Why you can't get a ticket to see Justin Bieber

Current Twitter Head of Media and Commerce, and former Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard has written a blog post for The Ringer explaining exactly why most average joes face little chance when attempting to secure online ticket purchases.

Many people are left frustrated by a process which is affected by various things, from corporate handouts to dodgy systems, and the ordinary punter is left out in the cold when a Justin Bieber concert or a Champions League final goes on sale.

In the post, Hubbard describes 5 ways in which the ticket industry tries to screw you over:

1) Tickets never go on sale when you think they do

Hubbard describes the on-sale process as being like a "mysteriously devastating airplane farter: tickets leak out little bits at a time, nobody can figure out where they’re coming from, and the whole thing reeks."

Hubbard describes the on-sale process as being like a "mysteriously devastating airplane farter"

The world of presales paralyses many prospective buyers, as tickets are released in drips and drabs to those who have access to them, who are usually those who have American Express cards or have corporate connections.

2) You probably can't even get a whiff of a good seat

Before the on-sale even happens, Hubbard reckons that at least half of the tickets are gone. "For specifically cited Katy Perry and Justin Bieber shows, no more than 15 percent go to people like you," he said. Some are held by the artist for family and friends, some for the club president or band manager, some for the record label etc. but the vast majority will "magically" end up in the hands of second-market brokers.

3) You definitely can't get a good seat

Most artists or teams, Hubbard says, have a dilemma. They want to make a ton of money but they don't want to look as if they're ripping off fans. "The biggest artists sign contracts that guarantee them money every time they step on the stage, and that guaranteed amount is usually more than 100 percent of the revenue if every ticket is sold at face value.

Most artists or teams, Hubbard says, have a dilemma. They want to make a ton of money but they don't want to look as if they're ripping off fans.

"Which means that if every ticket in the venue “sells out” at the face value printed on the ticket, that wouldn’t be enough to pay the artist what they are contractually guaranteed by the promoter for the performance. How does the promoter make up the difference? You guessed it: by selling some of the best seats directly in the secondary market, so that artists don’t get flack from you for pricing them high right out of the gate." So either the artist is directly implicit in this scheme, or they are turning a blind eye essentially.

4) Bots are pwning you

Brokers have written programmes that go through the checkout experience of a ticketing site faster than any human being ever will be able to.

Hubbard claims that while you are getting frustrated with trying to operate the CAPTCHA system, "the ticket bot has already surfaced that puzzle to dirt-cheap labor sitting in front of a computer terminal in another country, or to some frustrated, unsuspecting free online porn watcher to solve. Oh, and they’ve basketed the tickets you wanted and posted them online for as much as 10 times the face value."

The reality, Hubbard acknowledges, is that supply is always a close friend of demand.

5) You can't win

The reality, Hubbard acknowledges, is that supply is always a close friend of demand. "When hordes of people want a limited number of tickets, the price goes up. When a team or artist prices tickets at less than what people are willing to pay, in walk ticket brokers, and the secondary market materializes from thin air." As a result, capitalism simply takes over and becomes the dominant force once again.