Anthony Volodkin is fascinated

msg:

photo taken by @ultragrrrl found via @unclegrambo 

(@msg , is that u?) RT @ultragrrrl: Someone help a brother out with Yeah Yeah Yeahs tickets! @ Webster Hall instagram.com/p/X03n0ZMLJr/

— Mark Graham (@unclegrambo) 

April 8, 2013

Sunday night my buddy Jordan and I set out to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Webster Hall.

We didnt have tickets but we brought our hustle and good looks.

The game plan was to scalp but not pay more than $50 per ticket (face was ~$35)

Doors opened at 8pm and YYY was scheduled to go on at 10.

We got there at 7:45pm to see if there were any extra tix at the door and scope out the scalper situation. Wasnt looking good since 20 other people had the same idea, so we went to grab dinner and came back around 9. 

Jordan got in at 9:20 [for the price of 2 drinks]

I got in at 9:59 [with a VIP ticket for $35]

Show started a little after 10 and man on man is Karen O a great performer.

——

Here are some tips in case you want to take a stab at scalping:

Rule #1 Stay Positive

• Dont give up hope.  As in Life you will get more NO’s then YES’s but you just need 1 yes to get in. (In our case we needed 2 :)
• All you have to do is ask people if they have an extra ticket with a smile.

Bring a sign 

• we didnt bring one but someone who did gave the sign to Jordan who then gave the sign to me.
• people assume that if you have a sign you must really want to go because you made an effort.
• the sign does the selling; anyone who wants to get rid of a ticket will approach you first.

If you need more than one ticket - split up

• Nobody is going to a concert with TWO EXTRA tickets
• I would recommend taking to the corners closest to the venue*
• Another great option is to ask people as they are coming out of cabs*

Digital ticket holders are the best way to scalp tickets*

• many people purchase digital tickets these days and they cant really sell them unless they go through the trouble of printing them out.
• So try to approach people who dont have tickets/envelope in hand

* This is how we both got our tickets.

Pick your price before hand + Pool your $ if you go w/ a buddy

• I sorta goofed on this one. As mentioned we decided we didnt want to pay more than $50/each but we didnt say $100 total.
• Jordan got in first and while I was waiting I was offered a ticket for $70. Instead I offered $50 and played it off like I didnt want to even go to the show. (another dumb approach since there were 4 other buyers next to me) The guy just turned to the pro scalper next to me and sold it for $65. I couldve offered him the asking price because Jordan got his for less than face [didnt know that at the time but shouldve asked] and he wouldve covered the difference. Didnt make a difference since I ended up getting a ticket for $35 but still lesson learned.

Don’t offer to buy peoples tickets off of them

• There were some people trying to offer people double face value for their tickets to no luck. If someone schlepped to the show its because they came to enjoy the show and not to make a buck.

Don’t buy tickets from “professional” scalpers

• A number of ppl outside purchased fakes :( by the time they came outside the scalper was gone. 

Lastly enjoy the show!

And most importantly, there is always a way in (with a rare exceptional show with extreme demand like Radiohead)

fictivekin:

The biggest April Fools’ joke this year isn’t actually a joke. It’s a true story of needlessly wasted content, frustrated users, and a less-than-graceful exit.

Graceful Exits

Yesterday, on the heels of its acquisition, popular recipe site Punchfork closed its doors. This kind of acquisition…

Worth reading, Internet.

Hype Machine on the TODAY Show, flawlessly described. 

Starts at 00:57

"If you’re an aspiring author, director, musician, startup founder, these long stretches of nothing are a huge reason why it’s important to pick something personally meaningful, something that you actually love to do. When external rewards and validation are nonexistent; when you suffer through bouts where of jealousy, wondering “How come so-and-so got signed/is successful/got a deal/etc?”; when every new development seems like a kick in the stomach, the love of what you are doing gives you something to hang onto."

Ang Lee and the uncertainty of success | jeffjlin.com (via jenbee)

This x 1000

(via jenbee)

(via newspeedwayboogie)

cashmusic:

Today we’re opening up the hosted version of our platform to public testing. It’s exciting. And terrifying. There are things we’re still working on, changes to be made, and almost no documentation. But the simple truth is that it works really well for some things, so we figured it was better…

Cyriak - Meow Mix

What lost is now found.  I won’t lose you again, weird cat video.  See also, Cyriak’s video for the new Bonobo track, Cirrus

hypem:

We’ve recovered 5+ years of Hype Machine Popular data to build a Time Machine—music people were most excited about, from 2007 through last week. Step in!

rickwebb:

smallgirls:

The New York Times caught us at our pink covered desks in our co-working space, Secret Clubhouse.  Check out the piece on North Brooklyn start-ups and office spaces.  :)

Did you guys know we’ve worked at 3 co-working spaces in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area in the last 2 and a half years??  Yeah! Go #BK.

My coworking space in the New York times today. So excited. Lights by strle!

Great to see the Secret Clubhouse in the NYT, finally a space that Hype Machine can call home.

"To recognize yourself in the last pages of Atlas Shrugged, gloating over the ruins of civilization, may be fine if you are fantasizing about schoolyard bullies and snobbish cheerleaders receiving their comeuppance. But to turn such anger into a politics and a religion is not a fit preoccupation for adults. To be an adult is to recognize a sense of obligation: to a partner, a child, a community. Ayn Rand came to America because her relatives in Chicago helped her. They were an ordinary, hard-working, religious Jewish family. I wonder if she ever thanked them."

Probably the best assessment of most of Ayn Rand’s work by Jim Aune, a professor at Texas A&M who recently passed away. [via P]

hypem:

Thanks for being with us this year!

Required Anil Dash Reading

Captive Atria and Living in Public - on the value of public space in general, and more specifically on the web.

The Web We Lost - although somewhat nostalgic, a smart look at where we were a few year ago and where we ended up now.

Rebuilding the Web We Lost - where can we go if we think of creating the web and interactive spaces as public spaces

hmzeitgeist:

Cat Power — Sun

(Animated by Max Capacity)

Vote for your album of the year in the 2012 Music Blog Zeitgeist!

hypem:

The top tracks and most-blogged artists of 2012 have been revealed, and now we want to hear from you—which albums will you remember the year by?

We’ve partnered with Tumblr to create GIFs of 75 releases that music bloggers have been talking about this year. Visit the Zeitgeist Tumblr and reblog to vote for your favorites in the ultimate list of the best music of 2012. 

Voting closes on December 20. 

These are so good

hypem:

(Illustration by Olivia Mew)

The Hype Machine 2012 Music Blog Zeitgeist is LIVE! 

We’ve released our entire list of the 50 most-blogged artists of the year, with beautiful original artwork for each one. And there’s a brand-new Zeitgeist mix from Major Lazer! 

Enjoy this snapshot of the music of 2012, and stay tuned—there’s even more Zeitgeist goodness to come from us and Tumblr.

These are so beautiful