Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Open Letter to Keith Urban Management/Fan Club

Letter to Fan Club and Urban Management re: Fan Club Pre-Sale:

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with the procedure which is being offered to the Monkeyville Fan Club members via the Monkeyville Fan Club pre-sale. These problems are addressed as follows:

1. Most of the tickets being offered through the Fan Club pre-sale have been the least desirable seats in the venue. While some Fan Club members have pulled up floor seats, most of these seats have been in the back of the floor sections where depending on the venue set up, it is impossible to get a good view of the stage.

2. It has been the experience of fan club members that Ticketmaster’s system is not capable of handling a Monkeyville Fan Club internet pre-sale without having system failures and lockouts during the Fan Club pre-sale period. This results in Fan Club members being unsure as to whether they have indeed purchased tickets or Fan Club members pulling up seats with no seat numbers, thus making it impossible for Fan Club members to purchase their tickets. Some Fan Club members have been unable to split their 4 seats per pre-sale into 4 singles or 2 pairs of seats. Fan club members do this because sometimes later in a pre-sale they can pull up better seats due to less volume on the ticketmaster website.

3. Another problem during the Monkeyville Fan Club pre-sale which could be attributed to either Ticketmaster or the Venue is that the seating chart for the concert has been changed after the Fan Club pre-sale has concluded. This makes some of the seats purchased by Fan Club Members during the pre-sale less desirable. This problem can possibly be attributed to Ticketmaster doing the Fan Club pre-sale for a Venue that does not sell it's tickets through Ticketmaster, thus creating issues with seating charts and the tickets released by the venue for the Fan Club pre-sale through Ticketmaster.

4. To make matters worse on Mondays at almost the same time that the exclusive Fan Club pre-sale is occurring, ticket brokers are listing floor seats for sale at prices which are hundreds of dollars more then the face value of the ticket.

5. There is also the issue of the Tickets being offered during the Ticketmaster auctions. These tickets are the prime seats in the first seven rows on the floor, seats that many Fan Clubs such as Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley reserve for Fan Club members. This in conjunction with the selection of seats being offered to Fan Club members during the pre-sale makes it seem that Fan Club membership brings no actual benefit.

6. Then there is the problem of announcing all the concert dates in a certain geographic area and having the dates for these pre-sales occur on the same day. This is causing problems for Fan Club members who wish to plan what is known within the Fan Club as a Keith Urban Roadtrip, where Fan Club members attend several shows in a geographical area. During the last tour the Fan Club pre-sales were staggered which allowed for the purchase of tickets for several concerts without the pre-sales overlapping, this was conducive to the Fan Club members budgeting for the purchase of the tickets and then having the money to pay for travel during the road trip. These road trips taken with friends, family and fellow fan club members result in the sale of multiple concert tickets and sold out venues.

These problems can easily be rectified with very little effort. The best solution to this problem would be to assure that the fan club seats are the best seats in the venue, just as other artist do for their fan clubs. This would mean that the Fan Club seats would be on the floor within the first 10 rows near the center. If the seats are distributed first come first served, there would at least appear to be a degree of fairness in the distribution of the Fan Club tickets. A lot of good will could be generated if fan club members reported that they obtained really desirable seats through the Fan Club pre-sale.

If the Fan Club is worried that members are purchasing Fan Club pre-sale tickets for purpose of resale for a profit, this can be solved by simply making all Fan Club pre-sale tickets only available by picking the tickets up at will call on the day of the show. This is the procedure followed by Rascal Flatts Fan Club.

We know that issues with Ticketmaster’s system are outside the control of the Fan Club, for this reason I request that the Fan Club switch to a system whereby the Fan Club sells Fan Club pre-sale tickets directly to the Fan Club members. This is a procedure used by Rascal Flatts and other artists Fan Clubs. Should the Fan Club not sell all the Fan Club tickets, generally the Fan Club then releases the unsold tickets back to the venue for sale to the general public within a reasonable time period prior to the concert.

I hope you consider some or all of these solutions, if you implement them you will find you have a happier fan club membership who will sing the praises of the fan club and bring other fans to the membership rolls. Should there not be improvement I will be spending my Fan Club money elsewhere.

Thank you for your kind consideration of this issue.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen. Boy...if there was ever a letter that needs to get to Borman, Dungan and CAA reps, this is it.

Anonymous said...

Amen to that! Just the other day I tried for pre-sale tickets and couldn't get ANYTHING in the arena for 2 seats together and that was at 10:00am when the tickets went on sale. What's up with that?

There's no other reason to this sham which is Ticketmaster, has a direct line to the scalpers who are selling those high priced front row tickets on ebay.

Anonymous said...

That's a big AMEN! I have received nothing but crap for seats through the FC pre-sales. I have purchased seats that are better the day of the general sale or a few days after that yet. It doesn't exactly give you a warm fuzzy feeling as a member of his FC, now does it?

Keith, Borman or whoever, you better be reading this and taking it seriously!

Anonymous said...

Until better seats for his FC members becomes a priority for Keith, it will never be for the fan club or management.

Right now, he doesn't need to care, all the newbies will fill the crappy seats the pissed off "monkeys" refuse to buy.

Unfortunately, until membership renewals stop and venues don't sell out, it won't matter no matter how many letters and angry posts are written.

Anonymous said...

The MV fan club presale is a joke. I thought that the purpose of a fan club presale was to offer the best seats in the venue to your most loyal fans. Instead, Keith's fan club members seem to be offered some of the worst seats. I seriously doubt that these venues have sold out so early, and that the only available seating is in the back of the arena or in the upper tier. Rather as others have pointed out, more desirable seat locations will somehow appear later in the sales process. Shame on you Keith and your manangement team for specifically designating that less than desirable seats are offered to your fan club members.

Anonymous said...

Many of the Monkeys just want everyone to be grateful for the opportunity to be in the same room as Keith when he performs. To them, it is not important that the people who have supported him, bought his music, voted for him, traveled to and attended multiple concerts and generally followed his career for years get any perks, inspite of paying $25/yr for the priviledge of being in his fan club.

I am too old to join a fan club so I can bring myself down to a teenager level on the message boards and I'm too old to pay $25 to watch some videos or see some pictures for the fan club members. I am a Keith Urban fan...but the pre-sales are what prompted me to join his fan club and unless there's a reason to pay an extra $25 ... it looks like I might as well take my chances with the general public or pay a scalper.

The sad fact is that other major artists (Rascal Flats; Brad Paisley as examples) do make the best seats in the venue available to their fans. Camp Urban could too...and I'll be interested in seeing whether they address this, or continue to rake in the dough without a second thought for the fans.

Anonymous said...

I'm highly doubtful that this situation will be addressed - it's been going on for well on 3 years that I know of. Keith and his management team have chosen this route for their pre-sales and they obviously do not wish to have fan club members down in front - exclusively. It hasn't changed with all the bitching that I've seen in the past, and I doubt it will change with this new crop of bitching either.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a good beginning to a class action suit.

Anonymous said...

You can add Kenny Chesney & Dierks Bentley to the great seats for Fan Club members list. They always offer their members floor seats in the front sections.

Anonymous said...

It's such a joke the way they announce upcoming shows. Why can't they just do it like other artists. As the shows are booked, just post the damn dates and the dates of the presales.

They are trying to turn listing show dates as freaking PR event.

Anonymous said...

To the anonymous from 11:05, yes Dierks FC always takes care of us but Kenny's does not. At least in my experience.

I hope Keith will one day realize that he owes his success to hard work yes, but also to the fans who are mostly faithful to him.

That said, Keith's FC is a mess. I will nto renew. The presales are miserable and as for the message board, you can read (but not post) without joining so it will be relatively simple to keep up with any important info.

Anonymous said...

They probably are aware of the good scam they have going on. They know that the FC members will try their best to just 'be in the building' and take whatever they can get THEN buy more tickets at the general public sale, which means that many more tickets sold. Mission Accomplished! Until people quit buying more tickets to try and score better seats, things will never change. And personally, I don't think Keith gives a damn.

Anonymous said...

Great Letter!

I don't think the fc presale is on anyone's list of priorities, certainly not Keith's.

Brokers will continue to charge ridiculous prices because those that really want to see Keith up close have no choice but to pay.
And once you have been in those first few rows-you will not want to sit anywhere else.

It would be really wonderful if the 'Powers That Be' took the time to read these suggestions and make some desperately needed changes.

I'm just not holding my breath.

Anonymous said...

I am not saying this is right, but can you blame Keith for not wanting some of more, shall we say "overzealous" fans up front? Yes, I know it's not fair to the normal fans, but the way some of his fans behave, with thier crazy ideas of clapping all the way through songs, flashing him, and their unity signs, it's no wonder he doesn't want those nutjobs up close and peronal. Until this type of behavior stops, these "bunnies" will get the crap seats they deserve, way in the back, far away from the man himself. Unfortunately and unfairly, the well-behaved fans have to suffer as well.

Anonymous said...

"The “skeptics” do not think everything Keith does is wonderful. They may vote on polls (once); they may gush over a pic or two; they may buy one copy of a CD; travel to see him more than once a year...but they seem to be a bit more discriminatory when it comes to the music and the artist.

Keith can do no wrong in a “true fan’s” eyes. He can, however, screw up in the eyes of a “skeptic”."

I disagree with what you posted above. I do believe there is no clear cut definition of a "true fan" or a "skeptic" I don't consider myself either one and I've seen these so called "skeptics" fly all over the US to many, many Keith shows. I am a fan of Keith Urban's and I've gone to more shows than I care to count, but I don't throw myself on stage, hold up signs or frequent the main KU boards touting posts about Keith doing no wrong. I consider those fans psychotic and delusional, not true fans. He's far from perfect and I am disappointed he's screwed up his personal life the last year and a half. I think a lot of fans, true or skeptic, feel they've been kicked to the curb during that time, but it's hard to reach out to the masses when you can't manage your own life. It's evident this is or was the case. Whether his wife had anything to do with it, maybe. I can say that Keith has struggled for years to find the man he is off stage, has had difficulty defining himself as a man when he's not playing to us fans. I'm come to the conclusion he probably does truly love Nicole, but how do you become a husband to someone who's that famous - even if you're a bit famous yourself and if you have problems finding your identity off stage, how in the hell can you find it being married to her?

So yeah, I consider myself a true fan, a longtime fan, but I know Keith's got a long road ahead to getting himself straightened out.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree here. If EchoMusic runs his site now, why can't they be in charge of presales like they are for Dierks?

I have used them twice and got awesome seats both times. You have to pick up your tickets at "Will Call" but isn't that much easier than hemmoraging money on Ebay?

Anonymous said...

But blocking the so-called bunnies also means blocking the rest of us. And if you've ever been to a KU concert you will see that seats mean nothing...if that is, you are a nubile, 16-24 yr old, wearing a barely-there top, and are willing to scream and hop around for him. His guy Okie regularly escorts such girls to the front each and every time. If you're fat, homely, too old, or dressed in something that does not ride up or plunge in the front...forgetaboutit.

Been there, seen that.

Anonymous said...

Trying to get a decent ticket is almost a full time job with Fan Club and Target pre-sales and than there is the public sale.

I seem to be having better luck with the public sales. But it's still near impossible to get 2 decent seats together.

And heaven forbid you try to string a couple of shows together when they usually going on pre-sale and sale the same day and sometimes the same time..

He/they are killin me...

Anonymous said...

"Trying to get a decent ticket is almost a full time job with Fan Club and Target pre-sales and than there is the public sale."

Don't forget the Radio Station Pre-sales and the Venue Pre-sales. I've probably devoted I don't know 6 or 7 hours to date this week on getting decent seats. I've never spent that much time working on getting decent seats to a Rascal Flatts concert. I send in my ticket request, I pay for my tickets, I pick them up at will call. No fuss, no muss.

Anonymous said...

All Pre-sales are a complete joke! I got okay tickets to a couple of Keith shows this summer by using his pre-sale, but they also had target and radio pre-sales for these shows too so I tried seeing what would come up with those opportunities and I just had to laugh. Both target and radio offered seats in the 400 sections, which are basically nosebleed seats.

Makes me wonder why they even have pre-sales and the only thing I could come up with is they do that so ticketmaster's system won't crash when the public sale starts and everyone and their mother are trying for tickets.