Whether you are a event-goer having to use Ticketmaster or not, I think everyone is aware how bad and expensive the ticket buying process is in general but especially if using Ticketmaster. Lots of news lately about trouble getting tickets and/or the expense with the mega-acts like Taylor Swift or Bruce Springsteen but it also trickles down to the lesser acts. I'll describe my experience this week.

Nick Cave is coming to the State Theater in October and since I follow Nick Cave, I received information on a Artist Presale for this past Monday, a full four days prior to the "general public sale" happening today. I'm a huge fan and would be willing to pay for good seats. So on Monday, I log into Ticketmaster a few minutes prior to the presale and get put in the queue. 10:00a rolls around and I'm like #240 or so, which was disappointing but whatever. As soon as my number comes up, there's a technical issue and I'm put back in the Queue. Now I'm like number 450! I wait around and this time I get in but now all the good tickets are gone. What!!!??

There's literally more presales during the week so I think I will try those but just for the heck of it, try about 30 minutes later in case some tickets got released. Oh I have a $50 Ticketmaster Gift Card, so I'm not as price sensitive as I may normally be and I'm willing to pay for good seats. Sure enough I found a Row O ticket for the face value of $110, even though I was hoping for better. In the process of buying the ticket, I noticed a ton of seats are now being released but now at a higher price. First 7 rows or so are now $217 and tickets around Row 0 are $135 (this is before fees mind you). The $217 ticket are "Premium" and the $135 are due to dynamic pricing. They were literally not available 5 minutes after the presale opened but are now 45 minutes later.

I close the sale and thank my lucky stars I got the seat that I did at the price ($30 in fees which is 27% btw). I was curious so I checked the State Theater presale yesterday right at 10:00a. There was probably less than 100 ticket listed for sale (all at those higher prices). So if you got a presale notice from the State Theater and thought you had a decent chance of getting a ticket to see Nick Cave, you were sadly mistaken.

This is definitely a "First World Problem" and frankly I don't know how to change it but it is frustrating nonetheless and I am worried that fans are getting priced out of seeing their favorite acts. Also the Artists need to take a stand as well, like Robert Smith did of the Cure. I know they get a cut of the fees and increased dynamic or platinum pricing so they are in on the game too.

Anyway, drop your lists if you got them or just feel to vent about Ticketmaster.