Rage Against the Machine’s plan to combat ticket scalpers seems to be working pretty well so far.
According to guitarist Tom Morello’s Twitter account, approximately 85% of ticket scalping has been stopped (or at least slowed) by the release of the not-quite-as-overpriced official charity tickets. For those who weren’t aware of the plan, the rock icons set aside a tenth of the tickets at each venue of their upcoming tour to “resell” themselves at a higher price, but still less than what scalpers are charging. The band then gives that extra money to charity rather than lining the pockets of ticket resellers.
With over $3 million raised for charity in the first couple of days (once again, according to Morello’s tweets), the “charity tickets” program seems to be working as intended. Considering the band’s place in music history as one of the most politically and socioeconomically outspoken groups of all time, the tactic certainly makes sense given the fact that their brief reunion tour was effectively guaranteed to sell out as soon as it was announced.
Check out the tweets from Morello below for more details on the band’s charity ticket situation.
So far we stopped approx 85% of the scalping market but I agree that ANY scalping is horrible and we will continue to combat it. https://t.co/OZ6KrP7pxw
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) February 14, 2020
Yes. Read it. 10% of all Tix reserved for charity. 100% of money above base price on each ticket goes to charities in that city. Charity price fluctuates to counter scalping. When we have final numbers will list charities. Over $3m raised for charity in first 48 hrs. https://t.co/ynAbtrSQT0
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) February 15, 2020
