The VIP Packages = Sellout?

[watchman]

It probably is selling out. But money talks amigo. Should albums be free because some fans can't afford to pay for them? Should concert tickets be free for those on or below the poverty line? You cannot possibly expect the band to voluntarily do meet and greats for fans who do not have a means of paying for it. For one, how would they gauge who is eligible? They can't meet 10,000 people a night or even 1,000. Would you rather they charge $250 for a VIP ticket for no meet and greet? Bands need to make money, especially in an era where CD sales sell about 1/3 of what they used to. Touring is not cheap. People forget about the overheads. You have 8 band members, not to mention Axl's entourage(management, tour manager, trainers etc), roadcrew, logistics for the heavy and expensive musical equipment and the band/crew themselves. People also forget that Ticketmaster take the majority of the profits from the tickets sold and that the opening acts get a slice of ticket sales too, it's not all for Guns N' Roses. Charging fans for a meet and greet may be selling out, but perfectly within the realms of morality and business.

Listen to this guy!

Some good points there, but still a CD or a concert is an actual product, that of course should not be free and is rightfully charged money for. A meet and greet, though it can be considered part of the "job", is essentially something else and more personal than that. It's another level. I'm not buying a product or entertainment in form of a concert, I'm paying for some sort of personal interaction with human beings. In my world, this is called postitution and though totally understanable for personal and economic reasons, it is morally wrong. I would love to meet the band but not because I pay them to meet me, only if they have at least some mutual interest in meeting a fan or me as a person too. If that's the case, why charge me for it? And if that's not the case, what's the point of meeting at all other than feeding my ego and their purse? It's wrong, no matter how reasonable the excuse may be, it's just an excuse for something wrong.

[Axl_morris]

Bands are a business. M&G are just another way of making money on top of ticket sales, and we know some shows haven't sold well on this tour, so perhaps the M&G and things like Pay-per-view and merch are making up the profits from there predicted target?

These guy won't get paid per show or per meet and greet, they'll be paid for the tour. It's just the promoter making money to fuel the fire that is GNR.

I've met the band for free at an airport, and I've met BBF in London at an organised meet & Greet for FREE. There wasn't anything in it for him, but i think that was his good nature and something to pass the time.

It's easy for us as fans who appreciate people who create the music we love, and believe that the feelings mutual. You wouldn't expect a whore to love you back just because you've paid her, you know!

[Roy79]

So on the new website, for $ 250,00 you can buy VIP packages for the shows. I've seen pictures of some fans posing with almost the enitire band backstage.

I think it's very nice of the band to offer this to their fans but what I don't really understand....they charge you MONEY for meeting them? Not to be overcomplaining here, I understand the Meet & Greet is kind of a special bonus and can't be made available to just everyone but I think it's a bit unfair to SELL it.

I get the VIP package is more than just the M&G and the extra effort (drinks, merchandise, service) makes it more expensive, that's ok.

But what about the people who have followed and supported the band ever since and can not afford the VIP tickets? What about those who are not friends with the people who can get you backstage? Shouldn't meeting the guys be available to fans regardless their income?

I think a meeting shouldn't be part of a paid package, it should be free for the fans and on a volunteer basis for the band. No one of the band should be forced to do these and no fan should complain if Axl or anyone else won't show up there. It should be an option not an obligation. Unless you understand saying hi and a handshake as something you should be charging/paying money for.

How do you other fans feel about this?

It's common practice. I paid EURO 200,- for a meet & greet with Velvet Revolver back in 2008. Of course a lot of mine, but looking back it turned out to be their last show ever (Amsterdam 30Apr2008), so definitely worth EVERY penny!!!

[Amir]

Did anybody get the VIP packages at the UK gigs last year? What were they like? I cant remember if meet & greets were included. TBH most of the time these look like rip-offs, but if people are willing to spend money on them that's fine by me, nobody's being forced to do anything or being conned, details of the package are explicitly stated.

[The Black]

I recently paid 185 euro's for a ticket to see The Cure, it was a reserved area for a few people and had the best view. It was expensive but worth it. I guess I would pay the same for GNR if I were promised an excellent seat.

[Powerage5]

Would you rather pay $1,200 to meet Steven Tyler and Joe Perry?

I'd rather meet Guns N' Roses but not when they charge me money for it, as charging/paying for it is just disgraceful and takes away from the experience for both the fan AND the artist. I don't want them to be my personal zoo, I'm no less intresting of a person than they are and my time isn't less valuable either. If they don't feel like having their picture taken with me, they shouldn't be forced to do it just because I pay some extra money. What do they make with these? $3000 maybe $5000 extra per night? If they really need money that bad, there are more graceful ways to go about it. Maybe I'm too critical, I admit that, but for me the whole thing is less about money and all about personal dignity - for everyone involved.

I try not to make assumptions on here, but it seems pretty obvious to me you've never actually done a meet & greet with a band? I have done one as a matter of fact, and it was a great experience. Granted, some bands will do more with their VIP packages than others, but I still don't feel like paying ruins the experience for anyone. I did the Anthrax meet & greet package last month, and it was everything I hoped for and more. The package was $75 per person (Not including the $25 show tickets), and that came with nearly $75 of merch to begin with. The meet & greet happened before the show, and each person/party of people went through the line to get signatures, and pictures. On top of pictures with individual members, they did one of each group with the whole band. There was no sense of rushing to get it over with from anyone involved, everyone in the band had time for individual questions, conversations, etc. It was essentially up to the buyer to determine how long the whole thing lasted. For us personally it was a great experience. It was my mom's birthday the day of the show we did the M&G at, so that was a cool start. On top of that, we're really good friends with Joey, as we see him about once a month doing solo gigs when he's not on tour with Anthrax. When we got to Joey at the signing table, he invited us to hang out with the band after the show as well, for my mom's birthday. After the show we hung out with the guys for another hour and a half, until it was time for them to hit the road for the next show. No one in the band acted any different in the M&G than they did after the show when it was just us and the members' individual personal guests (It was the "hometown" gig, so the rest of the band had a few people there as well). Now, how exactly is something like that ruin the experience for all involved?

[Apollo]

Kind of hard to personally meet 10,000 fans a night.....for free.....unless they have an extra eight hours a night.

[watchman]

I believe you can take the pictures for free. I sincerely doubt Bumblefoot will be collecting five dollar bills from anyone who wants a picture. If I'm correct, you pay money for access to the room. Handshakes, smiles, autographs and pictures are free.

Unless you're aware of some ala carte menu. If so, please share. If not, then please stop slandering my favorite band with your baseless charges of being sell-outs.

You sound like a spin doctor on Team Beta.

So I pay for access to the room where I get a chance to shake their hands and have my picture taken with em but the handshakes and pictures themselves are free? That's like saying the ride was free, I only paid for the car, the gasoline and the driver but the ride itself was free.

What does your passive-agressive attitude towards the more critical fans like me gain you or the band?

Don't bother twisting and turning futher on, I don't feel motherfuckers like you today.

[CoolRanchDressing]

I believe you can take the pictures for free. I sincerely doubt Bumblefoot will be collecting five dollar bills from anyone who wants a picture. If I'm correct, you pay money for access to the room. Handshakes, smiles, autographs and pictures are free.

Unless you're aware of some ala carte menu. If so, please share. If not, then please stop slandering my favorite band with your baseless charges of being sell-outs.

You sound like a spin doctor on Team Beta.

So I pay for access to the room where I get a chance to shake their hands and have my picture taken with em but the handshakes and pictures themselves are free? That's like saying the ride was free, I only paid for the car, the gasoline and the driver but the ride itself was free.

What does your passive-agressive attitude towards the more critical fans like me gain you or the band?

Don't bother twisting and turning futher on, I don't feel motherfuckers like you today.

Solution: don't get a VIP pass.

If you find that you're still angry about the situation, find another band.

If you find that you're still angry at me for liking VIP passes, find another life.

[sweetness]

You dumbasses do realize that if these meet and greets were free it wouldn't really be much of a meet and greet? People would be flooding in there, you'd barely have the chance to have a conversation if at all. Charging money narrows it down and makes it a better experience for the people there, that's just how it works. If you REALLY care about meeting the band, you wouldn't miss your $250.

Anyway, I don't understand the fascination with meeting rock stars like this. If it's a small club show and the band is approachable go for it, but these forced meet and greets just seem awkward and uncomfortable for the artist.

[RandallFlagg]

Erm doesn't pretty much every band under the sun charge for meet and greets? There's tons of absolutely awful five minutes of fame bands who make money by creating the latest cheap trend and whoring off that, i'm fine with Guns making some extra cash and chatting with fans and giving a great experience around the music and live show they put on.

[watchman]

Would you rather pay $1,200 to meet Steven Tyler and Joe Perry?

I'd rather meet Guns N' Roses but not when they charge me money for it, as charging/paying for it is just disgraceful and takes away from the experience for both the fan AND the artist. I don't want them to be my personal zoo, I'm no less intresting of a person than they are and my time isn't less valuable either. If they don't feel like having their picture taken with me, they shouldn't be forced to do it just because I pay some extra money. What do they make with these? $3000 maybe $5000 extra per night? If they really need money that bad, there are more graceful ways to go about it. Maybe I'm too critical, I admit that, but for me the whole thing is less about money and all about personal dignity - for everyone involved.

I try not to make assumptions on here, but it seems pretty obvious to me you've never actually done a meet & greet with a band? I have done one as a matter of fact, and it was a great experience. Granted, some bands will do more with their VIP packages than others, but I still don't feel like paying ruins the experience for anyone. I did the Anthrax meet & greet package last month, and it was everything I hoped for and more. The package was $75 per person (Not including the $25 show tickets), and that came with nearly $75 of merch to begin with. The meet & greet happened before the show, and each person/party of people went through the line to get signatures, and pictures. On top of pictures with individual members, they did one of each group with the whole band. There was no sense of rushing to get it over with from anyone involved, everyone in the band had time for individual questions, conversations, etc. It was essentially up to the buyer to determine how long the whole thing lasted. For us personally it was a great experience. It was my mom's birthday the day of the show we did the M&G at, so that was a cool start. On top of that, we're really good friends with Joey, as we see him about once a month doing solo gigs when he's not on tour with Anthrax. When we got to Joey at the signing table, he invited us to hang out with the band after the show as well, for my mom's birthday. After the show we hung out with the guys for another hour and a half, until it was time for them to hit the road for the next show. No one in the band acted any different in the M&G than they did after the show when it was just us and the members' individual personal guests (It was the "hometown" gig, so the rest of the band had a few people there as well). Now, how exactly is something like that ruin the experience for all involved?

I'm not saying the people you meet at a M&G are friendly just because you pay them for. But money should not be the key to meeting them at all in the first place, that's all I'm saying. It should be given away for free, as a personal favour/honor or out of interest in the fanbase, not because some fans have more money than other fans. I'm not criticising the concept of a M&G, I have a problem with the motivation being money.

[Nosaj Thing]

Who cares? God, if you buy a VIP package is because you want to buy a fuckin' one. If you think is NOT cool, or they're overcharging or whatever, then.. don't buy it?

[Georgy Zhukov]

They've sold out since Appetite for Destruction

[Nosaj Thing]

They've sold out since Appetite for Destruction

I don't understand why people care so much about 'selling out'. I don't think they give a fuck.

[sweetness]

I'm not saying the people you meet at a M&G are friendly just because you pay them for. But money should not be the key to meeting them at all in the first place, that's all I'm saying. It should be given away for free, as a personal favour/honor or out of interest in the fanbase, not because some fans have more money than other fans. I'm not criticising the concept of a M&G, I have a problem with the motivation being money.

Money isn't the motivation, it regulates how many people attend the M&G itself. If it was free, it would be a crowded mess, not exclusive at all which is the point of a M&G. For EVERYBODY at the show to get a chance to meet the band and have a picture taken with them is a hell of a lot to ask, don't you think?

[MarlaHooch]

Since when did Guns N' Roses not care about making money?

In order to sell out, I'd think it would first require a statement such as, "We're not in this for the money. We'd do this for free. We're only in it for the fans."

For the record, anytime an artist says this, they're lying. It's catering to 16 year olds who have never had to earn a dollar in their lives and still think everything in life is free.

The show is three hours and they're doing seven songs a night from an album you can't even really buy in stores anymore. They're hardly motivated by money.

$250 for a meet n' greet is actually damn cheap. I'm pretty sure Kiss charge around a grand to meet Not Ace Frehley and Not Peter Criss.

Edited December 27, 2011 by MarlaHooch

[Georgy Zhukov]

They've sold out since Appetite for Destruction

I don't understand why people care so much about 'selling out'. I don't think they give a fuck.

Something had to pay for the drugs

[DirtyDeeds]

I refuse to pay any money to meet anybody, period. Being charged a fee, and a rather large one at that, is demeaning, and suggests on one hand a superiority of the musicians to the fans, and I will not stand for being less than an equal. On the other hand, it suggests that the members of the band are themselves a product, which I feel dehumanizes them and is demeaning to both parties.

And on a whole other level, I'm not that interested in meeting them even for free. I'm sure they really don't care to meet me. I have nothing interesting to say to them. "Hey man, I really enjoyed the show. Your music is very good." Does that add anything to either of our lives or justify either of us being forced to stand around and make an awkward conversation happen? Not really. I have nothing interesting to say to them and they probably have nothing interesting to say to me. Why bother? I'll just go to the show, enjoy it, and go on my merry way. If ever a band member happens to sit down next to me at a bar and we strike up a conversation, that's different, because that is two humans actually socializing, creating an actual, albeit temporary, relationship.

The whole meet and greet idea, especially for a charge, is kind of creepy to me.

[RandallFlagg]

Good points, I wouldn't really be too fussed about meeting anyone in such a setting, nothing against anyone who does nor the band for making some extra money but i'd much rather a somehow organic, natural setting where you can actually get a feeling for the actual person and not the supposed image and none of the you're there and i'm over here kinda deal ya know.

[Georgy Zhukov]

You'd pay for a call girl.

[chevelle]

Any band that spends 14 years making one album, and refuses to reunite it's old line up in the face of millions of dollars being offered, cannot be called a sell out. It just doesn't work.

And besides that, meet and greets are quite common in the industry. Some people want to meet their favorite musicians, without standing outside for hours and praying they come out. $250 isn't bad compared to a lot of other bands' M&G prices, which can go up to at least $1,000 depending on the band. If people want to pay for it, fuck it, let them - it's something special for a comparatively low price.

[Chris 55]

How do you other fans feel about this?

There's no money in CD sales anymore and bands do have to make a living. At least they make the VIP packages worth it

[SR_GR]

They are making a few fans happy with a meet & greet. Anyone can buy the tickets as long as they last. What is wrong with that?

They are not asking that much money for it - just maybe enough to keep those away who are not really interested. There is always that much money for something you really want to do.

Some artists actually like meeting people. I have seen a few like that, they just stay at the location where they were performing. Here it is more like people hesitate to go to talk to them.

A couple of months ago we were at a bar of a rock club and this very famous singer of a rock band came to stand with his friend next to us. He was standing 20 cm behind my friend’s back for almost an hour.

My friend follows the band on tours (5 shows this winter) and said she could go to see them every night and not get bored. She did not turn to talk to him. Actually, nobody went to talk to him (he looks friendly).

Every single person at that club knew who he was. It kind of looked like he wanted to come to talk to us, but without introductions it is not always that easy.

A meet & greet kind of gives permission for both parties to go and introduce yourself.

[Chris 55]

They are making a few fans happy with a meet & greet. Anyone can buy the tickets as long as they last. What is wrong with that?

They are not asking that much money for it - just maybe enough to keep those away who are not really interested. There is always that much money for something you really want to do.

Some artists actually like meeting people. I have seen a few like that, they just stay at the location where they were performing. Here it is more like people hesitate to go to talk to them.

A couple of months ago we were at a bar of a rock club and this very famous singer of a rock band came to stand with his friend next to us. He was standing 20 cm behind my friend’s back for almost an hour.

My friend follows the band on tours (5 shows this winter) and said she could go to see them every night and not get bored. She did not turn to talk to him. Actually, nobody went to talk to him (he looks friendly).

Every single person at that club knew who he was. It kind of looked like he wanted to come to talk to us, but without introductions it is not always that easy.

A meet & greet kind of gives permission for both parties to go and introduce yourself.

It's funny because SOME of those people will then go on to whatever message board and be like "I saw (name here) at the bar but I didn't go up to him like some weirdo and start gushing. I stayed cool and they're just another person, no big deal", when in reality, they're nervous as shit.