Park tickets listings:
    http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/.....rk+tickets

  15. Sue Bailey on February 20th, 2008 2:53 pm

    Woo! No more long URLs breaking our layout. I love Wordpress :-D

  16. Josordoni on February 20th, 2008 2:56 pm

    Do we have to do anything to get that short url or is it automatic?

  17. Sue Bailey on February 20th, 2008 2:57 pm

    It’s automatic Lynne :-D

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    [...] hope Geoff Ellis and others who’ve complained about eBay ticket sales are reading this: acknowledging that the [...]

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