Tickets for new Broadway musicals usually go on sale to the public around 6 months before the first preview.

Gettin’ the Band Back Together starts performances on Broadway in about 9 months, on July 19, 2018.

Despite the fact that you could make a baby between now and when our curtain goes up, I put single tickets on sale today.

That’s right, you can get tickets to Gettin’ the Band Back Together right now.

Oh, and for the next seven days only, all tickets for all preview performances (including the best seats in the house) aren’t premium priced at $199, or even full priced at $159.

Yep, prime orch seats for previews (while they last) are only $50.  (If you don’t want to read the rest of the post and just want to grab your tickets now, I’ll understand.  You can get the tix here. I’ll wait.)

Are you back?  Did you get ’em?  Good.

Now, why am I putting my tickets on sale so far in advance?

Well, first, let’s talk about why I would NOT put tickets on sale so far in advance.

First, it costs money.  Yep, the longer a show goes on sale with single tickets, the more it costs.  There are fees to the ticketing company, for starters.  And, what many don’t know is that there is also a union rule that ties the number of weeks you’re on sale to when your box office opens.  The further in advance you go on sale, the sooner you have to put your box office on payroll.

Second, most shows wait to go on sale until they have advertising and media to support it since it costs the show money to sell those tickets.

Lastly, unless they have something to talk about, most shows just don’t believe they’ll sell any tickets since conventional wisdom says people don’t buy as far out in advance anymore.

Obviously, I believe it’s worth the money and time to start now.  And since Gettin’ The Band Back Together is that rare and endangered thing . . . a totally new musical not based on any movie, book or nuthin’, these decisions are big ones.

Here are three reasons why I’m going on sale so early:

1. It makes it real.

The moment someone can buy tickets to an event, the more real it is for that consumer.  It feels more definite.  More secure.  And they’ll be more comfortable buying a ticket.  We’re starting this “comforting” process early, with the hopes that by the time we do start paid media on the show, they’ll already feel this show is “real” and therefore speed up conversions.

2. Ticket buyers talk.

Word of mouth starts when someone makes a purchase. Customers talk about what they buy. They’re proud of it (especially when there’s a deal), and want to share it with friends.  By going on sale further out, we’ll start some discussion much earlier.  And again, while many of those people may not buy now, it’ll hopefully speed up conversions later.

3. Some people DO buy in advance.

It’s easy to generalize and say people don’t buy tickets in advance anymore.  And while there is some truth to it, there are still a whole bunch of people who DO buy in advance, especially when they have a reason to (see $50 offer described above!).  So why not make sure you’re available to those folks now?  This is even more true for a show like Gettin’ The Band, which starts performances in the summer, a time when people are on vacation, and therefore DO make those plans so far out.  If we’re not on sale early enough, we’ll never be an option.

Now, since it is challenging to get people to click “Buy Now” further out, and since I don’t have any casting or other fun things to announce (soon!), I have to do something special if I want to stir some actual sales now.  Sure, we did the show before, got some great reviews, and have a great team attached, but that’s not enough to really encourage people to ACT NOW.

Hence the offer for $50 tickets for the best seats in the house, at a time when I know people are more agitated than ever about the increasing cost of great seats to Broadway shows.  (And by the way, the “best seats” part is important . . . in every focus group I’ve done, I often find that seat location is just as important if not MORE important than price!).

Now, what makes that $50 price more compelling is that it’s technically “illegal.”  Ok, it doesn’t break any actual laws to offer such a steep price cut, but it breaks a few Broadway laws.  See, there are rules set by the theater owners that govern pricing.  They have to approve what you’re charging for full price, premium price, and they typically won’t allow discounts more than 40% off the full price.

We had to get a special dispensation to give you a price this low.  And thankfully for all of us, they agreed!  The caveat?  We can only offer this “unauthorized” offer for 7 days.  So, if you were ever thinking of coming to Gettin’ The Band, and wanted a great seat, this is your only chance to get a ticket for this more than 40% off rate. (If you didn’t get your tickets earlier, you can go get ’em now.  I’m patient.  I’ll wait.)

The takeaway for you?

The longer you have to sell your product, the more of your product you’ll sell, no matter what that product is.  So get your stuff on sale as soon as possible and give your consumers a compelling reason to act now . . . and they will.

Oh, and yeah, get your $50 orchestra seats to see Gettin’ The Band Back Together now.  Because you’ve only got 7 days (until 11:59PM on November 8th!) before prices go up.