Features
Asia News: Eventbrite HK Platform, Tokyo Olympics Tickets, Denki Groove Member Trial
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Eventbrite Launches Hong Kong Platform
Eventbrite announced on May 6 that it was launching a localized platform in Hong Kong. The global ticketing and event technology platform says it will offer many new features to “empower local event creators.”
Eventbrite.hk will be one of the first platforms in Asia to benefit from the company’s “Publish to Facebook” feature, which allows event-goers to purchase tickets directly through Facebook. Eventbrite also announced a local partnership with Louis Vuitton Hong Kong where the platform will bolster ticket sales for LV-sponsored events in the city.
With Hong Kong’s growing appetite for live events, Eventbrite is expanding its reach on the continent following its February debut in Singapore. More than 6,500 Hong Kong event creators are already using Eventbrite to sell 2.2 million tickets to 34,000 events. According to the company’s own research, 84 percent of local residents attended an event in the past 12 months with 37 percent saying they “intend to increase the number of events they [will] attend in the next year.” Four out five respondents say they would rather spend money on experiences rather than possessions.
Tokyo Olympics Tickets On Sale
On May 9, the website for registering to buy tickets for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics went online for residents of Japan. According to Kyodo News, the site was flooded with activity causing the process to slow down considerably. After the site opened at 10 a.m., ticket seekers reported having difficulty logging in. “Tens of thousands of applicants” were “stuck in a queue…waiting for access,” said the news service.
Organizers later said that about 1.3 million attempts were made to access the site by 5 p.m. that day, and at one point those waiting online to be serviced numbered 180,000. Some say they waited more than two hours. The organizers tried to solve the logjam while it was happening, but in the end many people were unable to apply for the tickets they wanted, thus prompting a public apology from Hidenori Suzuki, the organizing committee’s head of ticketing. Applications are still being taken until May 28, and since ticketing is not on a first-come, first-serve basis, people can still apply for tickets for the events they want to attend. Tickets for the most popular events will be allocated by lottery. Those applying for tickets were required to register beforehand, and as of May 8 2.95 million people had registered, or about a million more people that those who had registered beforehand for the 2012 London Olympics. As of midnight May 9, the number of registered buyers had increased to 3.2 million.
Tickets are available for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as all 33 sports except boxing, which is undergoing an inquiry from the International Olympic Committee executive board. Following the registration period and the lottery, successful applicants must purchase their tickets by July 2. Remaining tickets will go on sale in the fall on a first-come, first-serve basis. Overseas ticket seekers can only buy tickets from authorized dealers in their own countries.
In other Olympic news, Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun newspaper is reporting that the oganizers are purposely setting aside blocks of tickets to sell at lower prices to young people in order to boost the popularity of sports. It’s believed that sporting events are declining in popularity among younger generations of Japanese, so the organizers, in concert with the government, will supply tickets to less popular events to young people at discounts of around 2,000 yen ($18). In addition, there will also be discounts on tickets sold to people who are accompanied by children under the age of 13, people over 60, and people with disabilities. Cheaper tickets will also be provided to schools.
According to the Mainichi, sports is sagging in popularity among young people, who tend to spend a lot of time online. For this reason, the 2020 Games will include skateboarding, sports climbing and surfing as new events in order to attract a younger audience.
However, with about a million tickets targeted for discounts, the organizers are afraid of financial shortfalls, since 15 percent of the operating budget will come from ticket revenues. Moreover, accommodations will have to be secured for children coming from outside of Tokyo, and the organizers have said it’s a problem they are still working on.
Denki Groove Member Headed To Court
Pierre Taki, one half of the popular Japanese electropop duo Denki Groove, is set to be tried for using cocaine on June 5 in the Tokyo District Court. Taki, whose real name is Masanori Taki, has already admitted to using the drug at his Tokyo apartment and is presently free on bail. According to various local media, police have been questioning him as to how and where he obtained the drug.
Since Taki is such a huge presence in Japanese popular culture—in addition to his musical activities with Denki Groove, he is also an in-demand actor and voice talent—his arrest has had a very big effect on the Japanese entertainment world, which tends to rely heavily on a small circle of people. The latest news in this regard is that Taki is no longer providing the voice for the snowman Olaf in the Japanese dubbed version of Disney’s “Frozen 2.”