How To Get Tickets Cheaper: A Guide To Verfied Fan Presales

What are they?

Verified fan presales are set up when an upcoming tour is announced.  The artist will set up a sign up form where fans can fill out their information, giving them higher priority to purchase the first available tickets.  This process is very similar to signing up for an artist's fan club.  They require adding an email address and phone number, or more information relative to purchasing the tickets.

Why are they popping up everywhere?

Lately, demand for concert tickets has been higher than ever.  Below are the top reasons why the industry is shifting to using this system for tickets going on sale with lots of demand.

1. Everyone wants a ticket - simply put, there are not enough seats in each city available for everyone that wants them.  Registration helps give fans an equal opportunity to be selected for tickets.

2. Trim out scalpers/brokers - extra steps like this, with short time windows to sign up, help eliminate non-fans that are simply buying with the direct intent to resale.  Although it is impossible to guarantee what someone does with their ticket, the more intricate the sign up process, the less resellers enter the market after the show is sold out

What is good about this?

We are in support of any practices that get consumers a lower average ticket price, where the artist is still able to maximize revenue.  Giving top fans a 5-10 minute task to sign up before tickets go on sale is well worth the time when resale rates can be $200-$300+.  Over time, artists will be able to take notice of of their top fans, and if they'd like, give them access to lower pricing or other benefits.

What is bad about this?

Fans really need to keep aware of the artist's social media profiles.  This can be burdensome.  A negative factor to this is that it is causing more tours to sell out as well.  This means that fans who can't afford to buy the ticket until closer to the event date are out of luck on getting any priority access.  If fans can't afford to purchase on the release day, sometimes a year away from the event, they are stuck paying resale prices.