Burning Man's New Lottery Ticketing System Provokes Outrage

By Rebecca Haithcoat Mon., Nov. 21 2011 at 8:06 AM

See also: Burning Man 2011 Sold Out, Literally and Figuratively; Tickets Go for $5,000 on eBay

Earlier this month, Burning Man's newsletter announced a new lottery system for buying tickets to the 2012 edition of the the seven-day experimental arts and music festival.

It works like this: During a two-week registration period that begins next week, buyers pick a "pricing tier" and enter a credit card number. Lotteries are then held for each tier, choosing names at random. Since tickets aren't sold at walk-up outlets or at the gate, if you aren't picked, you might not be able to go.

Organizers call the new system a solution to last year's ticketing problems. In July, Burning Man tickets sold out for the first time, opening the door for scalpers, who jacked up $360 ticket prices to as much as $5,000.

But the lottery system is already stirring outrage. Commenters on Burning Man forums are worried that they won't be able to get tickets for all the members in their camps, and that scalpers will overwhelm the process. Long-time Burners, meanwhile, worry the new system will exclude those who have contributed and supported the event for years.

"People hear the word 'lottery' and it reminds them of taking chances. It's really just a tool for managing the flow of tickets," countered Marian Goodell, Burning Man's director of business and communications, to Huffington Post.

Your first shot at registering for tickets goes from November 28th to December 11th. Only 3,000 tickets will be available in this first round, however, and, at $420, they're even more expensive than last go around. During the next lottery -- in January -- 40,000 will be sold, and finally, another 10,000 tickets will be made available for open sale in March. There will also be more low-income tickets this year, organizers say, but details have not yet been announced.

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Hempfrog

after i go thru the extra hassle and expense of obtaining a ticket.Nobody better bitch about moop, throwing trash in porta potties ETC.If I have to pay 600+ for a scalped ticket I will do whatever the fuck I please and god help anyone who interferes with my burn. you want to turn BM into a commercial joke, then for my ticket price I will just enjoy myself and expect to be left alone by the tree hugging assholes that fucked it all up in the first place. Hope u dont cross my path..........SATAN

Philip Goetz

I can't see how Burning Man can survive if a camp can't rely on being able to get its entire crew to Burning Man. Who's going to spend half a year building an art car if they don't know if they'll even be able to go?

Morgana99

I totally don’t know why this adds up to 50,000. There should clearly be several hundred, if not thousand tickets set aside for: returning honorarium artists, past major participants and major theme camps. this shows a real lack of respect for those that REALLY make Burning man what it is (the artists)

whitelitebarbie

This does not logically work in my mind...... can someone please explain the pros?

Aaron M.

A regular attendee would make the effort to get the tickets but the curious or first time crowd may think twice about making the effort thus avoiding overselling. Otherwise, I don't see how this solves the resell issue.