The short answer is usually no, venues and ticket sellers do not release all seats during the presale period. Presales give fans early access to purchase a limited number of tickets before the general public sale. This allows die-hard fans, fan club members, or customers of a sponsoring company to get first pick of seats. However, it’s rare for every single seat to go on sale during the presale.
Why Venues Hold Back Seats for General Sale
There are a few key reasons why venues and ticket sellers hold back some seats to release during the general public on-sale date:
Manage Demand
Staggering ticket releases helps manage incredibly high demand for hot shows. Big acts like Beyonce or Bruce Springsteen routinely sell out arenas in minutes. If they put all seats on sale at once, ticketing websites would crash and frustrate fans. Releasing a portion for presales and the rest later spreads out buyer traffic.
Discourage Scalpers
Scalpers with ticket bots can gobble up prime seats in bulk if given the chance. Holding back inventory makes it harder for them to get all the best seats early. This leaves more tickets for the average fan to purchase at face value prices.
Accommodate Production Needs
The stage, soundboards, and other production elements take up real estate in venues. Seats may be held back to make room for equipment, staging, pyrotechnics, and more. These production holds get released later once the tour’s layout gets finalized.
Reserve Seats for Promoters and VIPs
Venues allocate seats for promoters, contest giveaways, band guests, and VIP packages. They want to ensure save the best spots for VIPs and fulfill contest offers, so not every seat gets released in presales.
Provide Flexibility for Sellouts and Expanded Seating
If a presale instantly sells out, the artist may opt to release more seats. Having an additional block on hold provides this flexibility. Venues can also hold back seats to open up space on stage, catwalks, or new seating sections if demand exceeds expectations.
Typical Percentages of Seats Held Back
There are no hard rules on how many tickets get allocated to presales versus general on-sales. It depends on the artist, tour, size of venue, and expected demand. However, here are some rough guidelines on held back inventory:
Show Size | Presale | On-sale |
---|---|---|
Small club | 50-75% | 25-50% |
Theater | 40-60% | 40-60% |
Arena | 25-40% | 60-75% |
Stadium | 15-25% | 75-85% |
As you can see, the bigger the act and venue, the smaller the presale release. Stadium tours with 80,000+ seats rarely put more than 25% on presale. The general on-sale is where the majority end up.
Types of Presales
Not all presales are equal. There are different types, usually staggered over a series of days before the public on-sale. These include:
Fan Club Presales
Artists with official fan clubs often reward members with first access to tickets. Fan club presales normally have the smallest allotment of seats, but give diehard fans first pick.
VIP Presales
VIP upgrades like meet & greets come bundled with top tickets. A VIP presale ensures those buyers get priority access before others.
Venue Presales
If you’re a season ticket holder or subscriber to a venue, you may get access to a venue-specific presale for hot shows.
Sponsor Presales
Big brands partner with artists for tour sponsorships. As a perk, they run presales for their customers and email list. For example, Citi cardholders get access to Citi cardmember presales.
Local Presales
Radio stations, music publications, and other media outlets in each tour market often presales to reward their audiences. Local presales normally have a decent ticket share.
Artist Presales
The artist themselves will sometimes conduct an additional presale open to anyone on their email list. Signing up for the act’s newsletter can help gain access.
Spotify Presales
Spotify offers presale ticket access to super fans who stream an artist heavily on their platform. Users must opt-in to be eligible.
Promoter Presales
Concert promoters like LiveNation and AEG may do their own presale for newsletter subscribers or loyal customers.
The share of seats varies for each presale. Most artist presales release 10-20% of available tickets. Some may only be a few hundred seats. Sponsor presales can be very large. Ultimately, it depends on the relationships and business deals in place.
Beware of “Presale Password” Scams
With so many presales, it can be confusing for fans to figure out access. This creates an opening for scammers offering fake “presale passwords” online. Never buy or use presale passwords from unauthorized resellers. Legit passwords come directly from the artist, venue or authorized ticketing partners.
Tips for Getting Presale Tickets
Here are some tips to improve your chances in presales to score the best seats:
Join Fan Clubs and Mailing Lists
Sign up early for an act’s official fan club, artist email list, and venue insider list. This gets you dialed in for presale codes and links.
Follow Social Media Closely
Presale details get announced on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram stories and fan pages first. Turn on notifications so you never miss an update.
Prep Your Accounts
Ensure your Ticketmaster, AXS, SeatGeek accounts are updated with the best email/phone and payment methods saved. This speeds up the checkout process.
Use Multiple Devices
Have backup devices like your phone, computer, tablet, etc ready in case one crashes. Multi-task across screens to improve your odds.
Be Ready Right at Start Time
Log in 10-15 minutes early and vigorously refresh at the presale start time to grab spots in the queue. Late joiners are left with scraps.
General On-Sale Still Offers a Shot
While presales offer first dibs, the general on-sale release still provides a decent chance at tickets. Set calendar alerts, prep your accounts, and be ready right at the scheduled sale time. Persistence and speed are key.
Conclusion
In summary, presales allow fans early access to a limited number of event tickets before the general public on-sale. Venues hold back prime seats to manage high demand and discourage scalpers. Bigger shows tend to release just 15-40% of seats during presale periods. Legitimate access comes directly from the artist, venue or authorized ticketing partners. While presales improve your odds, the general on-sale is still an opportunity for fans to score seats if persistent and quick.