Depeche Mode went on tour this year. I decided to buy Boston because they hadn’t been there in probably decades. I had some friends buy tickets for me as well. I only wanted FLOOR seats for the show. We wound up with some middle to back floor seats. Tickets were $312 a pair. I had bought these back in February. I immediately listed them on Stubhub (mistake #1) and that’s where they sat. I sold a couple of pairs in March and April and those were barely profitable (a bad sign.) Eventually, I had people list them on TM about 2 weeks out, and they sold better there than Stubhub. After everything was said and done, I ate 6 floor seats and lost a total of 33% on all the tickets.
Lessons Learned – Boston is close enough that fans could have seen them in New York often. Secondly, these nostalgic 80’s bands just don’t have the demand to sell out even basketball arenas. Lastly, when given the option, almost always choose to resell back on TM rather than SH.
As a DM fan seems you didn’t know your buyer on this one. They tour religiously and often, this is no 80s nostalgia act . Their albums still debut in the top 5 domestic charts. The current tour is the top grossing internationally and nationally this year and last . Fans for their tickets buy day one and probably ate 75% of inventory . Round two of buyers would have been a thin herd . This is a band where you are a rabid fan or not a fan, not paying those prices though if you’re the latter. I’m a fan and thought it was borderline bending fans over the barrel. And yes, they did a multiday stand at MSG which may have bit into Boston . But they have played CT at the Mohegan Sun the past 2 tours . Now let me tell you about how many times I’ve gotten screwed on U2 Tix… Talk about oversaturation, and that’s a 100-fold fan base.
What would you say your average lead time (time between purchase and sale) for Hamilton NYC via TM?
Those vary quite a bit. I sold some August shows and some December shows this week. Just purely random.
That is what I figured – thanks. I have a couple for the weekend following Valentine’s Day that I figured would take a while to sell since it is so far off.
I have Hamilton for Valentines 2019 weekend, wish me luck guys!