For those of us living in the UK...
If you go to gigs regularly, this might be of interest to you:
Everyone please pimp this post on your journals - this is a matter of vital importance, and the more people that read this post, the more likely this idea is to work. It's not my idea, and I'm not the first to publicise it - it was posted today on Londonist, but it's so worthwhile that I felt it necessary to replicate their post here.
It deals with the perennial problem of the live music scene - the ticket tout. The following information is paraphrased from the 'About Us' section of their website...
Scarlet Mist, (found at http://www.scarletmist.co.uk) is a ticket exchange, specifically set up to introduce buyers and sellers to each other (much like a dating agency - their own words, not mine). It is private - the identities of buyers and sellers are only revealed to each other and no-one else. It is free to sell a ticket. Buyers are asked to make a donation to charity. Best of all, tickets can only be priced at face value plus any official booking fees. It's fast, because they try to match up buyers and sellers locally. It is not totally secure, but it would seem that you are very unlikely to get ripped off, because of the nature of the service.
Currently on the site, they have tickets for Audioslave, Bad Religion, Bright Eyes, Coldplay, Green Day, Interpol, Kings Of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, Prodigy, REM, The Streets, U2, Weezer and even Will Young.
The reason why it is so important to pimp this is that the more people that know about this wonderful site, the more tickets that will be made available on there. I know just how often I've had people drop out a day before a sold-out gig and had to sell it to a tout for less than face value, knowing full well that the tout will sell it for much more than face value.
Everyone please pimp this post on your journals - this is a matter of vital importance, and the more people that read this post, the more likely this idea is to work. It's not my idea, and I'm not the first to publicise it - it was posted today on Londonist, but it's so worthwhile that I felt it necessary to replicate their post here.
It deals with the perennial problem of the live music scene - the ticket tout. The following information is paraphrased from the 'About Us' section of their website...
Scarlet Mist, (found at http://www.scarletmist.co.uk) is a ticket exchange, specifically set up to introduce buyers and sellers to each other (much like a dating agency - their own words, not mine). It is private - the identities of buyers and sellers are only revealed to each other and no-one else. It is free to sell a ticket. Buyers are asked to make a donation to charity. Best of all, tickets can only be priced at face value plus any official booking fees. It's fast, because they try to match up buyers and sellers locally. It is not totally secure, but it would seem that you are very unlikely to get ripped off, because of the nature of the service.
Currently on the site, they have tickets for Audioslave, Bad Religion, Bright Eyes, Coldplay, Green Day, Interpol, Kings Of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, Prodigy, REM, The Streets, U2, Weezer and even Will Young.
The reason why it is so important to pimp this is that the more people that know about this wonderful site, the more tickets that will be made available on there. I know just how often I've had people drop out a day before a sold-out gig and had to sell it to a tout for less than face value, knowing full well that the tout will sell it for much more than face value.