Sorry to make my first post such a negative one, but it's pretty much why I signed up here.

First things first, let me get this out the way - yes I have just been stuck with nose bleed tickets for the London gig and no I'm not a fan club member. So yes I probably am feeling somewhat bitter right now.

I've always heard the 10 Club used as an example of exactly what a fan club should be, (esspecially because of the Christmas singles), but I can't help wondering what they do to make sure touts aren't signing up to the fan club in order to get the best tickets to sell on. I know it costs a lot to join but a quick glance at Ebay will show you they can more than make their money back, even with the fan club membership on top of the ticket price. Considering a lot of standing tickets (which sold out in the 10c pre-sale) were on ebay at most 10 minutes after the general sale started (which is when I went to look) I'd say it's also a pretty safe bet that's exactly what they're doing.

Now we all know touts are somewhat inevitable. I'm pretty sure they've been around as long as the music industry and definately aren't going away any time soon but I would have thought with a fan club there would be that oppertunity to add an extra level of security to stop touts taking advantage of it. I know the Nine Inch Nails fan club prints the buyers name on the ticket and requires ID to pick them up. It's a pretty simple system and it does seem to stop touts from being able to use the fan club.

Does the 10c do anything similar? And if so how does it enable people to trade/sell fan club tickets (as they do on the igotbugs ticket market) whilst stopping the touts?

You definitely DO need photo id to collect your tickets from 10c, however the ticket trading that happens afterwards is all among the lets say stranger end of the fan spectrum. (not all of them but some)

And 10c have kinda become arse bandits over the last few years. Though it could be argued the touring situation & endless bitching pissing and moaning by certain sections of the fanbase brought about this 'don't give a flying fuck about you' attitude which seems to prevail at 10c sometimes. They been mostly ok to me though so I'm not bothered by em.

Greetings~
I've been in the 10c since 1993.

In the beginning:
membership = $10.00 per year; choice of purchasing 1 pair (not 2 singles, I found out later) to ONE show, thru the club, via mail order, Xmas single, newsletters. These were general admission shows.

1994-96 - same as above, but names were printed on beautifully, custom designed tix & U needed a photo ID. They were working with ETM and later FT&T. Ticketmaster/congress dealio.

1997-2002- 2 tix total, will call/photo ID more reserved seats shows; ticketmaster back in the mix.

Membership fee = $20.00

2003 - "The Huge Breakthru" - 2 tix, unlimited shows - reserved, seniority seating, all computer, pre-sales were hectic, but nothing like now.

since about 2000, when mgt. changed, the feel is very different. i dare 2 say a bit more corporate; they've repeated various approaches which still don't work; I hate ticketbastard, but their site doesn't crash...it's
SO frustrating and idiotic that I have been shut out of shows, considering I've been doing this longer than most of their staff...

To clarfiy - joining the fan club does not mean U get great seats and that U can resell them at a profit...your membership number determines your seniority...like season tickets...longevity is a good thing....also, if U purchase thru the club, tix R will call w/ID. if U R caught reselling/profitering (internet as well), all privileges R revoked...

In sum, 10c is a decent organization; I believe feedback is super important, send them a note!!

JOIN THE CLUB - have a great show!

Peace, love & Pearl Jam

M~

standing sold out at the 10c sale?
mm, I didn't check after tuesday but then it was still available.. considering the first presale was Wednesday (the O2 one), I doubt very much it did (I hope not 'cos since they only start distributing 2 hours before doors open, we'll still be waiting for our tickets by then otherwise..like Verona in 06 but at least it was seated then so it didn't affect where you stood).

Mnote, seniority means fuck all in Europe with GA shows...which is why I'm not fan of this year policy of opening booking to anyone, even if they joined after the sale was announced.

but you DO need photo ID so it is limiting for scalping, if not foolproof.
The Vic show in 07 went 1 step further and they didn't have tickets but put bracelets on you and your +1 themselves... there still was people that tried to cheat apparently
But that only worked because of the very small numbers...can't do that for an arena.