Just Saying -- the soapbox thread

[thesmokingman]

RATP....

Thats Rage Against Ticket Prices!

Always been a HUGE fan of Rage Against The Machine. That has changed in the last week or so. Now that they are touring with Zach and it is a nostalgia tour, apparently the "anti-Capitalistic" band is OK with charging outrageous prices for their concerts. Those who waited endlessly for initial relaease tickets got the priviledge of paying $125/ea. for nosebleed seats  If you try to get tickets NOW... you are looking at anywhere from $300/ea. for nosebleed to around $800/ea. for floor seats.

I guess they are Killing in The Name of... Money 

And please don't say "Well.. its the companies, production, etc. that is charging and why prices are so high." We all know the band can have a say.

I would have more respect for them if they refused to do the shows unless prices were respectable.

Granted I'm not going, but I can respect these guys getting a cash grab. They've more or less earned one.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Granted I'm not going, but I can respect these guys getting a cash grab. They've more or less earned one.

You do realize that this band's whole identity has been anti-establishment, ant-Capitalism... right?

You respect them for doing something that goes against everything they have been preaching for 25+ years?

[davent]

And if thousands of people want to see them everywhere the tour stops, their options are?

Just because you're anti-establishment doesn't mean you don't have bills to pay.

dave

[EBK]

Pearl Jam got upset enough about Ticketmaster once that they did a tour (maybe more than one) boycotting Ticketmaster venues.  The result?  Fewer tickets sold and a joke about it in the Brady Bunch Movie.
[Youtube width=450]DIRXaoAfGqo[/YouTube]

Edit:  apparently it was just anyone-but-Ticketmaster rather than using a specific no-name ticket service.

[jimilee]

Pearl Jam got upset enough about Ticketmaster once that they did a tour (maybe more than one) using some little known ticket service that would only charge fair prices instead of gouging fans.  The result?  Fewer tickets sold and a joke about it in the Brady Bunch Movie.
[Youtube width=450]DIRXaoAfGqo[/YouTube]

They just announced a tour; it's my understanding that they have full control over ticket prices which, ironically, are ungodly costly.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

The result?  Fewer tickets sold and a joke about it in the Brady Bunch Movie.

You forgot to mention much respect for the band and their music.

From what I have seen and read... there is a HUGE backlash going on regarding this tour. Oh well.. the wheels will still turn and multi-millions will still get made.

It does make me wonder what the audience will be comprised of. Yuppie lawyers? Corporate entities? 

[davent]

They're just to trying to earn at their job as much as the guy that scooped up all the tickets at face value and is reselling them at a king's ransom.

As long as there's fools willing to shell out stupid amounts  money so they can say they saw such and such a concert tickets will only go up. There's a sucker born every minute no longer applies, they multiply much more quickly now and there're are far more ways to capitalize on the brain dead.
dave

[davent]

Shouldn't the anti-establishment be commended for getting the establishment to fork over ridiculous sums of money so they can take out token memberships in the anti-establishment tribe for an hour or two?
dave

[Muadzin]

RATP....

Thats Rage Against Ticket Prices!

Always been a HUGE fan of Rage Against The Machine. That has changed in the last week or so. Now that they are touring with Zach and it is a nostalgia tour, apparently the "anti-Capitalistic" band is OK with charging outrageous prices for their concerts. Those who waited endlessly for initial relaease tickets got the priviledge of paying $125/ea. for nosebleed seats  If you try to get tickets NOW... you are looking at anywhere from $300/ea. for nosebleed to around $800/ea. for floor seats.

Floor seats at a RATM concert?  All the Rage shows I have been to had the floor being one seething steaming sweaty mass of moshing and circle pitting crazyness. That's probably why their shows only last 1,5 hours. Any longer and their fans would drop dead from exhaustion. To have the floor be seated would be like having a mosh pit at a classical concert.

I guess they are Killing in The Name of... Money 

And please don't say "Well.. its the companies, production, etc. that is charging and why prices are so high." We all know the band can have a say.

I would have more respect for them if they refused to do the shows unless prices were respectable.

I think they could have done it. Not get TM to sell tickets at $50 a pop, but at least at your average concert ticket prices for a major band?

Granted I'm not going, but I can respect these guys getting a cash grab. They've more or less earned one.

You do realize that this band's whole identity has been anti-establishment, ant-Capitalism... right?

You respect them for doing something that goes against everything they have been preaching for 25+ years?

They've always been about grabbing cash for themselves. That's why they signed on a major label, played major shows, sold expensive merchs and did major tours in general with expensive tickets. As opposed to your average anti-capitalist punk bands, which have basically created their own alternative music scene which charges their fans basically peanuts.

There's always been that strange dissonance between Rage pursuing activist policies on the one hand and on the other effectively milking their fans for every cent that they are worth, just like any normal band does.

And if thousands of people want to see them everywhere the tour stops, their options are?

Just because you're anti-establishment doesn't mean you don't have bills to pay.

dave

I think the punk scene pretty much shows you can be anti-establishment and be a touring band that lives off their music while not forcing your fans to take a 2nd mortgage to go to your concerts. Rage very early on chose to take part in the commercial caroussel of major band economics. And its not like they have that big a bills to pay. They're not living expensive lifestyles, they don't have ex-wives to pay off, they don't own expensive yachts. Even after decades of basically doing nothing I've read that Zach de la Rocha is still estimated to be worth 25m and Tom and the others even more because they've partaken in other successful bands like Audioslave and Prophets of Rage.

You forgot to mention much respect for the band and their music.

From what I have seen and read... there is a HUGE backlash going on regarding this tour. Oh well.. the wheels will still turn and multi-millions will still get made.

It does make me wonder what the audience will be comprised of. Yuppie lawyers? Corporate entities?

A lot of the Gen X'ers that were Rage fans in the 90's are doing well enough so they can afford to take a trip down memory lane and pretend that they are still not doing what the man is telling them. Doesn't make them yuppie lawyers though. Corporations will probably buy a significant portion of the tickets though so they can treat their best customers and relations to a nice concert. But they don't give a shit if its RATM or Celine Dion, just that their clients have a nice night out and think more highly of them afterwards. A practice which has been going on for decades though. 

They're just to trying to earn at their job as much as the guy that scooped up all the tickets at face value and is reselling them at a king's ransom.

As long as there's fools willing to shell out stupid amounts  money so they can say they saw such and such a concert tickets will only go up. There's a sucker born every minute no longer applies, they multiply much more quickly now and there're are far more ways to capitalize on the brain dead.
dave

That is so true though. The Ticketmasters of the world see that people are willing to pay scalpers for tickets at scalper prices. So they have deduced that scalper prices are the prices that the market is willing to pay. So they have adjusted their prices accordingly. Don't want to pay scalper prices for tickets, then refuse to go see bands that charge those kinds of prices. It's for that reason that I have not seen U2 since 2005.

Shouldn't the anti-establishment be commended for getting the establishment to fork over ridiculous sums of money so they can take out token memberships in the anti-establishment tribe for an hour or two?
dave

Since when are their fans the 'establishment'? Because its not the establishment that's forking over ridiculous sums of money. It's the establishment, as in Ticketmaster, which is laughing all the way to the bank.

Personally I am of the opinion that I couldn't care less of this tour, even before it was announced. I saw them do the reunion nostalgia tour thing in 2008/2009. Been there, done that, didn't cost as much back then either. Unless they first release a new album I'm not interested in them rehashing the same old tired material. They didn't want to do a new album back then, because the strain and infighting of creating an album was what lead to their first breakup. I doubt that things have changed in this regard so I figured when I first heard about this 2nd reunion it was about doing an Orange Man Bad tour. With the same old tired material. And while I like their music, and I can pretty much tune out their politics, I'd much rather would have had a 2nd Prophets of Rage album instead, because then at least I would have gotten some new material as well. Not everything was good on the 1st Prophets of Rage album, but songs like Unfuck the World are at least as good as any RATM classic

[matmosphere]

It's not like there is any bad stuff going on with the establishment right now so I totally get why they aren't writing a new record.

[alanp]

New Zealand doesn't really have a gun culture, at least in urban areas. We enjoy watching mindless Hollywood schlock like Terminator 2, but most people don't have firearms licences. (Fun fact: under the Explosives Act, you can be convicted for possessing ammunition, even if you do not possess a firearm to use them with.)

So it's interesting that a slang term for well done is 'Shot'.

"I got a new Xbox three million today!"

"Shot, bro!"

"The missus had her baby yesterday!"

"Shot!"

[midwayfair]

New Zealand doesn't really have a gun culture, at least in urban areas. We enjoy watching mindless Hollywood schlock like Terminator 2, but most people don't have firearms licences. (Fun fact: under the Explosives Act, you can be convicted for possessing ammunition, even if you do not possess a firearm to use them with.)

So it's interesting that a slang term for well done is 'Shot'.

"I got a new Xbox three million today!"

"Shot, bro!"

"The missus had her baby yesterday!"

"Shot!"

Are you absolutely certain that you aren't all saying "shit"? Given New Zealand English's paucity of vowels (you have what, two, three vowels?) it's hard for those of us on the outside to tell the difference sometimes.

shits fired

[EBK]

I'm not the only one unable to access DIYSB today, right?

[davent]

I'm not the only one unable to access DIYSB today, right?

I wasn't able to get on at all yesterday, same thing so far today. Yesterday, down-for-just-me or whatever it's called said it was down for everyone when i checked.
dave

[Govmnt_Lacky]

More fun with eBay....

Seller is offering something that I am interested in. Within the seller's auction comments is the phrase "Please contact us for shipping costs before bidding." I contact said seller to ask about shipping costs. 5 days later... no response. I send another message about shipping costs and a question about the product. 1 week goes by... no response.

Needless to say.. I will not be buying. This person appears to have this set up as a business. Not the best business model to ignore questions that you invite in your sales pitch.

And no.. the seller is not "away" or has a banner indicating so.