PreferredSeat.com Blog

Ticketmaster has been in a giving mood lately, or maybe the promoters are having big problems selling tickets in this economy. Don’t let the talk of the recessions waning fool you, times are tough when a $80 ticket is being given away by Ticketmaster.

But truth be told nothing is free, even free tickets from Ticketmaster. Because, even the free tickets come with a price, and that is a few small service charges that add up to about $3 – $5 a ticket. Still a bargain compared to the face value of the ticket.

Where do you get these free tickets, you ask? Well you need to be either a season ticket holder, or belong to a VIP program at a venue to receive these offers in your email.

It’s a sort of rewards program to get patrons to spend money on parking, drinks and food, and generally make the place look like they actually sold all of those seats. So for a free ticket from Ticketmaster, the show must not be selling well in the first place, think Rod Stewart, or Jamie Foxx, performing in an arena where the ticket sales show they should be performing in a much smaller venue. Or they should be charging much less for their tickets.

Now, if I’m getting offers for free tickets, the next time I want to go to a show, I may wait and see if the free ones come out first, before I lay down my money. I wonder if the promoters and Ticketmaster thought of how that will impact future ticket sales.