Early bird tickets went on sale yesterday for Ultra Music Festival 2014 at the basement bargain price of $150 USD. Unfortunately, purchasing tickets was problematic for a lot of users and downright impossible for others. This morning, Ultra Music festival was boasting that their servers would not crash this year; but shortly after ticket sales went online, that’s exactly what happened. Long load times, page refresh errors, maintenance messages, and ridiculously over priced GA tickets has sparked a slurry of outrage from a large group of would be festival goers.
Ultra Music Festival has rightfully secured its place as one of the biggest festivals in the world, so naturally one would assume that ticketing for the event would be provided with the same high level of service we expect from UMF. Sadly this was not the case today. After conquering the long loads and errors many potential customers were met with a sudden price hike in tickets as the early bird tickets were depleted. We can only hope that with the outrage of the EDM community, Ultra Music Festival will lower their ticket prices and re connect with their outraged fans.
I understand how someone could be incredibly angry after spending time out of their day to snag reduced cost tickets only to be led to an outrageously expensive GA ticket costing well over $400 USD. We understand that big festivals like UMF are prone to rapid sellouts but given the shoddy web service a same day price increase of over $250 is an absolute slap in the face to EDM lovers. Price increase aside $500 for a GA ticket is almost absurd. I understand that Ultra is a popular festival but there’s no chance in hell I could afford a $500 ticket on top of the expenses of staying in Miami. Pricing the tickets so high will obviously alienate a large base of fans and this could be a mistake on the part of the Ultra team.
Despite the fact UMF is a global powerhouse, incidents like this cause fans to resent being burned by a brand they once respected. We have no idea if UMF intends to take any action after today’s events, but we can only hope that they will help out the very fans who helped them create their brand.
Were you burned by the UMF 2014 early bird ticket sales? Leave us a comment let us know how you feel.
yeah Pegah Ahmadiian this is some bullshit cant lie.
read it
No chance in HELL I’m ever going to Ultra. I like much smaller scale festivals that don’t rip you off but still have an awesome line-up of artists.
500$ is almost as retarded as a llama trying to play baseball with a pioneer mixer and a speaker on the side playing justin beiber.
It isn’t a social networking site, it isn’t supposed to have 300,000+ people on it at once.
From 150 to 500? WTF? this festival is getting crazy 🙁
I was also surprised by the ticket hike. It was my goal to go to EDC this year and UMF next year. I can go to EDC on a VIP pass at the same price as a UMF GA pass. That’s insane! There are plenty of other festivals out there. This is doing a great disservice to the fans and catering to a select group of festival goers. If it’s UMF’s goal is to alienate the younger and less fortunate, then they’ve achieved it with the 2014 prices.
Totally agree! I feel disappointed with such decision on having overpricing tickets and this makes difficult when you have to travel from outside US and pay for Hotel, food, etc… and to this you have to add the price of $8 each beer and food ($10-$20) for 3 days makes this ridiculous expensive. They though out a survey before and I guess they didn’t take in consider it. I hope they regret of such decision. Ultra Music Festival.
Fully planned on going but with the price hike ill be able to spend that much on three other festivals with all the same artists
It’s sad that the group that has supported Ultra and made it what it is today won’t be attending next year. For many people the $500 GA is more than a financial burden, it’s a slap in the face to those who truly want to come together and celebrate life to beautiful music. This ticket fiasco is a statement…Ultra is now a mainstream show to be filled with people who don’t value rave culture and the edm lifestyle.
I agree and UMF are making a mistake for the ticket hike that will cause a lot of edm lovers to go to other festivals.
I agree and UMF are making a mistake for the ticket hike that will cause a lot of edm lovers to go to other festivals.
This article perfectly sums up everything that TENS OF THOUSANDS of angry fans of Ultra are feeling right now. Ahem, we mean… ex-fans of Ultra.
This article perfectly sums up everything that TENS OF THOUSANDS of angry fans of Ultra are feeling right now. Ahem, we mean… ex-fans of Ultra.
We’re so sad that Ultra did this to us. All the anger, All the trolling. It all comes from a place of depression. All the thousands of us who were burned by the executive board of UMF were just so shot down. Overcome with sadness at the speed that the Early Bird tickets sold out, many of UMF’s loyal fans, myself included, stayed on and attempted to purchase the second tier. We were all burned again. I read through the comments on UMF’s Facebook page, and it seemed that the few who were able to make it through to their check out page and purchase the advance general admission did so out of pure dumb luck. The rest the early birds fell into the hands of scalpers. Ultra promised us that they always took steps to avoid their 3 Day passes ending up on Stub Hub or other third party websites. This promise was not kept. Ultra promised that their servers wouldn’t crash on us yesterday and everyone would have a fair chance to purchase their early birds. This promise was also broken. How can Ultra expect to keep their main fan base (kids who can’t normally afford $500 + lodging expenses) when they keep letting them down? The result of all this was the boycott of Ultra…..They crossed a line when they did this to their fans. Our relationship with Ultra as fans came to a standstill. We pay them, they provide entertainment, but we already spend so much money. How can they do this? It makes us wants to leave Ultra behind. They have to understand that if we were to leave behind what we love so much, they still can’t see that they hurt their fans? I’m including myself in this fan base. We aren’t angry. We’re sad that UMF would treat us this way. Ultra Music Festival was the best time of my life last year around. I had so much fun with my girlfriend. It saddens me deeply that I will never be able to experience Ultra again. At least if the ticket prices stay the same way and if Ultra keeps breaking their promises.
We’re so sad that Ultra did this to us. All the anger, All the trolling. It all comes from a place of depression. All the thousands of us who were burned by the executive board of UMF were just so shot down. Overcome with sadness at the speed that the Early Bird tickets sold out, many of UMF’s loyal fans, myself included, stayed on and attempted to purchase the second tier. We were all burned again. I read through the comments on UMF’s Facebook page, and it seemed that the few who were able to make it through to their check out page and purchase the advance general admission did so out of pure dumb luck. The rest the early birds fell into the hands of scalpers. Ultra promised us that they always took steps to avoid their 3 Day passes ending up on Stub Hub or other third party websites. This promise was not kept. Ultra promised that their servers wouldn’t crash on us yesterday and everyone would have a fair chance to purchase their early birds. This promise was also broken. How can Ultra expect to keep their main fan base (kids who can’t normally afford $500 + lodging expenses) when they keep letting them down? The result of all this was the boycott of Ultra…..They crossed a line when they did this to their fans. Our relationship with Ultra as fans came to a standstill. We pay them, they provide entertainment, but we already spend so much money. How can they do this? It makes us wants to leave Ultra behind. They have to understand that if we were to leave behind what we love so much, they still can’t see that they hurt their fans? I’m including myself in this fan base. We aren’t angry. We’re sad that UMF would treat us this way. Ultra Music Festival was the best time of my life last year around. I had so much fun with my girlfriend. It saddens me deeply that I will never be able to experience Ultra again. At least if the ticket prices stay the same way and if Ultra keeps breaking their promises.
Its really sad because it makes festivals more about who is Posh enough to afford it rather than who truly loves the music. Im in college and struggle to pay my rent but I find peace and happiness through our music. But I dont get the chance to experience a festival of that magnitude because of greed? On one hand I understand that Ultra is a business and dont really have a moral obligation to anyone. That being said, I feel that they need to understand that the crowd the are catering to isn’t focused on worldly gains such as money or stature. In my opinion it would be so much better for Ultra to be known for how it treats its fans to amazing spectacles while still making the experience available to many people. This way will spread the message of EDM and Ultra will be respected rather than scorned.
Its really sad because it makes festivals more about who is Posh enough to afford it rather than who truly loves the music. Im in college and struggle to pay my rent but I find peace and happiness through our music. But I dont get the chance to experience a festival of that magnitude because of greed? On one hand I understand that Ultra is a business and dont really have a moral obligation to anyone. That being said, I feel that they need to understand that the crowd the are catering to isn’t focused on worldly gains such as money or stature. In my opinion it would be so much better for Ultra to be known for how it treats its fans to amazing spectacles while still making the experience available to many people. This way will spread the message of EDM and Ultra will be respected rather than scorned.
I don’t know a single person that was able to get the early bird ticket for 150 before fees. Shaddy.
I don’t know a single person that was able to get the early bird ticket for 150 before fees. Shaddy.
You guys should discuss how Alex Omes, one of the Ultra organizers, screwed thousands of fans out of money when UR1 was cancelled and money was never returned.
If UMF does not lower their prices, I WILL NOT be able to attend. I imagine there are a majority of people in the same situation, I really hope they reconsider this.
GO TO TOMORROWWORLD save your money… I wanted to go so bad to ultra next year but after I saw yesterday no hell fucking no! money grabbers that’s what ultra is, plus the age limit is 13 years old, a rave is not appropriate for kids.
Ultra can suck it. They fucked up last year and just topped themselves this year. Fuck that festival. Way better ones out there!
I now hate Ultra for what they did yesterday. Article is correct… WE, the fans, help made their brand. They need to always and forever remember that. Without the fans, they are nothing.
I couldn’t get in to make my purchase when it was 150. I was excited when they made the announcement to fix the problem by releasing more early bird tickets. NO mention of the new batch being a totally different price, 275. I didn’t even get a chance to consider it or check to see if that was an error by them, came back to the page 5-10 min later and I still couldn’t access the purchase page and kept getting errors. Then I noticed it went thru and now the price had changed AGAIN to 399 which comes out to 505 on the final page. The 399 had ZERO errors or connection issues. No word what so ever from them about how this was going to go down, no mention that other price range tickets were going to be available, no word about how many of each cheaper ticket was offered (if any). Just spams for weeks from them drilling 145 price tickets now we’re stuck with 505 dollar tickets. I feel duped and treated like shit by them, a company and festival I support whole heartily for multiple years as a customer. I felt the 378 dollar tickets were a bit outrageous given the quality of the crowd, venue and security was below average especially placed in a city such as Miami where the costs are already inflated to just visit. Two years ago the tickets were like 170 ish and that was absolutely perfect. You still needed to spend quite a bit of money on clubs, hotel, food etc but least the ticket was reasonable. 500 is INSANE Especially with 90 of it going towards a “service fee” that encompasses what exactly? Because my service I got from UMF SUCKED giant D. You can’t afford better servers with the money you rack in over the years of selling out 1 and 2 festivals? You have zero idea about the line up and no new features for being 10 months away but have to pay 500 bucks, seems totally unrealistic unless your parents just throw money at you or you’re a working professional (the EDM scene is majorly college kids and we were given NO advance that tickets were 500 we were only spammed 145). I will never attend UMF again until this is straightened out and a GIANT apology is given, I rather attend EDC and Tomorrowland least I know what my money is going towards.
tomorrowwolrd is 400 which includes everything….. 5 day camping pass, passes into the festival…..
Agree! I don’t normally complain.. but wasted an entire morning and missed my doctor’s apointment. I Couldn’t even get the 279! oh well. tomorrowwworld it is.
I have attended Ultra for 2 years now, its awesome and I come all the way from new york, pay for overpriced plane tickets and hotels, in the middle of my college semester, leaving me little time for work. Maybe the key here is a combination of boycott from the fans, and support from the artists who perform at this event, which is every major EDM icon. I am not one to complain about paying for what you get, but this just seems way overpriced and completely ridiculous. Unfortunatly next year my friends and I wont be able to make it, that extra money usually goes toward the ridiculous lodging and plane tickets. Hopefully they come to their senses. Thanks Ultra.
Not just angry about early bird tickets…About ticket prices, in general. They are too expensive! If The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Crystal Method, Underworld, Orbital, Daft Punk, BT, Josh Wink, Atari Teenage Riot, and Hot Chip were gonna be there, I MIGHT pay $500 for a weekend. A bunch of DJs who spin other peoples’ music while throwing sheetcake? Find some other sucker, seriously!
show them we’re pissed! help us spread the word. they cant block us ALL or they’ll lose their 1M “fan status” http://facebook.com/boycottultra
REPOST EVERYWHERE
I cant go anymore… completely ruined my spring break plans. so hurt by ultra, I thought they loved the music and the fans… not just the money </3.
I know but brightside now that Jake and I aren’t saving for Ultra there’s a huge possibility we will be at Tomorrowworld
FUCKYEAH
uh josh wink is a DJ and does spin a lot of other peoples music. You’re acting like its either steve aoki or josh wink. Theres a middle ground. You just sound super ignorant TBH.
Charlie Lopez completely forgot about that…. YEAH WHERE IS MY UR1 FESTIVAL?!
it looks like tomorrow world just took over the united states for festivals due to it being cheaper with more included. such a shame the festival ive gone to the past 3 years in a row will not be attended next year…. sheer stupidity on the part of ULTRA not caring about the fans that built them and make them money.
LOL I’m laughing at this article plus the comments bc….there’s more to this story than meets the eye;)
Stay tuned bc the greatest event on the east coast will make a LOT of fans who bought tix very happy. Not all that appears in front of your eye is as it seems muhahaha
That’s my speech! Totally! Paying 500 bucks to see Mr. Snoop Doggy Dog again? HAHAHA guys, are you serious…
fuck ultra @[8359756811:274:Sensation] is coming to MIAMI !!!!!!!
This happened to me too. So unbelievably pissed off.
Of course it ran faster at $500, less ppl are buying so the server doesn’t crash.
I’m in the same boat. All the way from CT for the last two years and this is how they thank us? 🙁
I dont think they have any idea that even if they dropped prices they still wont win us all back.
I could go to Cabo instead with that money.
Totally agree!!! I was very excited to be able to purchase tickets early but it was totally impossible, ultra music festival should lower prices, anyway we are thousands people that want to be part of this.
🙁 so sad! as if expenses to stay in Miami aren’t enough… $500 thats just ridiculous makes it more about who can afford it instead of who just loves the music….
I never was a fan to begin with … the reason I wanted to go is to see what the hype is about and it so far it looks pretty shitty in my book
^its a massive rave with the worlds most famous djs, if you “werent a fan to begin with” i dont think the price made a difference…
if you like raves, ultra is where its at
This is an outrage! $500 is too much!
I missed time from work to get these tickets now I regret it. Not only I could have just went to work and make money that day, I wasted all day on the computer and calling the line just to receive a notice there are no more tickets left. I reached as far as the shopping cart and billing address TWICE and to only get kicked out and sent to the beginning where many of the other unlucky fans did too…its upsetting now your asking us to buy a ticket worth $500 at least not even including the taxes and shipping? Shit I mind as well go to EDC Tomorrowworld and take a vacation outta the country then this.
Nah, ultra is not where it was at last year if you speak to people about their experiences.
could not have said it better…they fucked a lot of fans and are going to seriously pay for it.
they should have played it fair like some of the other fests and keep it a certain price until a certain date. even if they were to raise it each day, that would be more fair than in a few hours. ridiculous!
This happeneds with every festival either shut up or fix all of them. Every Big festival there are just assholes who make a bunch of money off of people who just want to hear great music. It’s called LIFE SHUT THE FUCK UP. PS… EDM isn’t real music.
not to mentioned that aside from UMF tix prices and costs to stay in Miami for those who don’t live here, but on top of that you have to also calculate the money you have to spend at the event for water to stay hydrated throughout the weekend and parking costs for each of the days for people who aren’t staying the the areas near the event…
they have gone too far and they are absolutely out of their minds…
2014 would have been my 5th year going… was frustrated with the inability to get early birds, but brushed it off as it wasn’t a big surprise that would happen, and I wouldn’t mind paying a little extra. When I saw that GA tickets were already on sale 10 months prior, with an increase of over 100$ from last year, and costing half a grand, I felt let down by those putting on the show and only affirmed they’re giving in to the commercialization of “EDM”. I’ll be saving my money and attending the MMW/WMC events & parties in 2014 instead of spending it on an overpriced festival where the audience vibe can be a little off.
Your view on music is almost as open minded as your view on religion and other issues such as gay rights. To some this music means a great deal, and they have every right to complain when something like this “happeneds”. You are above comments like this man.
We go to Miami for Ultra weekend and NO LONGER attend Ultra. We have found over the years you can find most of the top DJs playing the local Miami scene at the same time Ultra is going on. If you just check around you can even get decent discounts for clubs that have cheap presage tickets. We paid several years for general admission or VIP to Ultra and always found the most fun going to the clubs after Ultra got out. There are even a lot of free entry places that have major DJs playing thru out the days and nights.
I’M SO DAMN PISSED AT ULTRA FOR THIS!! :'( I was so excited to go for so cheap
I wait all morning and the link would not load the price was there but not loading at all after 15 min I got the big 399.95 price I been to ultra since the begining 2005 and for them to do such a scam for money I been an ultra promoter 2 and know how they work plane and simple its not the server its a BIG SCAM 4 MONEY.Tickets are over price for 400 + ill go to sensation Canada /EDC and others and even if they are Big they will fall because we the fans and ravers make them…
…we had the same trouble yesterday – locking up pc’s, pages couldn’t load and hell we have the superfast lines! Than when they finally would load the prices had hiked up. I am wondering how the ‘kids’ would afford these prices. These events help bring the music to the people and help further EDM into a North American audience. They need to keep a balance between profit and accessiblity for their fan base, cuz without us, they got just a bunch of overpaid DJ’s. The fans are who keep it all in motion. I think Insomniac with EDC events seem to be more conscious of pricing for their patrons. Ultra, if they cared could learn something from that. It’s EDC Season now anyway, so who cares.
I was planning on going to it from Ireland and it was going to cost just under €1k (if i got early bird tickets which i waited over 5 hours for) so it would have been perfect
Camping would make it even better. Ultra is just the festival and then you gotta fuck off to your hotel for the night (if you think staying in a hotel during a festival than camping with thousands of others drinking/rolling then why are you into dance music?)
They wont lower the prices because there are dumbasses that are willing to pay . And hundreds did pay the 500. They wont give them the money back
Oye prriiii como asi que te desatastes pues…ojo con esa rumba! Acuerdese que somos cristianos.
Its real simple, they don’t have the I.T infrastructure to handle even a 1/10th of the page requests being sent to that sever. You can see from the context of there website (CSS & Javascipt) the last thing on there budget is Servers, Networking, and Web Development. With the Millions of dollars they have under the ULTRA umbrella not one person coulda suggested AWS (amazon web services) and simply rent server space and bandwidth during the ticket sale times… When you have 3 machines hard wired in w/ a Gigabit of bandwidth and still cannot access the early bird tickets sales, AINT NOBODY GOT TIME THAT!
XD NY,CT we’re coming from Europe. What does your flight cost? 199 $ ??
First of all the Early Bird definition was changed yesterday to. Preorder 44 ‘weeks’ in advance is actually too late for EBT.
Second: Please ultra team tell me what is your Target audience?
500 $ for a ticket to see whoever hitting the play button if you get closer to the stage as 8-900m? (Calculate it byyourself it’s f*cking m in the rest of the world.)
+ 7-1100$ for a flight Germany to USA (Miami)
+ accommodation 7-900$ in Miami
+ 700 $ for 7 days of food, drink and party
Let me sum up worst case
3200$ now that’s a fair price for us 18-29ers the most visiting audience of the umf.
I am fucking pissed! It was bullshit. I was on my computer for hours, reloading, trying to call in, nothing worked. Waste of my time, and I am even more angered about 400$ ticket now, wtf Ultra, really? That’s ABSURD!
Preach it
ya i pulled some strings at work to come in late, too bad it was for nothing. I got to type my info in but then it crashed. Im glad those fucks have my billing info even tho I couldnt get tickets.
I got to type in my billing information, too bad the server crashed and I didn’t get to complete the transaction. Oh and guess what, I never got them. Fuck Ultra. Those greedy fucks can go die. I’m going to stick to any other festival than Ultra. West coast is better anyways.
greedy bastards! support other festivals that actually care about the music. YOU decide where EDM goes!
You paid $400 for a $150 ticket? Wow. That’s expensive.
150 was the early bird, 400 is the actual.
@[1359241701:2048:Brian Byrnes] I havent boughten a ticket
Oh, good. Sounds like a waste of money to me; but then again, I’m not a hard-core EDM-er. With such high ticket prices, you’d think they could afford servers to accommodate the purchasing of those highly-priced tickets.
exactly…..it sucked
For the music
It’s not even about the money for me. I bought a ticket at full price because its always been a dream of mine to be able to go at whatever cost and this year actually works out. However, I do hope they lower the prices. I honestly don’t even care of I get my money back. I just want everyone to be happy and those who truly love the edm culture to be able to attend and enjoy this wonderful event that everyone has loved so much in previous years. I understand running a business but sometimes it comes down to which one you care about more, the money or the loyalty of those who have helped make you who you are today. It’s up to you to decide UMF.
You see this? This…is bullshit.
Done with ultra. Tomorrowland is calling my name for next year. Yes it 2000 dollars, but I will be happy. Besides I heard it way better anyway
The moment I saw 399.00 for GA after early bird and advanced sold out. I closed my laptop, said fuck that. And walked away.
I took a day off from work to try to buy the tickets, It was such a scam, forget the $149.95 tickets there was no way to get those. I tried to buy the $274. tickets with outrageous fees, they kept putting me in an online waiting area and just as you are going to purchase the tickets, the site timed out, it happen to me about 10 times. I was unable to buy the tickets at the $149 and $274. However at the $399 price there is no problem getting those “of course”. I had 5 computers ready, my husband at work trying with his co-workers, my entire family and friends were on this mission and no one was successful, I wasted my day. I feel that Ultra NEEDS to do something to accommodate the fans. SUCH bad business tactics.
Spent a total of 4 hours trying to get tickets. Got nothing
ex fans of ultra unite like this so we can get them prices back were they should be, if enough people don’t want to go they wont have a choice.
thats messed up
no, it’s an e-commerce site, that knew in advance they would be seeing severe server loads as many, many, many people tried to buy earlybird tickets. Generally, when a site KNOWS their limited product will draw tons of people, they scale everything up to handle the demand, so everything works smoothly. thats what smart/normal people do anyway. Also, Still haven’t seen ANYONE in the comments get an earlybird ticket. did ANYONE get it (granted if the DID get it, they probably wouldn’t be on this site)
no, it’s an e-commerce site, that knew in advance they would be seeing severe server loads as many, many, many people tried to buy earlybird tickets. Generally, when a site KNOWS their limited product will draw tons of people, they scale everything up to handle the demand, so everything works smoothly. thats what smart/normal people do anyway. Also, Still haven’t seen ANYONE in the comments get an earlybird ticket. did ANYONE get it (granted if the DID get it, they probably wouldn’t be on this site)
if they are pulling crap like this on their fans, even IF they lowered the price, why would you WANT to attend? why would you give money to a company that treats you like dirt?
if they are pulling crap like this on their fans, even IF they lowered the price, why would you WANT to attend? why would you give money to a company that treats you like dirt?
UMF 800 dollar tickets for VIP? Fuck right off.
I’m already planning a trip with18friends to EDC Orlando. We have a house up there. Ultra fucked themselves this time.
no load testing…
I’ve attended UMF 2011, 2012, and 2013 – all in the overpriced VIP section. After the debacle that was UMF 2013, I will not be attending again. Let’s see, UMF wknd 2 nearly being cancelled by the city of Miami because Ultra couldn’t bother to get permission ahead of time to actually have wknd 2… The annual clusterfuck just trying to get into UMF (being pushed by sweaty 15 year olds, homeless people, and Miami PD)… Not being able to come in and out of the festival… Putting some of the biggest names (Porter, Hardwell, Zedd) on the most crowded, shitty stage known to man (and putting it right in the middle of the shit cloud of the porta jons)… Overcapacity at VIP in 2012 and 2013… Lack of security in VIP… I could go on forever.
Oh yea – “regular” VIP’s not being able to see shit because the platform is set up on the side of the Main Stage instead of straight ahead… “regular” VIP’s six rows back behind the bottle popping douche bags that bought overpriced bottle service.
been going to ultra since it started and live in London, its more than a slap in the face, its a downright pants down spanking of the loyal fans who made ultra what it is today.
EDC/BPM/SENSATION anyone?
I’m burned. I missed Ultra2013 b/c I went to a different festival and was planning to attend 2014, however, like the above suggests.. With the costs of lodging/food/travel on top of this ticket price will price me out of going. Not to mention if I go with my girlfriend! This event would be similar to cost as a European week trip! Outrageous. Plus with all the other festival’s out there now, what’s special enough about going to ULTRA!
Wtf is up with service fee
Wtf is up with service fee
My comment FUCK U ULTRA
that’s like me asking what it costs for you to fly to tomorrow land
read a bunch, best post! the part about having Zero issues with the full 399 price is so fishy, they deffo just drilled the 150 price as a massive scam.
I did same thing lol 😛
Target audience is broke ass 18-26 year olds. 400 dollars plus hotel…C’MON ULTRA