Newport Folk Festival Ticket Prices Skyrocket Online
Some tickets available online are selling for more than $1,000 a piece.
Last year was a first for the Newport Folk Festival. The festival sold all of its tickets three weeks before the event.
This year, three months before the acts take the stage at Fort Adams State Park, the show is sold out of every ticket for its Saturday and Sunday shows. The only tickets still available are those for the newly added Friday show, featuring Wilco.
Festival Producer Jay Sweet called the rapid sales "a tribute to our incredible artists, partners, volunteers, local and national media, and most ultimately, our dedicated fans." But some of those fans are upset to see tickets for the festival now on sale online for hundreds more than the original price.
Originally, single day adult tickets sold for $74 in advance and $84 at the gate. Two-day passes were $135. Now, passes are cropping up on the ticket resale site StubHub.com. On the low end, you can get two weekend passes at $450 per pass. The highest asking price for a weekend pass is $1,500, a number out of reach for many folk fest hopefuls.
“I am just devastated and can't believe how these scamming online ticket dealers try to make so much $$ from real folk fans. Who can afford that price? I just want to see Patty!!!” one user commented on Patch last week after an announcement that the festival had sold out.
The 53rd Newport Folk Festival will run from July 27 – 29 at Fort Adams State Park.
What do you think? Are festival tickets worth the extra cost that some online retailers are selling them for? Or do you find this practice unfair?
Jay Sweet
2:16 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
Since we were not asked to comment on this article directly I guess we will do so here. We loathe the act of selling our tickets above face value and we have worked diligently with our ticket company to implement as many deterrents as possible to "Scalpers". Yet no matter what we do, we can not stop them all. The only way is for everyone to collectively agree to NOT buy tickets on the secondary market until the scalpers are forced to put them back on the market for their normal price. We have been actively trying to band together our fans who were shut out to wait and force the scalpers hand. It's truly the only way to stop them.
Sincerely,
Jay Sweet
Newport Folk Producer
Cara Kenefick
3:05 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
Jay, thanks for your response. We appreciate you reaching out and giving advice to those who were not able to purchase tickets at the original price.
John H Hedley
6:11 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
I find Mr. Sweet's comments a bit dubious. There were no challenge mechanisms in place for advance online purchase that rise to a level of active deterence. An easy one- lothed by the industry because it is so absolutely fool proof and is a 100% deterent to speculation- is the use of names and requirement of photo ids (children admitted with bookmatched parent's ticket). But if you're a promoter running scared in a soft, double dipping recessionary 4$-a-gallon-gasoline economy the only absolute you're interested in is a sure fire way to get a sell out so the fewest restrictions the better. Why inflate the marketing budget when you can let the lemmings create the scarcity and juice the aura of demand and exclusivity?
As for me both fests sold themselves out years ago when it they went commercial- not when they went electric (Caremark? Really?). Thankfully technology has made bootlegging easier to come by so I won't miss a thing. And as for those who think photo IDs are draconian and can't allow for flexibity or the unforseen: the only people dealing with sure things are mortuaries and cemetaries, everything else is a crap shoot.
Jay Sweet
6:35 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
John -Appreciate you taking the time to chime in, as we are definitely trying to learn the best way to solve the situation. Just to clarify, there were challenge mechanisms and reduced ticket limits. All orders were "scrubbed" before being processed, thus the lag time between purchase and processed. This netted us a few obvious secondary market buyers, but obviously not all.
We do not loathe the idea of a "paperless" ticket solution as you suggest above but two things stop us from doing this currently
1) The fans. We polled our various social networks asking them IF it were possible and available would they be interested. The fan base was overwhelmingly not interested in the idea for various reasons from love of physical tickets stubs to wanting the ability to sell their ticket to a friend if their circumstances changed etc
2) The limitations of the physical entrance gate at Fort Adams would make the wait for entry 3x longer thus severely interrupting the festival going experience. As a non-profit which is run predominantly on volunteers having to verify and validate 10,000 paperless tickets would have people in line for hours.
Also, we sold over 50% of our tickets before we announced the lineup and 75% of tickets before we spent a penny on marketing so we had no need for a marketing budget in general. I like your line about the people dealing in sure things, maybe we can add one more: As long as people buying tickets on the secondary market there will be scalpers.
pferd
9:10 am on Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Everyone stoP complaining.
Nobody ever guaranteed fairness in life. Is it not ironic when stadiums sell tickets and hot dogs for outrageous prices or if Bon jovi rips off the people or any of the other rip off artists. - NOBODY COMPLAINS.
BUT NOW BECAUSE IT IS LOCAL EVERYONE COMPLAINS.
IF YOU WANT TO GO PAT FOR IT OR BUY IT EARLIER.
I for one could not care - I have more important things to do.
People in rhode island are getting ripped off daily by their politicians and they don't do anything about it except vote the same idiots back into office.
Ken Shane
9:54 am on Tuesday, April 24, 2012
I have worked in the music business for many years, and I can tell you in all honesty that the people and practices of the Newport Folk Festival are an oasis in what has become of cesspool of unprecedented and outrageous behavior by promoters, ticket sellers and re-sellers, and artists. Watching the festival as it develops each year has restored my faith that a better way of doing things is possible.
Chris Heaton
10:30 am on Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Jay and Ken are absolutely correct. First of all, it's a tribute to the excellent booking of talent in the last few years that have lead to this sell-out attendance. Hopefully fans of the festival will consider Jay's advice and not buy from the scalpers.
Ken is accurate in his observation of the folk festival being an 'oasis' in the industry... see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/arts/music/23VIP.html
for some really stupid prices & those willing to pay them. This is what the scalpers are banking on... but hopefully there's a big difference between a Bon Jovi fan and a Folk Festival fan.
Tim Berkowitz
5:00 pm on Thursday, May 31, 2012
wow, good thing there is no such thing as a crazy folk fan, this could lead to a craigslist scalper killer... just saying
John Weisley
6:16 pm on Thursday, May 31, 2012
The Folk Festival operates at the behest of the residents of Newport, who allow the festival to take over an entire weekend during the summer. Usually, the Festival reserved tickets to be sold at vendors in town (yachting center, music stores, etc..) Where are those tickets this year? how many were reserved for brick and mortar sales?? - scalpers are lazy, they only buy tickets online. Selling them in brick and mortar stores prevents scalpers from taking over.
I'll see you guys at the Folk Fest this year, as I do every year, in my boat!
Jay Sweet
6:45 pm on Thursday, May 31, 2012
Hi John, thanks for taking the time to comment. Just to help clarify your comments. Newport Folk sold their tickets at the downtown Visitors Bureau as they have for the past few years. Also, research shows that Scalpers actually like to buy at stores because the online ticketing system has MORE preventive measures to keep scalpers from multiple purchases than a store does.
John Weisley
6:27 pm on Thursday, May 31, 2012
One more thought. 60% of the traditional Folk Fest crowd shows up in Subaru Outbacks listening to Indigo Girls wearing teva sandals. Not the crowd that's willing to pony up $1,500 for tickets. In fact the $90.00 range was about to price them out. The bigger bands in the line-up (Trampled by Turtles, Tune Yards) those bands play for free at some outside festivals, or you can get tickets for $15.00 at the Vic in Chicago. This isn't Michael Jackson back from the dead. Remember these people also have to have a place to spend the night, in Newport no less, where hotels start at $350.00/night, for a closet (not including nightly tax of $54.00 @ 18%), then you have to eat. Unless you are willing to get by on granola from Stop & Shop, you will spend at least $25.00 a person, per meal (including drinks and tip).
The total for your Newport weekend comes to $2,2026.00 for two nights stay, two tickets to the folk fest @ $450 per, including 3 meals a day for two people. Gas is extra!