Category Archives: Treating Fans Like Shit

Music, Treating Fans Like Shit

Predictions

A lot of changes have taken place in bands that we all love over the last 18 months.  Some good, some bad and some sad.

Slayer
Dave Lombardo found out online that he has officially been replaced by Paul Bostaph.  Main songwriter Jeff Hanneman sadly passed away. For the touring cycle, Hanneman has been replaced by Gary Holt from Exodus.

Prediction: Slayer will just tour from now on, playing the summer festival scene, without any new music being released.  The estate of Jeff Hanneman would fire off a legal letter to Slayer over unpaid royalties.

Stone Temple Pilots
Scott Weiland is fired and then he claims he can’t be fired from the band.  Chester Bennington from Linkin Park is in as the new singer, and on top of that there is a lawsuit, where the STP guys are alleging that Weiland has broken the terms of a band agreement, which stipulates what each member can do outside of STP.

Prediction: This will just stay in the social media pages, with pot shots thrown at each party.  STP will do the Twentieth Anniversary tour for Core, and so will Scott Weiland.  Expect another Queensryche saga.

Bon Jovi
This is all about Richie Sambora.

First he didn’t turn up to a show.  Jon Bon Jovi then grabbed Phil X to fill in for Sambora and the PR machine issued a statement saying that Sambora had to leave the tour for personal reasons.  Fans are still purchasing tickets, only to see the band without him. Sambora remained quiet for some time and now the feuding is going public, with Sambora saying that Bon Jovi is making his return “very difficult”.  Bon Jovi then mentioned that Sambora is replaceable, whereas The Edge from U2 is not. Bon Jovi further stated, that Sambora wasn’t committed enough, and that his clothing business had taken up more of his time.  Sambora tweeted that is not the case, as his clothing business has been happening for 5 years, and music is and always is his first priority.

Prediction: This will get sorted. Jon and Richie will make up, record another album and then the same thing will happen again.

Queensryche

Geoff Tate is building a resume, that includes spitting at Scott Rockenfield, telling festival crowds they suck, pulls a knife at his band members, tell’s fans to record themselves telling him how bad his new album is (he actually thinks it’s funny) and now he takes a fans cell phone and throws it away.  This guy is all class.

The lawsuit over the name is in limbo land and the Todd LaTorre fronted Queensryche are about to release their album.

Prediction: Geoff Tate will be classified insane and then he will blame all the fans again, telling them they suck.  The Todd LaTorre fronted Queensryche version will also fail.

Machine Head 

Adam Duce was fired from the band because his heart wasn’t in it anymore.  No official replacement has been announced, however on-line bassist auditions have taken place and the list was whittled down to 8.

Prediction: Robb Flynn will ensure that Adam Duce is taken care off in relation to royalties payments post his departure.

Black Sabbath 

Prediction: The Bill Ward saga is over.  The band has moved on.  Black Sabbath will sell out their shows, however the new music will be hit and miss.

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Music, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

Streetlight Manifesto vs. Victory Records – Fans Treated Like Shit Again

Q: Why do I not have my record yet? I totally want it.
A: Simple – Victory Records has refused to send us any of Streetlight’s new album. Without that – we can not send out pre-orders. Classy move. Read on for more information about your order.

The above is on the front page of Streetlight Manifesto web site.  For some reason Victory Records always ends up in the news.

It first began in August 2006, when Hawthorne Heights filed a lawsuit against Victory Records, accusing the label of creative accounting practices, unpaid royalties and for damaging the band’s reputation and relationship with their fans.

By June, 2008, Hawthorne Heights had dropped the lawsuit and by August 2008, released their third album.  I enjoyed the first two Hawthorne Heights album, however the third album was a disappointment.  By the time Skeletons was released on Wind Up Records, it was all over for Hawthorne Heights.

In 2011, A Day To Remember also filed a suit against Victory Records for unpaid royalties. Victory Records is saying that the issue isn’t about unpaid royalties, and that the real issue is the band wanting out of their 5 album contract.

So back to Victory Records and Streetlight Manifesto.  The relationship is so strained, that Streetlight Manifesto even told their fans to download their album from other free sources, to not purchase the album from any physical and online retailers and to only purchase merchandise from the band’s website.

The loser in all of this is the fan.  What Victory Records fail to realise is that fans support bands.  If bands have fan support, then Victory Records will make money as well.  No one buys music because Victory or Century Media or any other label released it.  They buy music because a BAND released it.

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Alternate Reality, Music, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

Dream Theater – Why the silence on the Live At Luna Park DVD release?

–UPDATE: The DVD will be out by Christmas.  They delays are due to sound quality issues.

The Live At Luna Park DVD/CD package from Dream Theater was announced in February 2013, with a May 2013 release date.

It was available for Pre-Order from various sellers and now it is no longer there, with some like CD Japan saying that the release has been cancelled.

May is almost over. So what is happening?

Dream Theater has a very loyal fan base, however since Mike Portnoy exited, the public relations between Dream Theater and the fans, has all been one way traffic. There is nothing of substance posted by Dream Theater or the individual band members. I love Dream Theater. I am one of those people that fan funded the limited edition run of their authorised Biography.

However the silence is deafening from the DT camp.

What is the big deal?

All the fans want to know, is the DVD coming out or not.

Instead, we get updates about a Jordan Rudess fan funding campaign, updates about certain songs becoming available on Jammit.com, a few posts about the new Dream Theater album and a few YouTube interviews.

Look over at Mike Portnoy’s blog and Facebook and he is promoting all of his projects, plus offering updates on release windows and schedules for each release. There is no B.S from Portnoy when it comes to connecting with his fans.

Come on John Petrucci, instead of updating us, that you have finished writing lyrics and are about to start on the solos, how about updating us with what is happening with the DVD release.

Is there a legal matter with Mike Portnoy holding up the release?

Is it a label decision?

The rock star these days doesn’t have the same stiff middle finger attitude to the label bosses as the rock stars of old.

Dream Theater hasn’t released anything new since A Dramatic Turn of Events.

At least when Portnoy was in the band, we always got a DVD release after each album and tour cycle, then the Ytse Jam releases would come out and then the new album would come out.

All of these projects where co-ordinated and overseen by Mike Portnoy.

Now that he has gone, we don’t have nothing. No DVD was released after the Black Clouds tour and no Ytse Jam recordings. At the moment it looks like nothing will be released after the recent tour.

Someone in the band needs to take on Mike Portnoy’s work ethic.

I wonder how Dream Theater would have sounded today, if John Petrucci left instead of Mike Portnoy back in 2010.

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Music, Treating Fans Like Shit

Why Bon Jovi will sell out?

Another lot of pre sales are up for sale today via Showbiz for the Bon Jovi 2013 “Because We Can” Australian Tour.

These VIP packages involve perks, like Exclusive Access to a Pre-show Cocktail Party, VIP Pre-show Open Bar, Pre-show Party Music Playing Your Favourite Bon Jovi Hits and More, Dedicated On-Site VIP Preshow Host, Exclusive On-Site VIP Perks, Exclusive Bon Jovi VIP Merchandise, One Exclusive Bon Jovi Merchandise Tour Item (Created Exclusively For ULTIMATE Package Purchasers), One Souvenir Bon Jovi Program, One Commemorative VIP Laminate & Matching Lanyard and a BON JOVI Music Download.

So if a fan wants to get the ULTIMATE VIP Package, which gives them one DIAMOND ticket outside the Circle Pit on the Floor, it costs $595 + Booking Fee. To get the PLATINUM package, which also gets them a PLATINUM ticket, it will cost $395 + Booking Fee and a lot let less perks. The GOLD Package is next at $335 per person + Booking Fee and it gives you a GOLD ticket and even less perks.

The most staggering part is the prices. Showbiz has been working with Bon Jovi’s management and Australian Tour promoter Dainty Group to be appointed as the exclusive Official Tour Packages Operator for the 2013 “Because We Can” Australian Tour.

The way organisations are appointed is through a tendering process. Showbiz have offered a better deal money wise, so the final call on all of this is made by Jon Bon Jovi. In this case the prices are controlled by Jon Bon Jovi. He wants a guaranteed percentage of the ticket price.

Let’s put the above into context;
Jon Bon Jovi (JBJ) is touring Australia. A promoter is interested and offers to bring him down for $120 a PREMUIM ticket (which will cover the costs for the Promoter, the venues, plus turn over a profit). Jon Bon Jovi then tells the promoter they want the whole ticket price as a guarantee. So in order for the Promoter to cover the cost of the tour and make a profit the ticket price is now $240. The split is $120 JBJ and $120 Promoter.

JBJ and the Promoter then contract out the ticket selling to different organisations, either for a guaranteed one of fee or a percentage of the ticket price again. Let’s say that JBJ then wants a 25% cut of the ticket price at this time. This will then make the ticket $300 for the Public Sale. Let’s say that a $10 booking fee is added on top of that by the Ticketing company so that they can make money on it as well. Final price of a ticket is $310.

The split is now $180 Bon Jovi, Promoter $120 and Ticketing Seller $10.

So when you see Bon Jovi tickets going on sale for astronomical prices, don’t blame anyone else except the artist.

From the beginning, the Bon Jovi Because We Can Tour had the following pre-sales;
– May 2, 2013 – Backstage JBJ Fan Club Pre Sales. To purchase, you had to pay to be a Fan Club member. The smallest fan club membership amount is $60 for one year.
– EBAY tickets went on sale. The word on the street is that Bon Jovi scalped their own tickets on this one or Bon Jovi fan club members are also scalpers or ticket resellers.
– May 9, 2013 – Showbiz CIRCLE PIT Pre Sales. These tickets ranged from $995 to $1,995.
– More EBAY tickets went on sale.
– May 13, 2013 – Telstra/Bang Tango Pre Sales. This was a debacle. The Bang Tango website crashed within 1 minute. This is a lesson on how fans should NOT be treated?
– Further EBAY tickets went on sale.
– May 15, 2013 –Showbiz VIP Pre Sales went on sale on the 15 May 2013 at 9am.

There is another Pre Sale to go via Showbiz for Premium tickets and then the Public Release is scheduled for May 20, 2013. Why even bother with a Public Release? Do fans really expect to get reasonable seats when such a small percentage of tickets are available in the public release, when you have all the tickets committed to all the different pre-sales, as well as Jon Bon Jovi scalping his own tickets.

Why We Can’t Get Tickets

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Copyright, Music, Piracy, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

Queensryche – Operation Mindcrime

A telephone rings twice.   Nikki walks over to the phone and picks it up.
“Hello,” answers Nikki.
“Mindcrime, Mindcrime,” is the reply from the other end.
The music behind it sounds sinister.  In a panic, Nikki hangs up.  He is disorientated.  The words are strange and yet familiar.  His hands are shaking.  The phone rings again.  Don’t pick it up he tells himself.  Don’t do it.  What he is thinking and what he is doing are two different things.  They are out of sync.  He picks up the phone…

I added the above, in an attempt to describe how Operation Mindcrime (the song) begins.  It is a song written by Chris DeGarmo, Geoff Tate and Michael Wilton.  To be fair to Wilton, he has had his share in co-writing some Queensryche classics (Empire is one song that comes to mind immediately), however compared to the quality output of DeGarmo, it pales. 

In order to explain where Operation Mindcrime (the song) fits into the story arc, I need to back track a little bit.  Nikki, is a heroin addict who is manipulated into joining an underground organization dedicated to revolution (this is the Revolution Calling song).  At the head of this organization is Dr. X, a man who manipulated Nikki by feeding his heroin addiction, while at the same time brainwashing him in the process.  Whenever Dr. X says the word “Mindcrime” Nikki becomes his servant, his puppet, a catatonic mental state which Dr. X uses to his advantage, by commanding Nikki to undertake any murder that the Doctor wishes.

It just takes a minute
And you’ll feel no pain
Gotta make something of your life boy
Give me one more vein
You’ve come to see the doctor
Cause I’ll show you the cure
I’m gonna take away the questions
Yeah I’m gonna make you sure

A hit man for the order
When you couldn’t go to school
Had a skin job for a hair-do
Yeah you looked pretty cool
Had a habit doing mainline
Watch the dragon burn
No regrets, you’ve got no goals
Nothing more to learn

Story telling in music.  This song came out in 1988.  How relevant does it sound today.  Just think of all the current Islamic terrorists.  They are normal kids, from poor backgrounds, that are all looking for a place where they can belong.  They are perfect prey for the religious demi gods looking to turn them into weapons, to turn them into puppets and servants, so that they carry out their bidding. 

Here’s a gun take it home
Wait by the phone
We’ll send someone over
To bring you what you need
You’re a one man death machine
Make this city bleed

How many cities have bled from the actions of a few individuals.  Operation Mindcrime deals with death by assassination, in real life, death by terror is what we are confronted with. 

As much as Operation Mindcrime is a story, you can go as far as to call it a prophecy.  A vision of a future where the democratic governments, become far from democratic.  Where our Government elected officials serve the Corporations, instead of the people that voted them in.  The lyrics in Speak state the same, “the rich control the government, the media the law”. 

These days, people do more jail time and pay more fines for Copyright infringements, then people smugglers, then drug smugglers, then murderers and rapists do.   How can that be so?  The answer is easy.  Copyright is controlled by the Corporations, and who do the Corporations control, the Government.  The Government even granted the Corporations a Government granted monopoly. 

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Music, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

Jon Bon Jovi – The power is in his hands to change the way his fans buy tickets

Bon Jovi – Because We Can Telstra pre sales went on sale on Monday, 13 May, 2013 at 9am.  By 9.01am, the Bang Tango site crashed. Within an hour, Telstra and Bang Tango both posted an update. It was the clichéd “due to high demand or high volumes, you may experience delays in accessing this website”.

It wasn’t until 6.35pm that the Bon Jovi Facebook page posted an update;

Thank you to all the fans who have taken part in the Telstra Australian Pre-Sale so far! Due to the massive amount of traffic the BangTango Pre-Sale site was temporarily down but is now back up and running! Thank you for your patience. Get your Pre-Sale tickets now: http://bit.ly/13cryk3.

I can’t believe that in this day and age, Bon Jovi is using the “massive amount of traffic” phrase.  Seriously, what did they expect, a couple of hundred people to go online.  This is Bon Jovi we are talking about, the same band that released a box set called 100,000,000 Fans Cant Be Wrong.

Back in 2010, they played multiple stadium shows in Australia in each city and each show was sold out, so of course they would expect a “massive amount of traffic” this time around.

Furthermore, the Backstage JBJ fan club didn’t have any issue coping with the heavy amount of traffic, where fans coughed up a further $60 to join, just to spend more money on tickets.  Then there is the stupid limitations that Bon Jovi places.  A fan can only purchase 2 tickets.

How does that work for me, if I want to take my wife and my three kids to the concert?  From reading all the comments on the various Facebook pages, other fans are also in the same boat.

The mainstream press refuse to do any reporting on this.

Jon Bon Jovi has the power to change the way the ticketing is handled.  One thing I have noticed from today’s artists is that they always blame someone else.  They very rarely take responsibility for their actions.  Jon has Kid Rock opening up for him on the Australian tour.  What Jon should do is take a lesson from Kid Rock on transparency and responsibility.  

Kid Rock’s summer tour of the U.S. is all $20.  As he mentions, the artist has the power to change the ticket prices, the price of T-shirts and so on.  He also mentions that they he will be reselling some of his tickets or go paperless where it is legal in the U.S to do so, so that he can combat scalpers.  Furthermore, Kid Rock, has a special reserved section close to the stage, for his people to find audience members and put them there. Click on the Rolling Stone article. 

Another big call from Kid Rock was that he didn’t want a guaranteed fee.  He backed himself, that he was going to sell tickets.  That is exactly what he did.  Compared to his 2011 box office returns it is looking like he will double that in 2013.

Kid Rock is scaling back, however Jon Bon Jovi is not.

Will Jon Bon Jovi, ever do the same as Kid Rock?  Based on him partnering up with Telstra/Bang Tango, because they paid the most to secure the pre sales slot, my answer is NO.

GREED is what the great divide in income inequality has brought.  Jon Bon Jovi is pissed that sales of recorded music have dropped so on each tour he is raising the ticket prices.  Eventually, he will be doing business like the Rolling Stones current tour, where the public was giving the Stones a big stiff middle finger at the $650 price tag, and then a day before the gig, the prices dropped to $80 and everyone snapped them up.

Ticketek get their chance to shine on May 20.  They know that they will be hammered with fans trying to get tickets.  They are prepared for it, they have partnered up with innovative technologies.  Read the article. 

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Music, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

Bon Jovi – Who Is To Blame Because We Can(t) purchase tickets?

This morning, at 9am, the Bon Jovi – Because We Can Telstra pre sales for the December 2013 Australian tour went on sale via ticketing website, Bang Tango. By 9.01am, the site crashed. Within an hour, Telstra and Bang Tango both posted an update. It was the clichéd “due to high demand or high volumes, you may experience delays in accessing this website”.

Fans went into a panic and then they became angry. The Bon Jovi Facebook page had thousands of comments about the disaster. Telstra’s page experienced the same rage, along with the Bang Tango Facebook page. Fans also vented their anger on Twitter.

A lot of the blame is directed at Telstra and Bang Tango. Both of these organisations have a lot to answer too, however the main blame stops with Jon Bon Jovi and his management team. They are the ones that signed these arrangements due to the monies offered to them.

What fans seem to forget is that Bon Jovi is guaranteed an upfront fee from the promoter for coming to Australia, regardless of ticket sales.

They (Bon Jovi and the promoter) then license out the sales of their tickets to different ticketing bodies within Australia, based on what those ticketing systems want to pay for having the privilege to sell Bon Jovi tickets. In most cases, Ticketek or Ticketmaster are the players, however in this instance, there was another player in Telstra/Bang Tango. The actual winner in all of this is Ticketek, as it seems to cement their reputation as the best seller for these kind of events. Bon Jovi then licenses out the manufacturing and sales of their merchandise to another organisation, and that is why we, the fans are slugged with the high prices we see. $50 for a T-shirt, $300 a concert ticket and so on.

Furthermore, from looking at all the comments, I started to see a trend. Fed up and frustrated fans then started taking out the $60 online Backstage JBJ fan club membership, just so that they can purchase tickets. Was this the intention of Jon Bon Jovi all along, to get people over to his fan club. As a Bon Jovi fan, I don’t believe that is so, however it makes you wonder. Throughout the whole debacle, the Backstage JBJ website was up and running and selling tickets, while Bang Tango was bleeding. However, being a Backstage JBJ member only limits you to two tickets, so if you need four or three, you are screwed.

Then within the hour, EBAY had tickets on sale for the Bon Jovi Australian concerts at a $1,000 each. Can someone please explain how fans got the middle finger, and scalpers or resellers got tickets to sell.

My view is that NO FAN should have to pay to join a website to purchase tickets. The purchase of the TICKETS is enough of a transaction to satisfy the band. Jon Bon Jovi is all about greed these days, and he should be ashamed for the way he disrespect his fans; the same fans that have allowed him to live a life of luxury through their devotion to his band and music.

Here are some more comments from the Bang Tango Facebook page (I actually feel very SORRY for the band Bang Tango);

· Trying to pay for mine and all it says processing your payment it has been on there for awhile

· I finally was able to purchase some tickets, we decided on a package (yippee) … my question is, during processing payment it said that my transaction had timed out and to try again – but first I checked online with my bank and the money had already gone out of my account … so do I have tickets or not? Will we be sent confirmation emails?

· What a joke you are. After sitting here for almost 3 hours refreshing my screen I then get through to find out that I have to sign up for an account (will look great for your numbers hey) only to progress to the screen where I select the tickets I want, wait 5 minutes for it to ‘reserve’ my tickets to get a message that says: sorry but computer says no: 0-…On a screen full of automated selections where I can’t input anything. What the hell is going on? Are you a real company that deals with this daily? And how the hell did YOU get the presale for Bon Jovi with this stupid set up? Annoyed much? Yeah to say the least. Are there any tickets left for the Adelaide show?

· I’m not bothering now, finally got on, and couldn’t get the tickets I wanted as I’m guessing they are nearly all gone, what a joke, nasty email sent to Telstra and I’m going to give my money to Ticketmaster, at least they are professional, I can’t believe you guys want to charge a $15 booking fee for this stuff up – RIPPED OFF, I have completely wasted my day, thanks guys Not!!!!!!!

· What a joke. Finally get through and could only buy 1 ticket! Was taking my daughter. What use is 1 ticket!

· How many tickets to Melbourne do they allocate to the pre-sale ? Whole lot of marketing and a whole lot of disgruntled fans. Great PR exercise Bang Tango !! I may not see Bon Jovi – “Because I Can’t ” book any tickets for Melbourne via Bang Tango.

· If you’re only after 2 tickets max, save yourself the hassle and get JBJ membership, then get tickets there. You end up paying a little more but at least the tickets are in the bag and you don’t have to put up with this shambles. Someone mentioned re the extra costs on members tickets too… It’s pre-sale, obviously there is a little on top. Wait till the lottery of general public sales is the other option.

· can’t get tickets but they can sell them on eBay for $1000 what a joke

· I can’t even get allocated 1 ticket, not that 1 ticket is any good to the group of people wanting to attend. Very bad organisation. Never EVER had a pre-sale hiccup, and I go to at least 2 concerts a year.

· hi, I still haven’t received my confirmation email…but my order is listed under my account….is there a problem with this???

· Been a fan since 85, the page finally loads and now can’t buy tickets wtf ?????????? I’m so angry!

· I want diamond section tickets to Brisbane but it keeps telling me that my code has been used too many times unless I choose the platinum ones!! I don’t want platinum ones I want the diamond ones!!!

· Accidentally only got 1 ticket through not being able to review purchase before preceding

· Might of taken all day and retry again that many times not fun but finally got tickets. Yeahhhhh

· BIG THUMBS DOWN!!

· I can’t understand how all tix are gone !! When no one could get through . I did get tix but took like 3 hrs. and didn’t get to see where I am sitting .

· Kira – I had the same problem and called Telstra who said to get another code by calling #820# on your mobile. (In the end I got tickets with my original code as but it might be worth trying)

· If you are after the bronze tickets you can only get 2 but if you try the others like silver the max is up to 10

· Frustrated!! Trying to get Adelaide tickets and can’t!!! One minute u can’t even get on the website and next they are sold out!! Not happy!!

· Just wasted more time trying to get tickets. Can only afford silver but looks like none are available. What is the point of a pre-sale if it is friggin harder to get tickets then when they go on sale to the general public.

· I got tickets. Wasn’t sure.. it crashed doing payment, but money has gone through credit card and it is listed in order details (Gold Sydney). This was probably 40 mins ago. Pretty sucky seats for a gold price, but the sound should be great!!

· What’s the go why won’t it process payment : ( disappointed

· My Mum selected 2 tickets and has only been sold 1- what use is that? What is the process for fixing all these single ticket transactions that seem to have occurred?

And from the Bon Jovi Facebook Page;

· And Telstra is supposed to be the best communications company in the country, What a JOKE!!!!

· Bang tango fb saying trying to fix it

· Bang Tango you suck!!!!

· This is so depressing. Has anyone even got tickets through bang tango? My computer got through to the tickets but still loading. Been a whole hour. Too scared to refresh

· waiting for an hour now…this sucks….absolute joke!

· Well of course they charge you to become a member that’s the point. There are many perks to being a member advance ticket sales being one

· I can barely afford the tickets little own membership broke full time uni student once I have money then I will become a member

· Well done Telstra, you did it again.

· Good to know I’m not the only one who couldn’t get on this morning as the server had crashed. NOT HAPPY JAN!!!

· I feel like such a failure, my poor friends putting their faith in me!!

· Yeah…. Got my tickets for Melb and Adelaide show through the JBJ fan club page! Amazing diamond seats!! Bring it on I’m so excited!!

· Ended up paying for JBJ membership to get my tickets, but got AMAZING seats so it was worth the extra $50!! If you have the spare cash just pay to join and get your tickets straight away!

· I need 3 tix so membership won’t help

· Another fine association Telstra… well done great when an ISP can’t offer better server capacity…

· Bang Tango website useless waste of two hours no tickets. Joke, get it sorted.

· They should have had different presale dates for each gig not all at once

· Wish it was presale through ticketek

· has anyone got tickets though bang tango? I have been trying to get them since 8:30am when the site crashed , starting to wonder if this stress is worth it

· Why can’t Bon Jovi, Telstra, bang tango or dainty group post some sort of announcement/apology so we can all get on with our lives?? This is f’ing ridiculous!!

· Been trying since 9.00 am also, don’t promote what can’t be provided! Poor service, just saying

· Yeah I tried to log on 11.09 and nothing… Typical Telstra.

· This is just a joke….l am stuck on the tickets screen…..has to be a better way to get tickets. Sorry but this is not good enough

· This is a joke, all I want is 2 tickets !!! , there better be some left

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Music, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

Bon Jovi Telstra PreSales Meltdown – Australian Tour

It’s a meltdown of incompetence. Bon Jovi pre-sales went on sale today via Telstra and Bang Tango, the new player to rival Ticketek. Guess what, it is an epic fail. It’s as bad as John Carter. This is what happens when greed comes into the picture. The fans get treated like dirt.

Jon Bon Jovi is safe and tucked away in his ivory tower, certain that he will be getting his guaranteed fee for touring Australia. How the tickets are sold to his fans, doesn’t concern him at the least. So if you are a fan of Bon Jovi and you want to get tickets and if you paid monies to be a Backstage JBJ member, you had first dibs. Then Showbiz was next, selling VIP packages from a thousand plus bucks. Now it is Telstra’s turn to sell the next lot of pre sales. What a disaster? Facebook and Twitter is melting down with anger. Check out the comments below from Facebook.

· Typical Telstra and their fantastic service

· Keeps saying bad request – how funny! The biggest communications company in Australia and they can’t even get that right! Ha ha ha!

· Typical Telstra lets u down

· Well done Telstra, and Bang tango, web site crash 2 min in!!!

· Thanks Telstra you’re a freakin joke! You got everyone to register and can’t get the server to handle the traffic… You’re a joke. Absolute disgrace. I call for a waving of the proposed $15 fee for using your service. Thanks Telstra for wasting my time.

· Would love to get my tickets but the site has majorly crashed and apparently something has gone majorly wrong. Good on you Telstra. Artist should always stick with ticketek

· absolute joke bang tango…..could of told us we’d need an account with you before the morning. Thought I’d only need my Telstra stuff…no wonder it’s not coping. been waiting since I got on at 9am this morning.

· only getting a white screen via Telstra/Bang tango – frustrating

· Bon Jovi PLEASE take notice of these comments and allow us all to be able to buy tickets from a reliable ticket provider. ticketek in Australia is probably the best and although it is hard to get onto for peak ticket sales it doesn’t usually crash as it restricts the amount of people that can log in at once to avoid the site crashing. that would be a whole lot better than the site we have to get tickets from that crashed and still won’t load over 1.5 hours later

· I was on before the sale went on watched the countdown.. expected the buy button to load… and nothing. Beyond a joke. Had to reload and nothing now. Sometimes I get the page … then can’t do anything. Silly presale. Did they not realise the overload.

· Telstra you SUCK! The servers crashed and no one can get on

· I’ve got a code… 1 laptop 1 iPad and 1 iPhone and it says ” we are signing you up” please wait… Yep been waiting 18 mins already

· Telstra you are a joke how can you expect to compete for our business when you can’t even handle a large amount of people logging into the system.

· Sorry JBJ, poor choice pairing with Telstra Bang Tango. Massive pre-sale fail when you get your code early, but can’t register with the site til the sale starts; then server crashes.

· Why on earth run a pre-sale if your website can’t cope with the number of people who will be trying to purchase tickets!! This is crazy, an absolute joke and disappointment. I can’t get to the ticketing part and that’s it. Telstra… Will you be giving freebies away to all is fans who relied on your pre-sale and haven’t succeeded??

· You would think they could do each state on different days so at least all of Aus isn’t trying to get on at the same time!

· Extremely disappointed and annoyed! Pre-sale Telstra tickets for valued Telstra customers??? I’m not feeling valued at all after taking the morning off work to purchase 2 great tickets for the Adelaide concert and not being able to even log onto the page. Waited so long for you guys to come back to Adelaide too. Very disappointed

· TYPICAL TELSTRA! Couldn’t organise a thing! Site in meltdown since 9.00am! So annoyed!

· No use promoting this pre-sales. Thousands of people in Australia have not been able to access. Been trying for last hour when the pre-sale opened. Nothing. All from our biggest IT Internet provider in the country

· BANG TANGO and TELSTRA You SUCK!!! I don’t even know why I bothered. ALWAYS stick to the trustworthy companies like TICKETEK! Telstra can’t even handle phone and Internet. Should of known they wouldn’t be able to handle something big like this! SEE YOU MONDAY TICKETEK!

· Technology is a joke! Back to the old line up days I say ; )

· Maybe each state should have had a different day or time to log in!

· This is a joke. Surely you would be aware that Bon Jovi has a HUGE fan base here in Aus, and you would have been prepared for a massive amount of activity on your website. To be promoted by a telecommunications company and STILL not be able to handle the volume is shameful. SHAME TELSTRA, SHAME!!!!

· ok, so here’s the thing. I don’t know why I’m bothering. Etihad SUX, Telstra SUX, Bang Tango SUX, prices SUCK, no seating plan SUX, extra charges SUCK!!!

· typical internet ticketing site crash. Should go back to the old school over the counter style.

· I HATE YOU TICKET SITE, my daughter is late for school, my soon has missed his swimming lesson, I am about to have a heart failure and I’ve just thrown my phone at the wall. All for nothing. Why isn’t it loading, I hit the button on for different computers/phone at 9 am on the dot. I deserve these tickets!!! As do everyone else…

· And Bon Jovi you should tell your marketing mob to do more research next time and not partner with the likes of Telstra in future.

· Bang tango website sux

· yeah Telstra a great way of saying thanks by charging an extra $15 per ticket booking fee NO THANKS!!

· STUPID website crashed as soon as ticket sale opened!!!!!!!

· 13 mins trying on pc and phone, won’t even open the page!

· This is pathetic ….. Been trying to log on for over 20 minutes – why was Telstra not prepared for this ???? So annoying

· Seriously Telstra I re arranged my whole morning to get tickets. Not happy

· better off standing in line, at least then when you get frustrated you can punch some wanker in the head!!!

· The only ethical thing they can do is cancel the pre-sale until tomorrow.

· … tried both mobile and computer, nothing. If your site can’t handle heavy traffic, don’t advertise lies! We got left in the rain with nothing! Been trying to refresh browser and on mobile phone to bang tango for half an hr. now! That’s very bad PR!

· there was no problems when it was done with VISA presale through ticketek 4 years ago. why change. U SUX Telstra/Bang tango!

· So heart broken, my girlfriend is a die-hard fan I MEAN HUUUGE FAN she runs a small business & has 2 kids all I wanted was to surprise her, she works so hard & Telstra’s fail means I can’t do something simple like jump online to buy a ticket, even their instructions were pathetic. so disappointed

· I’ve now got the bang tango page to load but it still won’t let you get into the ticket section

· They should provide discount tickets due to the shocking delays!

· Good luck to everyone, I hope your able to secure tickets. The VIP backstage tickets sold out super-fast too. rumour has it Telstra website has the mapping .

· Still no seating plan available. I’d like to know what my money gets me.

· Terrible and didn’t load, jumped on to Bon jovi backstage and got great seats in no time!

· This ain’t no Bed of Roses grrrrrrr!!!

· Any official word on what they are going to do? Surely they can stop, fix and give us a new time – they can’t expect us to sit here and wait

· This is the biggest failure I have ever seen Bon Jovi Just leave it up to the professionals Ticketek in future

· Still having problems, had 3 devices going (phone, iPad, lap top) 10 mins prior to sale, and none could connect… Bang tango was a blank screen the whole time!

· Yup still crashed bang tango is saying on fb they r trying to fix it, it’s almost 10 here in brissy and I’ve been on since it started at 9 not loading

· You shouldn’t have to pay to join the fab club and purchase tickets!! Especially when they r the price they r!!

· Bang tango site fail, not impressed

· Bang tango I hate you!!!! I might just cry! It’s crashed!!!?

· just got 2 tickets thru bj backstage, but u need to be a member ($60) and get charged a conversion fee of $16 each ticket, and can only get 2 tickets. I got Sydney section 110-1, not great but OK. I hope you all get tickets soon guys. SEE YOU THERE

Even though I had my code, I didn’t even attempt to go on and purchase tickets. I understand the frustrations fans are feeling at this point in time. This is where Jon Bon Jovi should be stepping up and offering a solution. All of the above posts are from Bon Jovi’s Facebook page, without a single comment from Bon Jovi or the Facebook admin. It’s ridiculous.

Also here are the prices. Cheap tickets is what the media outlets report. I say yeah right. There is nothing cheap about this Bon Jovi experience. It’s a farce. The media doesn’t report with any integrity anymore. The cheapest tickets are $35 from Ticketek and $32 from Telstra Pre Sales, to sit on top of the stadium roof, with your view hindered. Then they have a limit of two Bronze tickets, so if you want to take a family of 4 or 5 you are stuck. Nice one.

Brisbane / Sydney*
Gold Reserve $155.00
Silver Reserve $99.00
Bronze Reserve $35.00
Platinum Reserve $199.00
Diamond Reserve $250.00
GA Standing – Rear Field $125.00 (Sydney Only)

Perth*
Gold Reserve $199.00
Silver Reserve $129.00
Bronze Reserve $35.00
Platinum Reserve $249.00
Diamond Reserve $299.00

Ticket limit: Bronze Reserved limited to 2 per transaction
*A one-off service/delivery fee from $5.85 per transaction applies. A credit/debit card processing fee from 1.95% will apply. Ticket orders are subject to credit/debit card approval and customer account verification.

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Music, Treating Fans Like Shit

Bon Jovi – The price of tickets for the Australian tour

Bon Jovi announced in April that they are touring Australia in December 2013. Backstage Jon Bon Jovi members, which is the Bon Jovi fan club had the first bite at securing tickets. It isn’t free to become a Backstage JBJ member.

To become a premium Backstage JBJ member for 2 years, it costs $300. To take out a Signature package for 1 year, it costs $160. To take out a Standard package for 1 year, it costs $80 a year and to take out an online membership package for 1 year, it costs $60. Of course, each package has different perks.

So if you are a Bon Jovi fan club member, you had first dibs at purchasing tickets. We will call this the pre (pre (pre(presales))).

If a Bon Jovi fan wanted to sit in Row 1 and purchase a Diamond VIP package, the price of one ticket is $1975 + $10 booking fee.
If a Bon Jovi fan wanted to sit in Rows 2 to 5 and purchase an Emerald VIP package, the price of one ticket is $1475 + $10 booking fee.
If a Bon Jovi fan wanted to sit in Rows 6 to 13 and purchase a Sapphire VIP package, the price of one ticket is $975 + $10 booking fee.

So it looks like the Bon Jovi fan club members didn’t want to purchase the VIP tickets, and they came up on sale via Showbiz which is a pre-sales seller.

For the Sydney show, the Diamond VIP tickets have been sold out, and the Sapphire VIP tickets have been sold out as well. The Emerald VIP tickets remained when I last checked. The other shows, still had all three VIP options available. I am sure that they will sell out eventually, as a fans devotion can yield unexpected results.

The next stage of the sales, is the Telstra pre-sales. The next stage is the Ticketek VISA pre-sales, then the final pre-sales and finally the public release. What a collusive, exploitive and unregulated process.

However, I still believe that what Jon Bon Jovi is doing is plain greedy. If he lowers the entry barrier to his fan club, he will get more people to join. It’s simply economics. Do you want 100,000 fans joining at the higher prices, or do you want 10,000,000 fans joining at the lower prices.

Let’s just say that 100,000 fans take out the $300 option for two years, that is $30MIL paid into his pocket right now and that covers a two year period.

If he lowers the price to $10 a year and have a lot of perks for that like concert recordings, sound check recordings and demos to entice people to join, he will get millions to join. So let’s say that 10 million fans join at $10 a year. This will bring in $100MIL per year. $10 is small change in a fans pocket. More people will part with it. This isn’t just for Bon Jovi to do, all the bands need to be doing this. Building fan to band connections isn’t just for social media. The first port of call is the fan club.

I know what I would want as a muso. It’s all about building connections. That is the new currency.

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Music, Treating Fans Like Shit

Queensryche is nothing without Chris DeGarmo.

I really, really, really liked this band.  Note the emphasis on the three really’s.  They started off as a normal metal band, with a singer in Geoff Tate that had a unique voice for the metal genre.  The musical style of the band evolved much the same way my musical tastes evolved during the Eighties, so it was perfect.

I have been forming an opinion on Queensryche, since Chris DeGarmo left in January 1998, after the 1997 Hear In The Now Frontier album.

After listening to what Geoff Tate has released recently with his Kings and Queens solo album and his F.U Queensryche offering, and also listening to the new song Redemption that the Queensryche/Todd LaTorre fronted version released, I can say without a doubt, that the star in Queensryche was Chris DeGarmo.

To be honest, I purchased all the Queensryche releases up to American Soldier.  That is what fans did once upon a time, and none of the new stuff stacks up.  The songs are forgettable and the music even more so.  I thought that Operation Mindcrime II would be a savior, however that failed to get my attention as well.  Who knew at the time that it came out, that session musicians played on it.

For those that don’t know the story so far, Geoff Tate was fired from Queensryche.  He countered that firing by saying that he is Queensryche, so how can they fire him from the band that he lived and breathed.

Stories continued to come out, about violent punch ups before a South American show, involving Geoff Tate vs the rest of the band members, about how the band members haven’t even played on any of the newer Queensryche releases even though they are credited and so on.  Just go to Loudwire, search for Queensryche and you will be filled in.

They have filed injunctions against each other and I am pretty sure if they could throw each other under a bus, they would.  This is one of those bad blood split ups, more controversial than Vince Neil’s ousting from Motley Crue or David Lee Roth’s ousting from Van Halen.

I saw Queensryche at the Metro Theater in Sydney back in 2009, August 31.  The band at the time was the original four, with Tate’s son in law Parker Lundgren on guitars.  What can I say, they killed it.  The Metro is a small venue, it was sold out.  1,200 people paid $90 to watch them.

They did songs from Rage For Order, Empire and American Soldier.  That was cool, because they promoted the shows that way as well, so people knew what they were paying for.   The American Soldier songs became toilet breaks.

Keeping bands together is a tough gig in itself.  Don Henley said that it was a horrible relief when the Eagles broke up.  That more or less sums it up.  On one hand, the break up feels like shit, you are sad and you are on the angry, but on the other hand, you are relieved its over, you are free, you can start over again.

What is pathetic in all of this, is that the fans are being treated like shit.  Both bands do not deserve the name of Queensryche.  They should have taken a new name, however both versions know, that they need the Queensryche name to sell themselves.

One thing is clear in my mind, Queensryche will always be Chris DeGarmo for me.

It looks even that is not working.   F.U debuted at #74, with 5,500 units sold, last week.  Week 2 saw it at #173 with 2,275 sold.  By week 3 it will be gone.  So expect Tate to start spitting out some controversial comments, so that he can get free press come his way.

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