January 27th, 2009
I’ll Take Those Tickets On Layaway, Please
In case you haven’t noticed, the economy is so far in the shitter that not even the world’s best plunger (or 1,000 Joe the Plumbers) will be pulling it out any time soon. And concert ticket prices seem higher than they’ve ever been. Awesome. Still, some promoters seem to be getting the message that ticket sales will very probably be down significantly this year. According to USA Today, Coachella, Bonnaroo, and other leading multi-day festivals are now offering layaway plans for people who can’t afford to pony up the full ticket price upon purchase:
[For Coachella], fans will have two options besides money up front when buying a $269 three-day pass: pay half down and the rest April 1, or pay 10% followed by equal installments on March 1 and April 1 without interest or additional fees. The plans are sold only online and aren’t available for $99 single-day admission.
The struggling economy prompted the expansion, “though we probably should have been doing this all along,” says Paul Tollett, Coachella founder and president of concert promoter Goldenvoice. “It’s great for people who want to go but don’t have all the money at once. When we did it for Stagecoach, 24% of people picked layaway, which is eye-opening. So we’re doing it for all our festivals.”
