Justin Bieber 'Believe' Tour Sold Out in 1 Hour? Not Exactly, Says Expert
Justin Bieber's "Believe" tour, scheduled to appear in cities across the U.S. was sold out in only one hour according to reports. Even more unbelievable were reports of his Madison Square Garden shows being sold out in only 30 seconds. Are tickets really sold out already?
It certainly seems that way. Justin Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, tweeted about his discovery of the sold out shows, and thanked fans of the Canadian singer for their support.
"What!?! Just found out @justinbieber sold out the entire #BelieveTour North America in 1 Hour and both MSG shows clean in 30 seconds!!!!" the manager wrote June 2. He also promised to match fans' support with his own.
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"Blown away. Now we are gonna make sure the #BelieveTour is as epic and possible. Thank u for supporting the kid. Amazing," added Braun.
However, despite the tickets disappearing in a flash according to Billboard, tickets can still be bought on StubHub and other sites. Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of Pollstar magazine, says that's because tickets weren't all sold- at least not to individuals.
"A lot of those tickets were already sold in the days leading up to that one public onsale," he told Robert Siegel of All Things Considered. "There was probably an American Express presale. Certainly the Justin Bieber fan club had a presale. And then there are a fair number of tickets that get held back for the record company, media and so on. ... It wouldn't surprise me if more than half of them were already accounted for before the public onsale."
With so many hands having access to tickets before the public does, a venue like Madison Square Garden that holds 20,000 fans may have only had half those seats available. Still, for half the seats in the North American Tour- beginning Sept. 29 in Arizona and ending Jan. 26, 2013 in Miami- is still amazing.
To that end, Bongiovanni blames scalpers, who make their living learning to buy and sell tickets quickly, simultaneously, and at the right price.
"You also have to remember," Bongiovanni says, "that the secondary market, the ticket brokers, are actively trying to get as many of those good seats as they can, and they're professionals." Sometimes, they also have access to "bots" that can get around ticket logins and mass purchase tickets in only, say, 30 seconds.
Regardless, many Bieber fans will line up to purchase their available tickets at a higher price than originally advertised. Currently, StubHub advertises about 2,300 tickets priced from $122. Bieber says the show will be worth it, though.
"There's a lot of fun stuff," he told MTV. "I've been really hard at work in the studio, in the dance studio, just kind of figuring out what I want to do as far as choreography and whatnot. I think the tour's going to be really special. We got a lot of surprises."
His album, "Believe," is slated for release June 19.
