New Record on Russian Concert Sales
As Madonna Tribe reported a few days ago, all 30,000 tickets for Madonna‘s debut show in Moscow sold out in four days, a record for Russian rock concerts, according to the company that organized the show.
For her Prague concert, the same company sold all 36,000 tickets a bit quicker — in nine minutes.
The disparity was a result of the old technology used to sell tickets in Russia, said Serge Grimaux, founder of Czech company Ticketpro, which distributed tickets for both concerts. He promised to close the gap by the end of the year and bring the latest technology, a move that could revolutionize the local market.
Ticketpro sold its tickets though local partner 19-00.ru, with most delivered to sales points or directly to consumers by couriers, who collect payment from those who file requests by phone on online. In Prague, tickets payment is taken directly over the phone, on the Internet or in shops with direct links to a centralized computer system.
“Currently, there is a lot of human processing in Russia, which slows the process down,” he said.
19-00.ru president Ildar Bakeyev said the Madonna sales marked a record for the Russian market in terms of speed and the value of tickets sold, although neither Ticketpro nor 19-00.ru would say how much all sales were worth.
Bakeyev said the fastest concert his company had previously sold out was Ramstein, which sold out in 20 days. He said the landmark Paul McCartney concert on Red Square in 2003 took about four weeks to sell out.
Source: www.themoscowtimes.com