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Beat freaks dreaming about Ultra tix are usually shit outta luck for months before the fest even swings opens its kandi-covered gates.
In 2011, UMF ran out of tickets with a full 34 days left until the festival was scheduled to get goin’. And the next year, Ultra passes disappeared a whopping 73 days in advance of the opening bass drops.
But for 2013’s two-weekend, six-day edition of the fest, there were indications that sales might be slowing down. Though tickets for the second Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (which fell on what would normally be the dates of UMF) were gone by the end of January, the opening weekend never actually sold out.
And now for the first time in three years, Ultra tix for the traditional last-weekend in March were up for grabs till the fest’s second day.
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Some might blame the “overexposure of EDM” and what they perceive as its waning popularity. But likely, the cause of sluggish sales is something as simple as discouragingly high Ultra ticket prices.
For this year’s fest, a three-day pass ended up costing $399.95 plus roughly another $100 in fees. And there were lots of annoyed, eye-rolling wannabe UMF ravers who loudly expressed their refusal (via social media, of course) to pay that much.
The outrage reached a peak in May 2013 after Ultra put a limited number of $199.95 early-bird tickets on sale. As we here at Crossfade reported, “the servers were overloaded and tickets were near impossible to snag.” And in protest, thousands of angry ravers took to Facebook with a campaign to #BoycottUltra.
At the time, we suggested Ultra adopt ticket layaway, like many other major music festivals. And that way, cash-strapped party people could afford to buy passes on a payment plan.
The UMF folks eventually did so. But not for another two months.
So maybe for 2015, if the Ultra payment plan is implemented from the very beginning (and if there’s a $50-to-$100 slash in prices?), the ravers will again go so bonkers for tix that dreaming beat-freaks will be shit outta luck with 100 days left.
Or maybe not. And the party’s peaked.
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