Pop star Maggie Rogers isn’t about to let robots ruin her next tour. The “Alaska” singer told fans in an email today that she’s jumping on automated scalpers by selling tickets the old-fashioned way: in-person sales.
Rogers says fans can physically walk up to the box office Friday for the first pre-sale tickets for his summer US tour, which runs from July to August. “On Friday, for one day only, we will have an in-person pre-sale, where you can go directly to your local box office to buy a ticket,” wrote the artist, who rose to fame after a video by Pharrell. williams reacting to his demo of “Alaska” went viral in 2016. “There is a limit of two tickets per person, but you can choose any ticket you want – all prices and tiers will be available, along with exclusive merchandise and a special playlist I put together just for the box. office day.”
Rogers says the in-person process will vary from city to city, advising fans to check their website for details. For fans in the New York area, he adds that he will visit the Music Hall of Williamsburg box office in Brooklyn on Friday, greeting fans who purchase tickets to his Forest Hills show scheduled for July 27.
If he can’t make it to the box office on Friday, Rogers says his website will open pre-sale registrations for mainstream artists on April 11. Additionally, Spotify will have its own pre-sale on April 12, with local promoters joining on the 12th and 13th. General availability opens April 14th.
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Ticketmaster has been in a bind lately over its inability to prevent bots from getting pre-sale tickets and reselling them at grossly inflated prices. After 1.5 million presale codes were sent to Taylor Swift fans in November, 14 million shoppers (including a “staggering” number of bots) attempted to purchase tickets. The company said it received 3.5 billion system requests, causing the site to crash and fans without access.
That caught the attention of the US Congress, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who order the Ticketmaster breakup. Joe Berchtold, president and CFO of Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in January, acknowledging the problem but submitting a resolution to (largely dysfunctional) Congress. Despite a Justice Department investigation, Senate hearings and the usual political swagger, the government has yet to produce any reforms.
A similar fiasco unfolded in December when thousands of Bad Bunny fans heading to see the reggaeton star at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca were denied entry at the gate, told by staff that their tickets purchased on Ticketmaster were counterfeit. That incident sparked Mexican antitrust scrutiny, but Ticketmaster avoided paying the announced fines after reimbursing buyers who were denied entry and providing additional compensation.
Although Rogers deserves credit for an analog solution to a modern problem, the story says more about our modern, high-tech ticketing catastrophe than it does about the artist’s ingenious solution.
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