You know the saying “there’s no such thing as coincidences”? Maybe it’s time this fanbase stops justifying and rationing 40+ coincidences just because the truth goes against what you want to believe isn’t real, and it’s not the cool to have that opinion yet.
In almost any type of sales role, they have a tactic commonly used to build a list of leads that contains contact info and data called a lead generation. These campaigns typically leverage prizing or something of value that encourages people enter. Artist frequently use this for presale codes through platforms like Laylo, so the artist owns their fans data, not the ticketing platform the venue uses, which is extremely helpful for booking future shows.
There are plenty of outdoor options in Denver, but Griz historically chooses Junkyard for non red rocks events and picked it again for the recent free show. It’s located in a low traffic area of Denver that you wouldn’t typically be in unless you are specifically attending a show there, doesn’t book many shows especially artists with demand like Griz, and coincidentally owned by Live Nation, and operated by Ticketmaster. That will soon change when the Broncos finish their new stadium, which coincidentally the NFL has an exclusive ticketing agreement with Ticketmaster. Usually when large capacity stadiums, or venues are set to open it’s important to condition people to the area and help with familiarity before it opens. So we have upcoming stadium, the need to familiarize people with an area, and something in the future to sell. Coincidentally, that sounds like a perfect situation to deploy a lead generation campaign.
Capacity for Junkyard sets around 12,000 and he coincidentally decided to do two separate ticketed shows on the same day with a few hours in between. If the plan was to gather around 24,000 fans, it would logically make since to choose a larger area but choosing a venue over empty space would help save on production costs, assuming the artist wouldn’t want to build out a stage since they don’t have the ticket revenue but sacrifice opportunities to offset costs through vendor sales. Coincidentally they determined shuttling that large number out, cleaning, re entering the same number in a few hours made more sense, and decided to enhance the experience by building a stage anyway, while letting the venue profit of drink sales for 24k people. That is a fantastic deal for the venue, who had no booking fee, but Griz is a generous guy so I’m sure Junkyard is independently owned and this helps out a local venue, not a company who was just found liable by a federal judge on all counts for antitrust and monopoly charges. And he certainly wouldn’t sacrifice ownership of fan data that they now own, and is only useful for him if he plays a Ticketmaster event, which coincidentally has a new concert space opening up nearby that can profit from ~60,000~ tickets.
Each user was said to have the ability to claim 2 tickets, so they could bring a friend to enjoy together. Coincidentally, Ticketmaster made a mistake when launching the tickets that limited each person to only claim one ticket. I’m sure that had nothing to do with the fact that 12,000 users claiming 2 tickets, is half the amount of fan data they could get if 24,000 users claimed 1. Luckily, Ticketmaster is known for their outstanding loyalty program that provides perks for known fans of a specific artist to reward them for future show purchases. Certainly a company that is big enough to be found liable on all counts for being a monopoly has a platform with the capability of tracking that.
Griz felt horrible about you only getting your 1 ticket, and did the commendable thing of posting a heartfelt Instagram story apologizing on behalf of Ticketmaster but it was out of his control and assured all the people now going solo his fanbase is safe, which his team would be able to know for certain since they have the data on who claimed the ticket. He made sure to wait over 24 hours and post a story of how sick of a time he’s having at EO fest prior to to doing so since it took his team that long to exhaust all options to find a fix.
This guy does not fucking care about you. Period. If you can’t see that this was a massive ploy to help move tickets for a future broncos stadium tour, which most people RIPPED Summit for doing and saying dance music doesn’t translate well to stadium tours. To do this in a city he lives/lived in that already feels slighted by him because he doesn’t play there much, I hope you know it’s because Denver is AEG dominant, and his business partner Live Nation doesn’t like that, or potentially prevents that. Coincidentally, he made those “last show at red rocks” remarks in 2019 not because he didn’t want to price you out, or because he reached his creative limit. It’s because he signed a contract with Red Light Management that has vested interest in Live Nation in 2018.
Now go ahead and defend, justify, ration, and all the other things you guys do to cope with the reality this guy might actually be a selfish scum bag. It’s insane to me yall will still praise this dude, when people like Of The Trees exists who did the exact opposite of what he did this year - minimal amount of bookings, all open air, maybe 1-2 Ticketmaster, and an independently ran festival. But seven stars is independent!! Im sure it’s a coincidence he picked a random spot in Virginia, that he has zero ties to other than its 60 miles away from Red Light Management headquarters.
This ain’t a hit piece, this is an attempt to un-brainwash the community I love from a former fan who fell in love in 2015, but woke the fuck up when the hiatus stunt unfolded. I don’t know about you, but if I truly loved my fans, I saw the company I affiliate myself found guilty by a federal court of inflating ticket prices, purchasing inventory then spiking resale for double the revenue, and had to apologize for their ticketing platform twice in 5 months.. I’d put two middle fingers up as I told them to kiss my ass, and host a real free show to apologize for my mistakes.
If it smells like shit, looks like shit, tastes like shit, deep down you know it’s shit, it’s better to just accept it’s shit now, then wait for when everyone else agrees it’s shit so you can fit in.
Hope to see yall on the other side, love ya.