Tips, tricks to acquiring free admission for favorite artists
My name is Kristyn, and I win concert tickets. A lot.
I’ve seen Drake, Jason Mraz, Justin Bieber and Blink-182 for free — on radio stations’ and concert venues’ dime — and that’s only a handful of the artists I’ve won tickets to see. In 2012 alone, I won three pairs of tickets. Some people say I’m lucky, but I put a lot of effort into it.
Want to learn how to be a ticket-winning pro like me? Read on to learn my tips, tricks and secrets.
1. Listen to the radio.
It may be tempting to plug in your MP3 player or throw a CD into your car’s stereo system while you’re driving. Yeah, eight minutes of local car commercials can get annoying, but there’s a trade-off: free tickets. Radio stations get free tickets for most shows that come to town, and they’re itching to give them to you. Listen as often as you can and you’ll likely find out what time the contests will be. Many contests require contestants to be a certain caller (ninth caller, 100th caller, etc. — it varies per station and per contest), so put those phone numbers in your speed dial and hit call as soon as you hear the announcer say, “Call.” Be patient. You may get a busy signal on your first or even fifth try, but sometimes you can still get through. Have your friends join in on the fun for even better chances. Join your favorite stations’ email lists for even more contests (many that are exclusively for email members).
2. Scour Twitter.
Twitter is the perfect forum for contests, and typically entering a contest requires little more than hitting the retweet button. Follow your favorite concert venues (my personal favorites are The Fillmore and Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Charlotte, N.C., and The Orange Peel in Asheville, N.C.) for a chance to see bands when they roll into your town or state. Want a broader look at the Carolina scene? Follow @LiveNationNCSC for the latest news and giveaways at venues across both states. I follow that account on my phone, so I never miss a contest even when I’m away from my computer. (I don’t have a smartphone, but that hasn’t stopped me.)
3. Be a super fan.
Bands and artists love their fans. We buy albums, T-shirts, posters and pretty much anything they slap their names or photographs on. We are the reason they can follow their dreams. Sometimes they pay us back with free swag, the best of which are concert tickets. Most of us follow our favorite artists on Twitter and Facebook already (and if you don’t, how dare you call yourself a fan), so look out for posts about contests.
4. Don’t give up.
So you didn’t win? It’s OK. The odds are pretty insane most of the time. I enter three contests a week on average and am lucky to win three in a year. Just because it didn’t pan out for you this time doesn’t mean you won’t have another chance somewhere down the line. In the words of Effie Trinket from “Hunger Games,” “may the odds be ever in your favor!”