The internet makes it much easier to secure tickets to your favorite concerts; however, the internet also hinders your chances of taking home a ticket to your favorite artist. The stress, internet connection, overwhelming nature of the websites, and so many more things are against you.
With these helpful tips, you’ll increase your chances of securing tickets to your favorite musical acts and not sitting at home alone with your cat.
1. Join Mailing Lists
It’s a great idea to join mailing lists for all your favorite artists. Mailing list recipients often receive emails with tour information before the general announcement, pre-sale links and codes, or even sometimes mailing-list-exclusive tickets. In 2017, rock band Foo Fighters used their mailing list to invite 100 local fans to an exclusive show in a tiny British town with only a few days’ notice.
You can also join mailing lists for venues or ticket distributors. While less exclusive information comes from them, they could decide to send exclusive tickets, pre-sales, or other goodies for you.
Imageby Luuk Wouters via Unsplash. No attribution required.
Speaking of receiving pre-sales in mailing list emails, there are other ways to get pre-sale access. You should always try to take advantage of pre-sales if you really want to secure concert tickets.
Some tours make it compulsory to join a pre-sale before accessing the real ticket sale. Taylor Swift’s European leg of her world tour had a pre-sale registration requirement for anyone looking to buy tickets. If you weren’t on the pre-sale list, you couldn’t buy tickets when they went on sale.
3. Create an Account
To buy tickets online, you almost always need an account on the ticket website. If you’re rushing to buy tickets, you won’t want to be wasting time creating an account at the time tickets go on sale.
Create a free account for all major ticket sites in advance. Having an account will save time even on websites that allow you to check out as a guest—although those are becoming less common.
Somesmaller musicians may host virtual concerts. You’ll still need an account to watch these, but tickets will be easier to come by.
4. Know your Login Details
Keep your login details somewhere safe. Before the tickets go on sale, log in to the website to ensure your credentials are correct. If you need to reset your password, now is the time to sort that out.
If you have multiple email addresses attached to one website, ensure you know which account you’re planning to use, and which password works with which email address. Be as prepared as you may, so you can log in smoothly to buy your tickets on the day.
5. Have a Plan
Imageby Dylan Mullins via Unsplash. No attribution required.
Buying tickets online isn’t always a walk in the park. You should plan for how much time you’re willing to spend buying tickets. As well as time, consider how much money you’re willing to part with and what type of ticket you’re intending to buy.
Sites like Ticketmaster use dynamic pricing, which increases the ticket price based on demand for the venue. What is listed as a $49 ticket may end up being close to $500 by the time you make it to the end of the queue to purchase.
Have a contingency plan in place if you’re determined to buy tickets. If your closest venue is sold out, but farther venues still have tickets, plan if you’re comfortable traveling to see the artist. You canplan an itinerary in another cityand make a trip to the tour dates farther afield.
It can be stressful and dangerous to your wallet if you don’t set a plan before tickets go on sale. Don’t put yourself into debt just to see Taylor Swift or Beyoncé.
6. Sign In Early
Most ticket sales go on sale around 10am or 11am in the local time zone of the venue. No matter the time the tickets become available, you should sign in earlier.
Typically, ten minutes before is early enough. But occasionally glitches in the system mean tickets accidentally become available before the listed time—being early means you may benefit from glitches and snag tickets before others can get them.
Signing in early also ensures your account works, and you know you’re in the right place before the buying panic begins.
7. Only Use One Device
Use one device and one tab for one ticket booking. If you use multiple devices or multiple tabs for one venue’s booking page, your IP address will confuse the system and your queue place may keep glitching and throwing you to the back of the line.
8. Use More Than One Retailer
Often, large music tours are monopolized by one ticket seller; however, If possible, you may use one tab or device per retailer without it affecting your place in the line.
For example, from your phone you may have the Ticketmaster website up and from your laptop you could use Viagogo. By using separate devices means you won’t miss any quick moving information when changing screens.
9. Do Not Refresh
If you’re waiting for the ticket sales to open, say from 10:59am to 11:00am or 11:01am, you can and should refresh your page. But after you’ve joined the queue, refreshing the page is not recommended.
Refreshing once you’re in the queue will likely send you to the back of the line, and you won’t be held in the place you’ve been painstakingly waiting. It might be frustrating to watch the screen do nothing, but it’s better if you want to keep your place in line. Patience is a virtue, after all.
10. Team Up with Friends
Imageby Anthony DELANOIX via Unsplash. No attribution required.
Most ticket sales allow for a maximum of four or eight tickets per transaction. Given how difficult it can be to buy tickets online, it is advisable to group up with your friends to purchase a group of tickets. Use multiple people, devices, and efforts to your collective advantage.
Your plan of attack could be that you each try to get four tickets for the same date, and then pay each other back once someone purchases them first.
Or, for example, if you’re aiming for more than one tour date, friend A can focus their attention on the first tour date and friend B can focus their attention on the second date, while you focus your attention on the third.
