Oversubscribed: How to Get People Lining Up to Do Business with You

by Daniel Priestley

A week before release, they name the exact time and date the tickets will be available. They openly share that over 350,000 tickets are pre‐registered, but that they'll only issue 120,000. They remind you that all tickets are usually sold in under 30 minutes from the release time. They also inform you that at this point you will not even be told the names of the bands that will be playing – you'll have to buy your tickets blind. They tell you that in the months after you buy your ticket they will be releasing the line‐up of bands that will be performing at the festival for you. If you're unhappy with the bands, you'll have another window of time to give up your tickets and get a refund. This will also be the small window of time (about five minutes) for people who missed out to buy any tickets that were relinquished. This sounds like an awful lot of trouble, doesn't it? Why can't you just buy a ticket when you want to? Why can't they tell you who the bands are and then you can buy a ticket if you want one? Why can't you get a refund whenever you like? Why can't the organisers stress out all year hoping you buy when you're ready rather than making you follow their plan?