Led Zeppelin promoter: Reunion tickets not transferable

In the most plain language available yet, promoter Harvey Goldsmith has just made it clear that anyone who paid for a passcode to the Led Zeppelin reunion concert is out of luck.

An e-mail delivered today to the winners of the first-round ballot process included Goldsmith's bold declaration, "If you have sold or have given away your passcode whomever you have sold / given it to will be denied entry into the concert."

This notification is the first to clarify that ticket orders placed with names that do not match those selected in the pre-registration process will be canceled, making more spaces in the upcoming second round of the ballot drawing.

Some people within the Led Zeppelin fan community have argued that the language used in the original ticket notification three days ago permitted resale of the passcodes. Any such ambiguity is cleared in Goldsmith's stronger pronouncement.

"Unless the original winning registration name and passcode match the ticket booking, the booking will be cancelled and you will be notified," Goldsmith's e-mail reads, in part. "All cancelled bookings will go back into the ballot for reselection."

Shortly following the Oct. 1 notification to ballot winners, more than 100 sellers on eBay claimed to offer passcodes to log in for Led Zeppelin reunion concert ticket purchases. In nearly all cases, the auctions demanded pricetags that exceeded the price of tickets themselves.

Goldsmith first responded to such resale of passcodes in a press release on Oct. 2, stating the following:

"Unfortunately a small number of unscrupulous people have decided to take advantage of the fact that they had been awarded the opportunity to purchase tickets. It is even more unfortunate that eBay and a number of ticket scalping sites have chosen to take advantage of this situation. Please note that unless the ticket, the code and correct identification match, those tickets will be invalid. Anyone who chooses to purchase tickets in this way will lose their money!"

Scott Colothan of Internet site Gigwise yesterday posted an article that summed up the opinions of some fans who thought Goldsmith was, in essence, ripping off fans. From that article:

One wrote: “Why are they making this so hard for everyone? True fans will fork out thousands and travel all over the world for these guys but they are being shafted by this fat git!!”
Another disgruntled fan added: “Unfortunately this policy will hurt the fans who bought the codes not the seller who has already been paid.”

Know what? Cry me a river. Who's forking out the thousands? Who paid the seller? And you're blaming Harvey for shafting you?

We've known all along:

1. It's a charity fundraiser. You should feel ashamed either raking in or shelling out large chunks of money that won't benefit the charity.
2. A no-resale policy was announced the very first day.
3. Anyone using the pre-registration site agreed to abide by its terms and conditions.

Therefore:

1. Anyone selling an authentic, unique code knowing violated not only the terms and conditions but also the specific rules of the confirmation e-mail.
2. Anyone buying a passcode, or a ticket, sold in this manner was knowingly violating the no-resale policy.
3. Anyone buying a passcode, or a ticket, sold in this manner was knowingly making a scalper richer when the intention was to prevent that from happening all along -- partly because, what? Say it with me: It's a charity fundraiser.

Bottom line:

1. If you really want to keep the scalpers from profiting, the last thing you should do is give them money.
2. On top of that, if you thought you would be somehow rewarded for helping a scalper make money, you were grossly mistaken.