Rage Against the Machine has raised over $3m for charity through its specially priced tickets, with 10 per cent of the tickets in each city on the tour held back to raise money.
The tickets for charity were sold at a mark-up with 100 per cent of the additional profit donated to charities and activist organisations within each city.
The move was in response to tickets appearing on resale sites before going on sale. The American rock band claims that the scheme has blocked around 85 per cent of ticket scalpers so far.
The charity ticket prices were designed to fluctuate to “counter scalping” via Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model, which allows them to inflate ticket prices based on demand, with some costs reaching upwards of $900.
Rage Against the Machine said in a statement: “Since the announcement of our tour, scalpers and broker sites have been listing fake tickets for RATM. We want to do everything we can to protect our fans from predatory scalping and, at the same time, raise a substantial amount of money for charities and activist organisations we support in each city.
“At many concerts, up to 50% of the seating is scooped up by scalpers and then resold to fans at much higher frees. We are doing everything we can to protect 90% of the RATM tickets from scalpers, and then WE are holding in reserve 10% of the seating (random seats throughout each venue) to sell at a higher ticket price (but low enough to undercut the scalpers).
“We will donate 100% OF THE MONEY over the fees and base ticket price to charities and activist organisations IN EACH CITY. We are confident this will help many more fans get tickets at face value and put a big dent in the aftermarket gouging.
“WE HATE SCALPING AS MUCH AS YOU DO and will continue to try to find ways to combat it. Additionally, we are donating all profits from our first three shows to immigrants’ rights organisations and will be supporting multiple charities and activist organisations throughout the tour.”
Rage Against the Machine’s North American tour kicks off on March 26, with it recently announcing more dates.
Image: wonker
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