I put up an ad (Exhibit A, below) asking $500, or best offer. I ended up getting $450 on Tuesday. The real fun came Thursday morning though, when an irate email (Exhibit B) showed up in my inbox. Since I, by nature, cannot blindly accept criticism of my person, an email battle followed.
Exhibit A:
Joanna Newsom at BAM - Row 2 Orchestra, 2 Tickets - $500
Reply to: sale-XXXXXX@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-01-11, 4:32PM EST
I have two tickets I'm thinking about getting rid of for the Joanna Newsom show at Brooklyn Academy of Music on Feb. 1. The tickets are together in the middle of row BB, which is the second row. You will be unbelievably close.
$500 and they're yours, or you can make a different offer and they might be yours. Thanks.
Exhibit B:
From: Christopher R. (XXXXX@alum.Dartmouth.ORG)
Sent: Thu 1/17/08 8:38 AM
To: sale-XXXXXXX@craigslist.org
Unreal that you are trying to sell Joanna Newsom tickets for 500 bucks. How greedy are you? Why would you take such an absurd profit? Really cool, really in the spirit of appreciating art...
Exhibit C:
From: Nate Buchik
Sent: 1/17/08 10:22 AM
To: Christopher R.
Don't judge me. I really don't need to explain myself, because it's not my fault that people are willing to pay this much or more for these tickets, but I'm selling them because I need to pay rent in February. I wanted to go to the show, but the tickets aren't worth 500 bucks to me. They were to someone else. Sold.
If these were Paul McCartney tickets or tickets to the Super Bowl, you wouldn't care.
"Tickets? Anyone need tickets?"
Nate
From: Christopher R.
Sent: Thu 1/17/08 3:28 PM
To: Nate Buchik
But you don't get it.
People arent "willing to pay this" they are forced to by people like you. You buy tickets, then realize that people who really want to go will do whatever it takes to see them. Imagine if everyone were like you. We'd be in pretty bad shape. There are other ways to get money for rent. Dont you agree that its wrong? Its fine if you dont care, just admit that its not a good thing to do - for the artist, fans, or general attitude towards events like this.
Exhibit E:
From: Nate Buchik
Sent: Thu 1/17/08 4:57 PM
To: Christopher R.
I misspoke when I said people were "willing to pay this." I should have explained the tickets are "worth this." And the reason the tickets are worth so much is the proximity to the stage. You see, there's a high "demand" to be close to the stage, and the "supply" of tickets in the first few rows is low. Have you taken Economics? What do they teach at Dartmouth these days? Only Marxist Economics?
If I were to choose to sell the tickets at normal price, how would I decide who to sell them to? Ask people to prove who "deserves" them and "loves" Joanna the most? Please. ("Puleeeeazz") In fact, I had more than 20 people asking to buy them for $300.
I'll try to explain this in a less conceptual way. People are absurdly rich around these parts and they don't like to wake up early (10 a.m.) to buy tickets. But they don't mind paying someone else to do it. It's sort of like I'm their humble servant. And yes, they pay me a decent wage. Remember, there are plenty of tickets available at lower prices for worse seats. Some people are just desperate to be close. To have the "best" seats. Maybe they're the biggest fans or maybe they're just wealthy and feel entitled to the best and like to prove it with money. Who knows?
"If everyone was like me we'd be in pretty bad shape"? That's pretty harsh, man. I'm a really nice dude. As for whether this is a bad thing to do for "the artist, fans, or general attitude", I would say that a fan who really wanted to see the artist can now go to the show. Good for both parties. General attitude? Obviously, you're upset, but I'm super happy so it evens out.
I'm sorry I couldn't give you the tickets, Chris. But there is good news. I bought four more tickets up super close to the second show that was added, and I'm going to sell two of them and keep two for me and a friend. Feel free to shoot me an offer. Or maybe we can become friends and I'll take you! But I'd like an apology first.
Nate
Exhibit F:
From: Christopher R.
Sent: Fri 1/18/08 6:22 AM
To: Nate Buchik
Hey, yea I agree with you on a lot of points. And sorry for coming off harsh, I think I was just pissed that scalping exists in the first place. I understand that its simple supply and demand, and you may have even gotten more. But thats just the reason I was pissed in the first place. Its because at that point its kind of unfair. "Regular" people cant afford them at that point. What if the artist started charging more. She would lose some fans, but people would still go.
Anyways, I apologize for coming off harsh, didnt mean to be an asshole. Just shocked when I saw the 500 bucks. Thanks for the offer, but I actually got 2 tickets for thursday nights show.
Its an interesting discussion though I think.
Have a good one,
Chris
Exhibit G:
From: Nate Buchik
Sent: Fri 1/18/08 2:22 PM
To: Christopher R.
It's certainly an interesting discussion. I don't intend to make it a habit of profiting on the artistic abilities of others. Especially ones I respect as much as Joanna. I understand the frustration of ticket prices getting out of hand, but I just couldn't afford to keep something so valuable.
Thanks for the apology, I'll buy you a beer after the show with my newfound wealth.
Nate
1 comment:
this is not how I wouldve handled this... Suicide or nothing. Push it to the Limit man!
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