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| Photo: Official Fan Club, Inc. - Justin Bieber 2010
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OFC Official Fan Club suggests Chicago Tribune article with tips and tricks for getting great tickets!
by Sally Rosen
Bands and artists are touring more than ever and fans want to know how to get the best seats for concerts and events. Some interesting points mentioned in the Tribune article include volunteer usher programs and considering a road trip to see your favorite band/artist at a location where the demand is not as high and there is a better chance for getting great seats. Of course, buying tickets as early as possible is implicit.
The tip regarding monopolizing Ticketmaster browsers or what is sometimes called 'Fishing' is important to understand. 'Fishing' and browser double dipping is greedy, overloads the system and ultimately puts a ticket on-line shopper at risk of losing seats.
Of course, the tip on joining a fan club is highly recommended by the OFC, not just for better tickets but for getting connected with other fans and gaining access to fan club news and contests. Regarding the comment in the article "you'll get the best seats before the general public" by joining a fan club, well it actually depends on the fan club as to how good the tickets will be. Some fan clubs like B.B. King, offer the best seats front and center in presales to members. Others fan clubs have well organized prioritization or tiered systems for allocating presales seats and on sale dates based on membership seniority and longevity. U2 and Dave Matthews Band are examples of fan clubs with priority member ranking while other fan clubs offer current members a unilateral presales process regardless of membership length. Sometimes a fan just needs to sign up for the newsletter email of their favorite artist/band to get presales codes - it all varies.
Don't be disappointed if you join a fan club and find that the presales do not deliver on the best seats close to the stage. In some cases, particularly for the super hot in demand shows, the prime seats are cherry picked and packaged into bundles priced higher than the typical tickets. Ultimately, fan clubs which do offer presales definitely give members a jump on landing tickets before the general public. Once a show is sold out, the next course of action is the secondary market which invariably is priced much higher. One additional helpful tip not mentioned in the article is that venues and credit cards like Amex and Citicard will offer promotional presales.
Buying Hot Tickets - 12 tips on how to get tickets to hot shows
