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In my day-to-day life, I’m a pretty savvy shopper. I love the sales, scour websites for second hand DVDs and CDs, and can regularly be found browsing charity shops for Dean Koontz and Terry Pratchett books. I clip vouchers out of newspapers and magazines, print coupons off the internet, and have been known to get a little carried away with the two-for-one and double-up-for-a-pound drink offers in pubs. However, there’s one area where all my savvy shopper knowledge goes out of the window, and that’s gig tickets.
I think nothing of blowing £10 to check out a band down my local rock club, regardless of whether I’ve heard one of their songs, or all of them. I enthused that my day ticket to Download was a steal at £70, because of the number of bands I could see if I spent the whole day running around like a lunatic, and £40-£60 to see a megastar band at an arena, doesn’t feel all that ridiculous - even though logically, I know it is.
However, there’s one thing that really grates on me when it comes to tickets - and that’s booking fees.
Now, I know booking fees aren’t just the scourge of the gig-goer. Hotels usually charge booking fees if you ring them up rather than book online, and certain cruise packages can’t resist slapping an extra £10 on top of your bill. The big difference is that there’s almost always a way to avoid shelling out extra for holiday packages. There’s always an alternative travel agent, or a nice, family-run BnB who won’t charge you any hidden extras, unlike the money-grubbing chain hotel you originally had your mind set on.
But there’s absolutely no way to avoid paying booking fees on concert tickets. All the major online outlets charge it, and even if you buy tickets in-person from independent record shops or alternative clothing stalls, it’s only the postage and packaging they drop, not the booking fee! I’ve stood and watched my tickets being printed out at my local Blue Banana store. It took ten seconds and, apparently, only required the pressing of four keys on the till - and yet they still charged me an additional fiver! I had to work for almost an hour to earn that, and all it gets me is a few finger-stabs at a till, and a bit of printed paper? It’s enough to make you lose faith in the live music scene.
Even worse, this booking fee doesn’t go to the bands who fly half way around the world to play in dingy, sticky-floored dives to twenty or so people, or the security guards or bar staff or the nice people who man the merchandise stalls - it goes to people who do nothing more than print out the tickets and send them out. They don’t promote the gig in any significant way - that’s what promoters are for! - and they don’t pay any of the band’s travel expenses or living costs. They do next to nothing, and yet, when I recently paid £6 to see a local band and support my unsigned music scene (something that I believe adamantly in) I had to give Ticketmaster £2. I’d have rather walked up to the frontman of said band, and given him that £2, because he deserves it more than Ticketmaster do.
How we got into this situation, I have no idea. All I know is that giving a large corporation roughly 25% of the original ticket price, to stand and watch a punk band scream out anti-capitalist and anti-The-Man sentiments, can never be right. While ticketing agencies provide a useful service, and no-one can deny that clicking ‘buy now’ and securing yourself the opportunity to see your favourite band is a God-send, ticket providers have got far too greedy. A slight, discreet fee on top of the original ticket price is acceptable, but when you’re paying £2 for the privilege of buying a £6 ticket, then something has gone terribly wrong with the music industry.
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