Fans Speak Out Against Ticket Scalpers After Zeds Dead’s Deadrocks Sells Out In Seconds – [Read]

Zeds Dead traditionally hosts Deadrocks every July 4th weekend at Red Rocks Amiptheatre, however, many concerned fans were left without tickets after the two-day event sold out in just seconds. 

The artists appropriately held a presale the day prior to tickets going on general sale to the public, however, those sold out in seconds as well. In efforts to minimize the risk of scalpers accessing the presale, a generic presale code was provided to their fanbase via the Zeds Dead Family Facebook group. 

However, the very next day a similar issue arose, with seemingly even fewer fans able to snag a ticket for either day of the event. After making it through the virtual queue, many fans were directed to purchase tickets on resale for more than $200 per ticket. 

EDM events selling out almost instantly is not something new, though. Anyone who attempted to buy an Electric Forest ticket for 2020 can recount a similar story–sitting in a virtual waiting room for an extended period of time and getting to checkout only to learn the festival had been sold out. In this case, tickets only went to those with loyalty codes from the previous year.

For this particular event, many fans blamed the ticketing website, AXS which is notorious for allowing scalpers to purchase tickets on a massive scale using bots. At the same time, fans blew up Zeds Deads’ socials, making the artists aware of the issue and suggesting they reclaim tickets from scalpers. 

Within a few days, Deadbeats announced that they would be making efforts to reclaim tickets and put them back on sale for fans. Not too long ago, Jade Cicada’s team was forced to reclaim several tickets from scalpers for his Brooklyn show at King’s Theater back in November. Reclaiming tickets is just one potential solution to the longstanding ticket scalper issue. Some have suggested limiting the number of tickets each person can purchase and providing unique presale codes.

Ashley

I’ve been a part of the dance music scene for nearly a decade and with Exron for more than half of that time. My first event was Diplo’s Mad Decent but these days you’ll find me at Club Space or the Brooklyn Mirage. Some of my top artists are G Jones, Tipper, Of The Trees, and CharlestheFirst. My favorite genres are techno, experimental bass, and ambient but I’ll get down to anything with a beat!

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