Brit Music Scene

Michael Jackson ‘This Is It’ Tickets - Refund Or Sell?

Posted: 03 Jul 2009 06:27 AM PDT

This is the dilemma facing 750,000 people right now. They’ve all bought tickets to see Michael Jackson make his comeback in a series of concerts at the London O2 Arena this summer, concerts which will now never take place in light of Jackson’s death last week. So what to do? Claim the refund from the concert promoter AEG Live or choose to still be sent the ticket and either keep it as a piece of music memorabilia or sell it on eBay?

February saw Michael Jackson making plans for a comeback tour. Called This Is It, the tour would begin in London, with the ten dates initially announced becoming 50 in March when the first run of concerts sold out. In the end, all 50 concerts sold out completely, meaning 750,000 people had paid £75 or more to see the singer make his comeback.

When Jackson died, AEG Live announced it was giving fans the chance to either claim a full refund of the asking price of the ticket they had bought OR get the ticket sent as a souvenir. The ticket was reportedly designed by Jacko himself and comes with a 3D holographic image on the front. Many fans were sickened that they wouldn’t be allowed to claim the refund AND keep hold of the unusable ticket as a souvenir as well.

But that’s the deal, and it’s AEG Live’s right to decide how to sort out the mess that has been left after Jacko died from a cardiac arrest on June 25. Which leaves fans who have bought the tickets with a tricky decision on their hands. If they claim their refund they will have nothing to show for being part of the tour that never happened, but claim the ticket and they are out of pocket to the tune of £75 or more.

Of course, those tickets are a souvenir hunters wet dream, and fans will be able to sell them online without too much trouble. But whether they can sell them at more than the asking price isn’t as clear. If all 750,000 fans decide to keep their tickets then supply will likely outstrip demand by quite a margin. Whereas if everyone decides to claim their refund there will be less tickets available, assuming of course we assume AEG Live will destroy the tickets not claims rather than selling them itself or giving them away to staff and as prizes.

My advice would be to claim the ticket as a souvenir only if you want it as a keepsake with a view to possibly selling it one day in the future. Otherwise claim the refund because the chances of making a fortune from selling it online are remote when you’re competing with possibly 749,999 other people with the same idea.

[Photo Source: Newscom]

Post from: Brit Music Scene