Ticket Alternative Welcomes Criminal Records Back As An Atlanta Outlet!

We’re very happy to welcome back Criminal Records as a Ticket Alternative outlet! They had a brief time away as they moved the store to its huge, amazing new location (still in Little Five Points, 1154-A Euclid Avenue), and now they are back selling tickets for Ticket Alternative again, joining the crew of Decatur CD, Fantasyland Records and lots of CD Warehouses around and near Atlanta, Ga. Welcome back!

Billboard picks up the Washington Post story about Ticket Alternative’s low fees

Billboard has picked up The Washington Post story we reported earlier comparing our fee’s to other ticketing companies.

Here’s their piece:

– The Washington Post has broken down the service fees of tickets for shows at ten DC-area venues (see the chart here) and comes to the incredible conclusion that “venues aren’t likely to get rid of service charges any time soon.” As is often the case, the article is an example of the irrational mindset of the ticket buyer. When the Post puts forward the question, “Why am I being charged $23.75 for a $15 concert ticket,” it reflects a common misunderstanding. The real price is $23.75, not $15. The face value is only the beginning of the final price that will be paid. If consumers prefer a single, all-in ticket price, they will pay a higher price but will blind be to the amount of service fees being tacked on. Maybe that ignorance would be a good thing. Either way, they’re paying those service fees. Side note: if you look at the prices and fees on the chart, you’ll see that Ticketmaster’s fees don’t fare too poorly to some of its competitors. Ticketfly events in the sample have an extra $8 to $11 of fees while Ticketmaster fees range from $9.60 to $17.50. As a percent of face value, Ticketmaster’s service fees are quite average. Ticket Alternative, which counts the Black Cat and Rock & Roll Hotel as its clients, charges $3 or less per ticket, the lowest in the sample. (Washington Post)

The Washington Post compares ticket fees & Ticket Alternative comes out on top!

On Sunday May 9th The Washington Post ran an article comparing ticket fees between different venues in the DC area. Naturally, Ticket Alternative came out on top with The Washington Post saying “The is one of the best deals in town.”

You can read the full article below, or online here.

An attempt to break down concert ticket service charges

By Chris Richards
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 9, 2010

Why do birds suddenly appear? Should I stay or should I go? Who let the dogs out?

And why am I being charged $23.75 for a $15 concert ticket?

The last question has an answer: Service charges, those annoying fees tacked on to the price of a concert ticket for no apparent reason. Along with hidden credit-card fees and staggering ATM surcharges, ticket service charges offer another twist in the maze of penalties facing American consumers. And concertgoers are getting tired of it.

“I think the fans feel used and abused,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar, a trade publication for the concert industry. “As an industry, it’s extremely disingenuous to do what we do. These fees may exist for reasons that business people understand, but when a fan tries to buy a ticket for $60, and they pull out their wallet and it ends up being 80-something? Just tell them it’s an $85 ticket, so they don’t feel scammed in the process.”

So where’s the “service” in a service charge? And why do they vary so widely?

Local venues cite disparate operating expenses. Ticketing companies offer customized rates to venues, often based on the volume of tickets they expect to sell. Some venues profit from their service charges while others claim to break even. Sounds as simple as decoding your cellphone bill, right?

Despite complaints from concertgoers, venues aren’t likely to get rid of service charges anytime soon. To help fans understand the fees they should expect to pay, we picked a single gig from each of the area’s leading venues and clicked on the best seats we could find. Below, a breakdown. (Click on the image below to enlarge it)

Ticket Alternative Announces “No Convenience Fees” At Any of their Ticket Outlets on Record Store Day – Saturday, April 17

Ticket Alternative will waive all convenience fees on tickets purchased for any event at any Ticket Alternative outlet on Saturday, April 17, in honor of Record Store Day – a celebration for the culture that surrounds hundreds of unique record stores around the world.

Customers simply need to purchase tickets in person at one of the following Ticket Alternative outlets (which happen to be record stores!) on Saturday, April 17 during normal store hours.

In addition, customers will have a chance to win tickets and guest list spots to over a dozen concerts at multiple venues – such as The EARL, Star Bar, 529, Vinyl and The Loft.

About Ticket Alternative

Ticket Alternative (www.ticketalternative.com) provides a wide range of ticketing and box office solutions for hundreds of venues nationwide while maintaining the lowest service charges in the industry. This Atlanta based company, with an office in the U.K., prints millions of tickets for independent distribution throughout the U.S. and the U.K. through TA Ticket Printing.  Founded in 2004, by music lovers and entrepreneurs Iain Bluett and Jamie Dwyer, Ticket Alternative believes in putting fans first, dedicated to providing stellar customer and client support.  Combining these elements created a visionary solution that has catapulted Ticket Alternative to market-leader status as they continue to add venues as well as theatres, sports teams, festivals, non-profits and other events across the nation.

Visit www.ticketalternative.com for a complete list of concerts and events nationwide.

For more information, contact:
Melinda M. Bluett, Director of Marketing & Operations
P. 404.897.2375 | melinda.bluett@ticketalternative.com

Ticket Alternative sponsors the January GAPTA meeting.

Ticket Alternative was proud to sponsor the January GAPTA meeting held at the South West Arts Center in Atlanta. The bi-monthly meeting is attended by members of the ticketing industry in Georgia. The members include staff from the Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Falcons, Frederick J Brown Amphitheatre, Ticketmaster, Atlantix, Cobb Energy Center, Fabulous Fox Theater, Georgia Dome, Center For Puppetry Arts, Rialto Center for the Performing Arts and many more.

Every other month, the group gets together to share industry experience and discuss relevant topics over lunch. The meeting is held at a different venue each time and provides an opportunity to tour each venue and see their ticketing operations.

If you’re interested in joining the group, please visit www.gapta.info or visit them on Facebook

… Continue Reading

Hard Rock Cafe Nashville Signs on with Ticket Alternative!

We're very excited to welcome Hard Rock Cafe into our fold of rapidly-increasing venues! We've worked with Hard Rock Nashville a few times in the past, but are now officially their ticket outlet.

And they're just added some great new shows:

Free T-Shirt & Koozie with any Gift Certificate Purchase – Black Friday Only!

Ticket Alternative is pleased to announce it’s first ever Black Friday Special!

Receive a free Ticket Alternative t-shirt and koozie with the purchase of any Gift Certificate on Friday, November 27th only.

It’s Easy! Simply place your order online here and we’ll contact you to get your t-shirt size. Orders must be placed before 11:59pm on Friday November 27th.

Our Gift Certificates never expire and can be used for events at venues nationwide such as:

• Black Cat & Rock and Roll Hotel (DC),
• Juanita’s & The Rev Room (AR)
• The Earl, Smith’s, & the Loft (GA)
• Fredrick J. Brown Amphitheater – Coming in 2010 (GA)
• The Rock (MN)

And, don’t forget about events like these:

• Various New Year’s Eve Parties
• Taste Of Atlanta
• Decatur Beer Festival
• Naperville Ribfest

Choose from $25, $50, or $75 or $100 denominations. They are good for ANY event we sell tickets to.

What are you waiting for? Click here to give the gift of Ticket Alternative Events & Concerts nationwide.

Ticket Alternative donates a tree to Wednesday’s Child program

On Saturday, November 21st, Ticket Alternative participated in an event that saw several local companies donate trees and presents to the Wednesdays' Child program at a Holiday party at the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta. Wednesday’s Child is a successful program that is part of the Freddie Mac Foundation’s national campaign to increase the number of adoptions of children in foster care.

TA employees Twans and Melinda along with company president Iain Bluett donated and decorated a tree, and placed presents around it. Wednesday's Child – Georgia is a partnership of the Freddie Mac Foundation, WAGA Fox 5 Atlanta, and the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services Adoption Unit and was filmed for a segment that will air on Fox 5 Atlanta on Christmas Day.

Several children visited with Santa and were treated to a fantastic lunch by the Hard Rock Cafe. The Camp Jam band performed during the party!

For more information visit: www.wednesdayschildga.com / www.myfoxatlanta.com

Check out the pictures below:

Up and Comers. Under 40 and rising.

From the article in the November 13th edition of the Atlanta Business Chronicle

Jamie Dwyer
age 38
Ticket Alternative

For concert-goers and music buffs, Jamie Dwyer is a hero.

The native Atlantan is co-founder and CEO of Ticket Alternative, which provides ticket sales for events without the burden of costly fees charged by some ticket agencies.

Dwyer oversees the numbers and strategy for the company, bringing to the table his passion for offering an affordable service in an industry often maligned for shady pricing practices.

Dwyer launched Ticket Alternative in 2004 with his friend Iain Bluett. By keeping service fees low, Ticket Alternative found it could increase the number of advance ticket sales for clients. Today the company does business in 48 states and has managed ticketing for more than 10,000 events.

Working with venues in Atlanta including The Loft and Smith’s Old Bar, the Atlanta upstart prints millions of tickets for independent distribution throughout the U.S. and now in the United Kingdom.

Most recently, Dwyer found himself thrust onto a national stage, speaking before government officials, when Live Nation and Ticketmaster announced their merger into Live Nation Entertainment. Since then, Ticket Alternative has seen its growth explode and has been working with larger venues as word of mouth spreads — led by Dwyer’s efforts to expand the company’s reach.

But Dwyer also holds the ticket to community involvement. He works closely with the 500 Songs for Kids Foundation, which provides musical entertainment to children in the hospital. Dwyer has been instrumental in helping to raise funds for the foundation and spread the word about the foundation’s cause.

Read the article here

A Fine Alternative. A Midtown Service Takes On Ticketmaster

From the article in the November edition of Atlanta Magazine
By Charles Bethea

Long before Ticketmaster’s merger with Live Nation was proposed last February, Iain Bluett was a stocky, lilting Brit hawking Polo at Lenox in 1992. “The Buckhead women would come in for their boyfriends, and I’d end up taking them out. The accent, you know,” he laughs. Now in his “mid-to-late thirties,” Bluett operates Midtown-based Ticket Alternative, a company that provides tickets for 400 venues nationwide. Most clients are music-related (though minor league baseball and college basketball have lately joined the roster), and three-quarters of them are based in Atlanta. First came Vinyl, then the Loft. Dozens followed.

Founded in 2004, Ticket Alternative did $6 million in revenue last year with a staff of about twenty employees. Bluett’s David slings rocks at the Ticketmaster Goliath—widely despised for its 40 percent surcharge and for controlling ticket sales for roughly 80 percent of U.S. entertainment venues. Where Ticketmaster or Live Nation can make about $5 off a $10 ticket, Ticket Alternative earns around $2.75. “It’s not hard to be cheaper than Ticketmaster,” Bluett says. “But we also have an in-house call center that does real client support. You can call and ask about parking or bringing booze.”

Bluett is also a former keyboardist for Atlanta band Film (originally fronted by Michael Johns of American Idol fame), whose taste tends toward pop and British rock. It was his love of the music industry—coupled with a distaste for Ticketmaster—that provided the impetus for the company. Also, Bluett’s online Atlanta Music Guide (with album reviews and concert updates) now gets some 70,000 page views per month. “Iain isn’t some CEO in a penthouse that can’t be reached,” says Patrick Hill, a concert promoter at the Earl who’s used Ticket Alternative since 2006. “I can actually call and talk to him. Ticketing services are often the first interaction a customer has with a venue, and we like the interaction Iain offers.”

Read the article here