About Concert Ticket Printing

A concert is an event that includes live music and entertainment for an audience. A concert ticket is a voucher that allows admittance into the concert. No matter if it is a free or paid event; a ticket may be distributed in order to reserve the ticket holder's seats. Most events around the world are handed by Ticketmaster. The company is responsible for printing, selling and distributing concert tickets all over the world.

History

Ticketmaster was founded in 1976 in Arizona by Albert Leffler, Peter Gadwa and Charles H. Hamboy Jr. Today, the company is the largest ticket distribution company in the world and is based out of West Hollywood. Selling mostly online or over the phone, Ticketmaster has grown to have well over 5,000 employees. To add to its already expanding business, Ticketmaster acquired Getmein.com (ticket exchange site) and Paciolan Inc. (ticketing system developer).

Process

Whenever there is a concert, Ticketmaster makes an agreement with the promoter and venue to be the sole printer and provider for large venues. To have the exclusive right, Ticketmaster pays a large signing bonus to the venue. The signing bonus can be upwards of $1 million. Ticketmaster marks up the ticket price by 30 percent--often to the dismay of artists--before selling them to consumers. The tickets are sold either online, over the phone or at one of the authorized dealers. Because it has effectively put other ticket printers out of business, Ticketmaster isn't without its critics.
Tickets are printed based on the size and availability of the venue. More popular concerts are held in larger venue halls. The price of the tickets is determined by the seat's proximity to the center stage.

Fees

The price that the concert is advertised for is not what the consumer pays from Ticketmaster. The company, to gain a profit, adds a service charge. The money charged for the actual ticket is broken down to pay the artist(s), the promoter, the venue and all of the extra people who help with the development and success of the concert.

Types

A printed ticket can be either a paper stub or a card. The paper ticket comes in a perforated form to allow easy separation of the two parts. One part (the stub) is given back to the customer as a form of receipt or for re-admittance into the concert, while the other part is obtained by the ticket controller. Tickets are printed with a barcode or magnetic strip to hold stored data. Some even have computer chips stored in them. These additional items add to the prevention of counterfeiting.

Security

Many events or establishments are having trouble with counterfeiters printing and selling their own tickets. Very high-profile events, such as the Olympic Games and Super Bowl, are printing tickets with holograms on them to combat this.
Another form of ticket thief is the "pass back" method. This is when a ticket holder passes back the ticket to a friend after admittance is granted. To prevent this, tamper-proof wristbands are being used.
Because Ticketmaster is offering many services for people to buy tickets online, Internet ticket fraud is running rampant. One form of this is customers printing out multiple copies of a purchased ticket. Another form is websites taking money for events that they don't, or aren't authorized, to sell tickets for. These are some of the reasons venues are being extra careful when allowing admittance into concerts with tickets purchased and printed online.