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Recently, the performance market has been in a state of either drought or flood.

It is very difficult to get a ticket for a superstar concert, and some stars' concerts have already sold out. Among the current Hong Kong superstars, Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau are relatively popular.

Needless to say, Jacky Cheung has been touring one show after another, and he even cancelled the Hangzhou show due to illness a while ago.

As for Andy Lau's concert tickets, according to media reports some time ago, the price was close to 70,000.

Because Andy Lau hasn't performed for a long time, tickets are sold out in seconds when they start. In order to be able to enter the venue to listen to their idol sing, fans have to go to great lengths to get tickets. Some people exchange tickets through hotel or credit card points lotteries, some people exchange tickets through advertising sponsors, buy milk, wine, etc., and some people even spend tens of thousands of yuan to stock up on liquor in order to get Andy Lau's tickets.

You know, in 2020, even Jia Ling failed to get Andy Lau's ticket. Now it's 2024, and everyone is more interested in watching the performance, so tickets will only become harder and harder to get.

Andy Lau also gave his all in his performance at a concert in Shanghai some time ago. He was not perfunctory or slacking off. He even slid to his knees due to excessive excitement, which scared many people in the audience. Therefore, many fans felt that Andy Lau's performance was worth the price of the ticket.

This time his tour came to Taiwan Province, where the most difficult ticketing mechanism in history emerged - real-name ticket drawing!

Andy Lau will hold four consecutive shows at Taipei Arena starting from October 31. However, if you want to watch the show, you must pass the strict "real-name registration lottery" to have a chance to buy tickets.

Let's feel the difficulty of buying tickets:

First, on August 25, the designated credit card priority real-name ticket purchase will be opened. If fans have a credit card from a designated unit, they can use their real name to buy tickets through the designated channels. However, these priority tickets are extremely limited and generally hard to get.

Then most people can only grab tickets during the public sale stage. Fans who want to buy tickets must register from August 25 to August 30. The organizer will then announce the lottery results starting at 11:28 on August 31.

Getting the lottery results only means you have a "chance to buy a ticket". The winner needs to pay before the ticket is successfully purchased.

In theory, this will prevent scalpers from snatching tickets during public sales. But on the other hand, the lottery system is bound to leave some fans unable to buy tickets. Those who cannot buy tickets will still go to scalpers, and the only room for scalpers to operate is priority ticket sales or public relations tickets, so the price of scalper tickets will continue to rise!

However, this ticket lottery system was not originally created by Andy Lau. It was probably based on the ticket lottery system of Japanese JPOP concerts.

In Japan, different musicians or organizers will offer different lottery systems, but this type of lottery will not give people a bad purchasing experience. The reason is that many lottery draws are "phased", and the main purpose is to ensure that true fans can buy tickets.

The common process is: Step 1: Official lottery, where the official fan club conducts FC-only lottery. As long as you join the fan club, you will most likely be able to draw the first wave of tickets, and your position will be very good;

The second step is to draw tickets through the official channel designated by the organizer, which may be the artist's official website or a designated ticketing system. As long as you are a registered member, you can participate in the draw. This method is relatively friendly to foreigners.

The third step is the common "public sale", which is to draw tickets on major ticketing websites. After the official lottery process is over, the remaining tickets will be drawn by different platforms. Some artists will combine the second and third steps. In short, it is to give everyone as many opportunities as possible to buy tickets.

The fourth step is "first come, first served". Generally, when the performance date is approaching, if there are any tickets left, the ticketing platform will directly sell the tickets on some channels. Basically, whoever buys first gets it first, and the order of drawing is not important. This is suitable for fans who are not too concerned about collecting tickets. The disadvantage is that more popular singers will naturally not have such tickets released.

Finally, for those who are unable to go to the event temporarily, the official will also provide an "official resale" mechanism to help those who want to sell tickets. The prices of all tickets sold are public, but those who want to buy and sell such tickets still have to participate in the lottery first. This may also be a way to avoid scalpers. Relatively speaking, this resale mechanism can also prevent people who cannot go from losing money, and avoid empty seats at the performance.

As for the others, if they are sold out, there may be some "same-day tickets" available on site, but this usually only happens at music festivals or small performances.

The reason why the above combinations work in Japan is that the fan club system of Kpop singers is relatively complete, and many singers hold performances in various parts of Japan at different times. If you can't get a ticket in one show, you can get a ticket in another place. Relatively speaking, as long as you are willing to participate, the chance of getting a ticket is relatively high.

But now, superstar Andy Lau also wants to use the real-name lottery method to sell tickets? For reference, some time ago, Utada Hikaru went to Taipei Arena to perform and also used the real-name lottery method to sell tickets.

It seems that the Japanese ticket lottery system has indeed been brought over, but can this registration and ticket lottery method really avoid scalpers to the greatest extent and allow fans who really want to watch the show to enter the venue?

I am also very curious, and hope that in the future there will be a reasonable way for artists’ concerts to allow people who want to watch to buy tickets. Watching performances is supposed to be a spice of life, it should not become a “luxury”!