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Friday, September 11, 2009 | 6:34am
UPDATED: After Jigga Rant, Scalper Donates Proceeds of 9/11 Benefit Concert To Charity
After Jay-Z’s rant, Stubhub matches generosity by donating 100% of the proceeds to the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund
UPDATED: After Jay-Z publicly spoke out against scalpers he felt were dishonoring the memories of 9/11 victims by re-selling tickets for tonights benefit concert at Madison Square Garden,StubHub.com has chosen to donate ALL of its profits to the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund.
As of yesterday tickets were being resold on TicketsNow.com, StubHub.com and StubStack.com for as high as $3,332 and reportedly one gouger was requesting as much as $45,000 for a premium seat.
“We strive to provide a first-in-class experience for our fans and have chosen to partner with the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund for this event, rather than removing ticket listings and turning fans away,” said StubHub’s president Chris Tsakalakis. “In keeping with the original intent of the concert, we want to be sure that any StubHub profits from Jay-Z`s show go directly to these families.”
Linda Giammona, the director of development for the charity created to support the families of police officers and firefighters who have died in the line of duty says, “We extend our heartfelt gratitude to StubHub for the organization’s generous pledge to our charity. We are thrilled the company has taken the initiative to increase donations for our cause; the contributions will provide additional support to the many families still in need.”
Tomorrow night Jay-Z will take the stage at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden for his groundbreaking “Answer the Call” benefit concert to raise money for the New York Police and Fire Widows and Children’s Benefit Fund. Tickets which were intentionally sold at an affordable $54.50 sold out yesterday in 15 minutes.
But as the New York Daily News reports, many of the buyers were scalpers who are now looking to flip the tix for a huge profit. With a high demand, tickets are being sold online as much as $45,000 per seat. Not exactly the way Jigga wanted to honor the memories of those lost on 9/11.
“We are truly disheartened that certain individuals would choose to benefit from what is meant to be a 100% charitable event,” Jay said in a statement. “We do not support any profits made from reselling any ticket that was meant to be purchased by honest fans.”
Although Jay and his team anticipated scalping they hoped putting the tickets on sale just days prior would curb this.
“Tickets were consciously made available for sale as close to the concert date as possible to avoid traditional scalping,” he said.
FILED IN Entertainment, News
$45k?! Damn thats crazy! Who in their right mind would pay that much for a concert? Even if I had the money I would not pay that to hear a few songs live. Everybody has their hustle though, them scalpers are no joke man…..
The point is that the tickets were sold for cheap and the proceeds were going to charity. So if someone’s selling a $50 ticket and make $45K profit that’s not going to the charity which is sad. They’re making money on the backs of those who gave their lives on 9/11
Yes, and while it is despicable, many other people have also made a profit off those victims. Political careers have taken off, etc. Companies like Halliburton, Exxon Mobil, have posted record profits because of the wars and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. Thousands have died there and millions live in misery. Yet, faceless stockholders have made millions and people go to work every day and make a living, support their families, buy cars, whatever, and support this economy, off the death and suffering of service men and women and Iraqui/Afghan civilians, who have surpassed the 100k in deaths.
But they don’t see it that way Juan. The scalpers see it as “Hey I got these tickets for cheap but I’m gonna sell them for a much higher price.” In their eyes they already gave to the charity so it won’t bother them if they make a little money off Jay-Z. Thats really who their using to sell it anyway. Their not saying “Yo I got these 9/11 charity tickets, $45k.”
If the charity receives $54.50 for every ticket sold, it will receive all of the money it expected to make.
Wouldn’t the charity have generated more revenue for the cause if the tickets were sold at market rate? It is not odd for charities to ask people to pay more at a charity event then they would at any other time.
I think whoever masterminded this blew a huge opportunity. They sold seats obviously worth thousands of dollars for pennies on the dollar. Where I’m from, we call that stupid.
I think the ticket price was charity to the public fan base struggling through this economy as well.
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45k sounds outlandish maybe even made up. For a Jay-Z concert? I would like to meet the person buying that ticket so I could smack sense into them!
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It’s crazy. I was listening to NPR a while back and they were talking about scalping during one of their sessions. People do this for a living. Just cuz someone put up tickets for 45k doesn’t mean anyone bought them tho. No one in their right mind would ever spend that kind of money for something like that.
To discourage/prevent scalping, some artists/promoters/whoever have begun managing ticket sales the same way airlines do: by making them non-transferrable (at least not without additional fees). So in order for anyone to get to their seat at a show or what have you, they’d have to present valid ID along with the ticket and credit card they used to purchase the ticket with.
seems like a good idea.