Music industry ticket question

[wilko8]

All of my group missed out on Glastonbury tickets. Now a friend of a friend’s sister who apparently works in A&R in the biz has been “allocated” five tickets, but will only use two, has offered us the other three. 

Now this sounds completely dodgy to me, but no one has asked for any money as yet and the friend of the friend is a work colleague with no reason to lie or try to scam us. 

So my question is, is it likely that industry tickets have been allocated at this stage and are people able to just pass them on in this way? 

Or to cut a long story short, is it 100% BS, or maybe only 95%...??

[incident]

Such tickets do exist, so there's a chance it's real.

The rough version is - They'll almost certainly be Hospitality Tickets, which means the face value is twice that of the public tickets. Aside from the cost, the main difference from your perspective is that H tickets grant access to the Hospitality camping and the Interstage area between the Pyramid and Other Stage (there's a bar back there, but to be blunt it's not exciting - the main advantage is as a shortcut).

They come from a different allocation to the public tickets, and they will have been paid for one way or another - in the scenario you describe most likely by a record company. They're allocated by agreement with the festival, and under the strict condition that they cannot be sold on at a profit. So it'd definitely be worth confirming whether they're going to charge you for them, and if they are, how much (remembering that for H tickets face value is 500 quid odd).

As to whether they'll have been allocated yet, no idea but it wouldn't surprise me.

[Vulpes vulpes]

Close friend of mine works in the music industry and gets allocated 8 tickets every year. His wife also in the biz gets a further 8. These tickets are payed for in full when the balance date comes up. 

We’re lucky enough to have got tickets in the pre sale every year. We’ve never needed to use there allocation. 

[eastynh]

I am after one of these if anyone can point me in the right direction.

[Stokesy10]

I got massively fucked over in 2015, literally on the Tuesday night when I was in Asda getting the last of my booze about to travel down. Found out via text whilst loading my trolley that the hospitality tickets me and 2 others had paid for had fell through. Very long story. Was unsuccessful in the main sale, then a mate who works for a prem football club was told he could buy 3 tickets through a hospitality company ran by  some bint of a woman. I became very suspicious as she kept making excuses in the months leading up to June when we asked for the tickets. Long story short she did give us the money back, but it was gut-wrenching. 18 other mates all left that evening to go and 3 of us were screwed. I was completely numb. Went pretty ape shit at the woman. Find out what the hospitality company are called (if it's Birchwood Events, avoid!) and do a bit of research first before you pay anything. 

The worst of it is, I got 6 tickets in the resale for some mates, convinced I was all sorted with the big bollocks hospitality company ?

Edited October 16, 2018 by Stokesy10

[rubenz]

Yeah I had one from a friend in music business once. From what I can recall it did have my name on it   although no photo and was not arranged until a couple of months prior. As has been stated above they cost more  than normal tickets although some could be provided free of charge for work done for the festival with the option to purchase more.

[ivan]

Treat with the greatest of caution.

There was a thread about this the other year .

Some poor souls had even turned up at the festival site to find that they had been scammed with these sorts of tickets.

I guess October is far too early to be talking about unwanted or surplus Record Company tickets .

 

[henry bear]

There’s a difference though in paying through the nose for hospitality tickets, and being offered genuine industry freebies - if that’s what the OP’s being offered. No doubt there are thousands of such tickets dished out each year - I don’t suppose yer celebs that go to hang out don’t have to worry about RSI from hitting F5 thousands of times, or end up with coach tickets from Swansea. 

[briddj]

Hospitality area is nothing special and as said just great for a shortcut really. Oh and posh toilets. 

[paulshane]

12 minutes ago, briddj said:

Hospitality area is nothing special and as said just great for a shortcut really. Oh and posh toilets. 

I reckon the wristband would be good to blag into crew bars though

[McCor]

I know some companies in the industry have an allocation of tickets, and these are usually offered to staff on a ballot basis. 

[glasto-worker]

14 minutes ago, paulshane said:

I reckon the wristband would be good to blag into crew bars though

There is a few AAA passes but many Hospitality passes so while people who have a 
Hospitality pass may assume they can get anywhere they want - they cant - many Crew Bars are in a Crew area only so they can try but they wont get Close - there is a few quasi-Crew Bars that are not ' crew specific ' - they will issue a wrist band to anyone provided they show up before Wednesday so really anyone can get a wrist band provided they are onsite before the gates open.

[kalifire]

The mystical allure of crew bars vanished for me in 2015 (I think) when I tried to go down a particular path and was stopped by somebody asking whether I had the appropriate wristband. I showed him my general admission band, and he waved me through but it quickly became apparent that this was reserved for other wristbands.

Delighted I had managed to get into a closed area, I wondered around and ended up at some bar but then realised that it was just a bar with nominally discounted drinks full of people who were attempting to get into the spirit of things but were actually just knackered. The public areas were much livelier and enjoyable. Could just be that one place, though (can't remember where it was but it wasn't the SE Corner or anywhere like it).

[Yokel Again]

Have friends who have paid for hospitality tickets that were camped somewhere between Other and Pyramid stage (as described elsewhere in thread). They buy them through one of their family who works in fashion (not sure who for), so another voice for 'they do exist'... although whether the ones described are genuine I suppose you won't know....

[ian the worm]

4 hours ago, kalifire said:

and ended up at some bar but then realised that it was just a bar with nominally discounted drinks full of people who were attempting to get into the spirit of things but were actually just knackered. The public areas were much livelier and enjoyable. 

This. 

I used to work in a crew bar and these years I actually have to visit them all to exchange wrist bands, invites and flyers etc. 

They are OK for taking a bit of a time-out, but the party is outside people!!!

 

[JoeyT]

It's a bitter pill to swallow when so many folk who love and care about the festival don't get tickets and these "industry" types seem to be showered in them.

[rubenz]

1 minute ago, JoeyT said:

It's a bitter pill to swallow when so many folk who love and care about the festival don't get tickets and these "industry" types seem to be showered in them.

Agreed, I went in the Hospitality bit once and pretty much the entire Bath rugby team were in there. I bet they didn't have a group f5 session on the Sunday after the game!

[glasto-worker]

4 hours ago, kalifire said:

The mystical allure of crew bars vanished for me in 2015 (I think) when I tried to go down a particular path and was stopped by somebody asking whether I had the appropriate wristband. I showed him my general admission band, and he waved me through but it quickly became apparent that this was reserved for other wristbands.

Delighted I had managed to get into a closed area, I wondered around and ended up at some bar but then realised that it was just a bar with nominally discounted drinks full of people who were attempting to get into the spirit of things but were actually just knackered. The public areas were much livelier and enjoyable. Could just be that one place, though (can't remember where it was but it wasn't the SE Corner or anywhere like it).

not surprised at all as it all depends which night you looked in.

in general I would say that certain stewards don't check as much as Security but ' if you don't have the right wristband you may discover that its easier getting in than back out !!!'

The first shot is the ' crew only side of the Old Railway track ' - people may think that once past that point they have open access to any crew site when in fact they don't.

In that Area - each crew site has its own Security ' and they do check ' and if they spot any ' none crew wrist bands ' - those people will be sent - the wrong way to Gate D ' so heading away from the public areas - so its a long walk back -{ as they will not be allowed back down that track } 

+ if any of the crew spot a none crew wrist band ' they will report it as we don't have a clue why that person is there '

In general any crew Bar does not really pick up until well after Midnight apart from the Monday and Tuesday as many are not working.Best night by far is the Sunday night that runs on until Monday morning.

Due to my Mobility problems I have only worked in Crew bars for the past 15 years - anyone who shows up and they don't display a WBC Photo ID pass will be ' removed by Security ' and will be marched out to Gate D as I cant risk not getting them removed just in case they want to break into a few tents while they are there.  

its very rare because our site has 4 Security checking at our gate.

 

[paulshane]

2 hours ago, glasto-worker said:

not surprised at all as it all depends which night you looked in.

in general I would say that certain stewards don't check as much as Security but ' if you don't have the right wristband you may discover that its easier getting in than back out !!!'

The first shot is the ' crew only side of the Old Railway track ' - people may think that once past that point they have open access to any crew site when in fact they don't.

In that Area - each crew site has its own Security ' and they do check ' and if they spot any ' none crew wrist bands ' - those people will be sent - the wrong way to Gate D ' so heading away from the public areas - so its a long walk back -{ as they will not be allowed back down that track } 

+ if any of the crew spot a none crew wrist band ' they will report it as we don't have a clue why that person is there '

In general any crew Bar does not really pick up until well after Midnight apart from the Monday and Tuesday as many are not working.Best night by far is the Sunday night that runs on until Monday morning.

Due to my Mobility problems I have only worked in Crew bars for the past 15 years - anyone who shows up and they don't display a WBC Photo ID pass will be ' removed by Security ' and will be marched out to Gate D as I cant risk not getting them removed just in case they want to break into a few tents while they are there.  

its very rare because our site has 4 Security checking at our gate.

 

 

A few years back I got given a bar wristband for the one behind the jazz stage, I don't think it has a name. And while it was like the guy up there said ^ quite quiet, it did have the advantage of somewhere to sit while traverssing the muddy site

[clarkete]

45 minutes ago, paulshane said:

A few years back I got given a bar wristband for the one behind the jazz stage, I don't think it has a name. And while it was like the guy up there said ^ quite quiet, it did have the advantage of somewhere to sit while traversing the muddy site

I got one in 2011 for a bar which sounds similar.  One of those years where it was welly weather so there weren't that many dry places to sit, so just going inside a tent which had a bar and benches to sit at was quite a nice respite - even smoking inside I believe  

As others have said it's a very different experience, this one had a stage and entertainment on, but not like experiencing the festival proper.

 

[paulshane]

2 minutes ago, clarkete said:

I got one in 2011 for a bar which sounds similar.  One of those years where it was welly weather so there weren't that many dry places to sit, so just going inside a tent which had a bar and benches to sit at was quite a nice respite - even smoking inside I believe  

As others have said it's a very different experience, this one had a stage and entertainment on, but not like experiencing the festival proper.

 

fun isn't it

[nikkic]

I got in on one of these in 2015.

Long story short is that my best mate is an agent and had several acts playing Glasto.

A lot of acts get freebie tickets, but one of his didn’t want/need them so my wife and I were offered them.

We had to give my friend our registration details, these were then passed on to Glasto staff.

I received an email from Glasto HQ with a link to buy our tickets at full price. (Link took us to an official See Tickets Page).

So everything was legit and through official channels, if you’ve been offered similar then I’d be wary if you don’t at least have to give them your reg number. 

[ledwards]

Does anyone know what the application for hospitality tickets entails? I believe my partner and I could qualify due to the industry we work and our clients but not sure what else they need from us. As I'm sure they don't just hand them out willy nilly.

[henry bear]

7 minutes ago, ledwards said:

Does anyone know what the application for hospitality tickets entails? I believe my partner and I could qualify due to the industry we work and our clients but not sure what else they need from us. As I'm sure they don't just hand them out willy nilly.

Have you been on the official Glastonbury website? Details on how to contact the hospitality team there.

[ledwards]

3 minutes ago, henry bear said:

Have you been on the official Glastonbury website? Details on how to contact the hospitality team there.

Correct - just been over a week since I sent over my query in the contact form and no reply yet. Says 48hr response time but I imagine they're slammed with requests