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Meet & Greet Experiences

As far as autograph collecting and music fan experiences goes, I find the range of stories I hear about various meet & greets to be pretty fascinating. I've heard of people paying modest fees (or nothing) for wonderful, fun experiences - and other stories of fans shelling out large amounts of money for a massive disappointment. And, of course, everything in between.

I thought we should have a comprehensive thread on the topic. Have you been to a pre-show or post-show meet and greet or know someone who has? Was it a bargain or a ripoff? What was the mood - structured and hurried or casual and fun?

My favorite band does meet and greets at every headline show they perform on this tour, chosen at fandom by fans who sign up for their fanclub and enter the show-specific drawing. There is no charge, and (usually) I don't believe a show ticket is even required. They were asked about this in an interview early this tour, and the response from one of the band members, Martin, was pretty passionate about musicians who charge high prices for meet & greets. FYI: I get that this band isn't quite a household name yet, so there might be a sentiment of "Who are they to say . . ." However they have an interesting perspective as both successful musicians with Top 10 records and huge music fans themselves).

Here's that portion of the interview:

https://youtu.be/l1da-ZW_3OA?t=6m48s

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Permalink Reply by Robin McKay on February 4, 2016 at 12:28pm

Some still managed to get around the screen issue and take a pic but I didn't have my phone on me.

Saw little point if you couldn't take photos.

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Permalink Reply by Adam Halloran on February 4, 2016 at 2:00pm

Super cool Robin! Elton is about as big as they come! Jealous! They weren't letting people bring LP's in or anything else to have signed?

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Permalink Reply by Robin McKay on February 4, 2016 at 2:13pm

Hey Adam

Sadly not. The strict rules were no camera photography and only the art cards they gave out could be signed.

He was pleasant enough, just not forthcoming but maybe he was told not to answer questions, no matter how trivial.

If you live in the UK and get an HMV loyalty card, then you can go to all sorts.

Really enjoyed it though.

Take care mate.

Best,
Rob

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Permalink Reply by Rich on February 12, 2016 at 1:56pm

Can anyone think of companies who handle.set up these meet and greets? It might be interesting to spot check them from time to time to see what opportunities there are.

Off the top of my head, I can only think of:

https://vipnation.com/

https://soundrink.com/#/

https://www.adventuresinwonderland.com/

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Permalink Reply by Rich on February 12, 2016 at 1:58pm

Artist Arena also handles meet & greets.

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Permalink Reply by Adam Halloran on February 12, 2016 at 2:09pm

Brian Wilson's was through artists arena.

http://www.artistarena.com/fan-faq

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Permalink Reply by Rich on February 12, 2016 at 2:21pm

Looks like there's a new company called Bkstg that is handling Meet and Greet/VIP experiences for a number of artists, generally younger pop stars (Carly Rae Jepsen, Hailee Steinfeld, Maroon 5, etc).

https://bkstg.com/

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Permalink Reply by Rich on February 12, 2016 at 2:48pm

Looked at the Carly Rae VIP Meet & Greet just for kicks. Looks like you get a photo op, and that's about it. You get a signed laminate too, which is modestly appealing to fans I guess. But for $75 (excludes ticket)? I thought she was supposed to be pretty fan friendly.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on March 18, 2016 at 7:06am

Okay, so I did the Carly Rae M&G. I took a bit of video from the event:

https://youtu.be/mO78wnEh1rA

Nice photo op opportunities (she'll take more than one), signed lanyard, very intimate Q&A session. It was stated in the confirmation email "no autographs," but I saw Carly signing several anyway and there didn't seem to be much concern.

I will say that she still does stop and sign and talk and take photos post show, so the value is debatable. It was still a nice experience.

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Permalink Reply by Robin McKay on February 12, 2016 at 2:39pm

Well,

I met Arnold through Olexy Productions when they hosted two black tie events, one in Edinburgh and the other in Birmingham - I went to the Edinburgh one.

Also, HMV set up the Elton John meet and greet.

Furthermore, Showmasters do photoshoots with famous celebrities though whether you class a photoshoot as a meet and greet is something else.

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Permalink Reply by Robin McKay on February 12, 2016 at 2:41pm

I also thought the price of the ticket to meet Arnold was well worth the price as he could have charged lots more than what he did, or the company. An experience I won't forget.

The guy is an absolute leg. Probably one of the biggest names in the industry and those who say he isn't an A-Lister now can rethink that opinion because he still is.