Burning Man 2013 Tickets Info

[trilobyte]

Details have been posted!

In a nutshell, 51K tickets will be sold at $380. A low income program will be available, offering 4K tickets at half price, $190. For complete details and dates, check the Ticketing Page or the Burning Blog post. Low income application dates will be posted soon.

Frequently Asked Questions are listed here.
Ticketing support can be found here.

[lemur]

meh.

[maladroit]

It seems fair to me. We can do this.

But more importantly...it begins!

[moonwatcher]

It seems like a good plan. I hope it works.
A lot of thought, planning and work went into this plan. It deserves a shot.

58K tickets coming up!!

[Elliot]

Makes good sense to me. Full steam ahead for That Thing In The Desert 2013!

[Ano]

Woo! This sounds like a pretty good set-up. Raising a glass to all of my burner brethren who will be slamming the F5 key in the coming months around noon PST on random days! It's a part of the fun, in my book, Hehe...

[Playa Hater]

I think it all sounds pretty legit to me. Interested in hearing other peoples opinions. Cause I know it ain't gonna make everyone happy.

[littlewing2]

Bravo to tbe Burning Man org for developing a sane and fair ticketing system this year. You restore my faith. Thank you!

[jkisha]

Yup, like I said in the other thread, I think BMORG got it right this time.

[moonwatcher]

Raising a glass to all of my burner brethren who will be slamming the F5 key in the coming months around noon PST on random days! It's a part of the fun, in my book, Hehe...

Judging from the Holiday Sale, it might feel a bit different this time. Pre-registration is the key that might lead to a more orderly process.
The registration link takes you to a page with one box: your email address. Click "Submit" and with any luck you are sent to a queue where your see an horizontal barber pole type thing telling you to wait. Once in the queue, all you have to do is wait (refreshing might kick you out of the queue). I imagine that in the general sale, the wait could be long, maybe very long. Once your turn comes up, and if there are tickets left, the page automatically refreshes and you see the order form. You are given 15 mins to complete the order. There.

Of course things could be different for the general sale...
At noon on Feb 13, it might be hard to get to the initial registration page and other things could go wrong: timeouts, server crashes, etc.

[winebuff]

Totally agree! GREAT JOB BM PEEPS!!!!

Bravo to tbe Burning Man org for developing a sane and fair ticketing system this year. You restore my faith. Thank you!

[junglesmacks]

Yup. Airtight. I agree 110% with the methodology.

[FIGJAM]

I get the first stupid question!!!

Is it first registered first served, or first come first served on 2/13?

[BBadger]

Damn, that $380 average ticket price is about $60 higher than I expected, increasing about $55 above the previous average. While I'm sure the costs do go up over time, the "we don't use sponsors/ads" reason is nothing new; so it doesn't explain a price increase with a comparable population. The comparison to other event pricing excuse is also pretty lame, and is more of a rationalization as it has never been a driving force behind BM ticket pricing. Also, they should at least update the After Burn report and Financials data with last year's totals (or even 2011's) before citing it.

They need to come up with something better. Hell, I'd even be content with: "We ain't got no added costs. We're just increasing prices in response to demand [to keep out the weekenders]." GOOD reasons.

Oh and yeah, glad we're returning to basics with the ticket sales.

[junglesmacks]

I get the first stupid question!!!

Is it first registered first served, or first come first served on 2/13?

It's open pre-register in no order from 2/6 to 2/10 and then first come first served on 2/13 just like old times.

What I'm curious about is what happens to those people that don't register during that 4 hour window? I'm assuming that there will be various registrations windows between Feb and June-ish?

[MacGlenver]

Too many good vibes here. I hate the new process!

it's really good...

[maladroit]

It's a 4 day window and I don't think they'll have any problem getting 40,000 registrations in that period.

[trilobyte]

FIGJAM - it's first come, first served on the 13th - among the pool of pre-registered buyers (also known as a restricted open sale). You can register at any time between the 6th and 10th and it will have no bearing on your place in the queue on the 13th.

BBadger - you may be under the mistaken impression that you're entitled to an explanation of all cost/pricing decisions. Personally I think Burning Man has no more obligation to explain changes in price than a favorite band or some other festival is obligated to explain increased costs compared to last year's events or tours. I think the Afterburn report is greater visibility than most events (or other purchases) provide. There are plans to update the 'where the ticket money goes' page in the near future, but probably not the kind of detail you're looking for.

junglesmacks - it's a 4 day window, not 4 hours. Those who do not register during that time will not be able to participate in the individual sale. They will, however, be able to participate in STEP.

[junglesmacks]

Sorry.. I meant 4 day.

So.. no matter what, there will be no other ticket registration window opened? STEP will have totally open access though the whole way through?

[trilobyte]

If the tickets in the Individual Sale do not sell out rapidly, they'll continue to be available to those who registered until supplies run out (kind of like how there are still Pre-Sale tickets available as of this writing). On the off-chance that there are fewer registrants than there are tickets being offered in that sale, they may roll any unsold quantity into the OMG Sale in August.

If you miss the Individual Sale registration, your next option is STEP, and then the OMG Sale.

[lavender_green]

It seems like a good plan. The only part I don't understand is how are they going to offer tickets to art installations when you can't register your art project yet? How do they know who will be making art?

I understand rewarding the same old tired theme camp chestnuts that come back every year. But art doesn't do that!

[trilobyte]

You say 'tired old chestnuts' like returning artists and camps don't often do amazing things.

More details and information on the targeted sale are forthcoming, but Burning Man has pretty detailed information on artists, MV builders, and theme camps from previous years' applications (as well as performance-related stuff like complaints on file, MOOP map scores, etc). Last year's directed tickets distribution was similarly restricted to artists/camps that had previously registered - this year's would include things that were new in 2012.

By having the targeted sale in advance of the main sale, it will also have the benefit of relieving some of the demand for tickets in the individual sale. Even if your camp, art car, etc doesn't directly benefit from targeted distribution that's 10,000 fewer people in the queue on the 13th of February.

[Bellemcky]

Thanks for the good plan. As some folks here said, I'm happy with it and respect the new process.

Now on to conjuring up what my loved ones and I can contribute to the Burn and its Community! Art, cooperation, cargo cult.

[FeetOfClay]

not crazy about all tickets being $380...but what are ya gonna do?

[maladroit]

If you need Low Income tickets, apply for Low Income tickets. This way, everyone gets a fair shot. No more of this elbowing other Burners in the face in a mad scramble to get the cheap tickets, so other people can pick up the tab for your burn although you could have afforded it.

Plus, it's a little less than I paid last year

[trilobyte]

Personally, I think tiered pricing had its place in the sun, when supply was generally greater than demand. But even as far back as when I started participating in 2004 tiered pricing was basically an early bird discount. Lowest tier was always the first to sell out, at first within an hour and in later years within minutes. It's not that the less fortunate were all pushed to the front of the queue, it's that the overwhelming majority were buying the lowest available price. It's also worth pointing out that for more than half the people who purchased tickets to last year's event, this year's ticket price represents a slight decrease.

People have had (and will have) months to save up for the ticket. Even if you don't have the $$ together for the Individual Sale, there is STEP and then the OMG sale. If no matter what that price is just plain out of reach, then the low income program is something you should consider applying for.

[BBadger]

I love the idea of the OMG sale. It's another sucker-punch to the scalpers thinking they can just bide their time until the end.

[tamarakay]

I like it. a good step back and a deep breathe.round table discussions and some good things came of it. My Dye shop will be there,even better than previously planned.Talkin aoubt a mutant vehicle of sorts.
Logistic logistic logitcsf

[moonwatcher]

I have a question. I hope Trilo can find the answer...

If you registered for one sale, can you also register for a subsequent one?
For example, say someone buys 2 tickets in the general sale, finds out in April they can't go and re-sells the tickets (changing the order info). Then in June, it's "OMG! I can go after all !!"...can they register for STEP or the OMG sale?

The tickets page info says "The name on the credit card used to purchase the ticket order is the name on the ticket order" and to me that suggests that once you have an order in, you will not be allowed to purchase tickets again.

The answer to the question may affect how people react to changing personal situations in the coming months. In other words, if folks have no other opportunities to get tickets, they might hold on to their tickets even though they might not be sure they can go.

Thanks!

[9ah]

Damn, that $380 average ticket price is about $60 higher than I expected, increasing about $55 above the previous average. While I'm sure the costs do go up over time, the "we don't use sponsors/ads" reason is nothing new; so it doesn't explain a price increase with a comparable population. The comparison to other event pricing excuse is also pretty lame, and is more of a rationalization as it has never been a driving force behind BM ticket pricing. Also, they should at least update the After Burn report and Financials data with last year's totals (or even 2011's) before citing it.

They need to come up with something better. Hell, I'd even be content with: "We ain't got no added costs. We're just increasing prices in response to demand [to keep out the weekenders]." GOOD reasons.

Oh and yeah, glad we're returning to basics with the ticket sales.

I can only speak on the events I have helped plan, organise and oversee. We were required in some places to have X amount of paid security for every X number of people. I don't know if BMorg has certain rules they need to adhere to. This is just my expereince, which adds cost with each additional body that we sold tickets for.

With added people at my events we also needed X number of extra volunteers, which we provide food, uniforms and such for. With more volunteers you need more comm. devices which equate to added rental fees (which shot up for us in 2012 over in NY). We also need to provide X number of additional portapotties, which mean added servicing costs with the additional attendees and volunteers. I am not saying that BMorg has to adhere to these same rules. This is just my experience.

Lastly a larger event requires more staff to properly oversee it. We are adding additional staffers to maintain and grow our events. More staffers cost us more money. My org. relies primarily on sponsorships. I can only imagine what we would do without our sponsors in our case.

As I mentioned I am not saying that this is what BMorg does or that my orgs situation is identical to theirs. I am just offering up situations that I have seen first hand when organizing events for a 501c3.

Good luck finding the info you are looking for.