Welcome to Vol. 5 of “Who's Got My Extra?” — Jamtopia's series all about the business and pleasure of concert tickets.
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Yesterday Wall Street Journal reporter Ethan Smith blew the lid off one of the worst kept secrets in the music business — Concert Tickets Get Set Aside, Marked Up by Artists, Managers.
And best of all, he named names, so you know exactly which artists are gouging their fans with inflated prices for concert tickets.
Smith outs a wide range of artists and managers, from Neil Diamond and Celine Dion to Bon Jovi and Van Halen to Billy Joel and Elton John. Even no-longer-bald Britney Spears gets called out for a little scalping.
Virtually every major concert tour today involves some official tickets that are priced and sold as if they were offered for resale by fans or brokers, but that are set aside by the artists and promoters, according to a number of people involved in the sales.
Of course none of the acts the WSJ contacted got back to them… probably embarrassed that they're now in the same camp as Gene Simmons, in it for the money and not the music.
Hey, at least Gene's not trying to hide anything.
Update (March 16, 2009): Well it seems Michael Jackson may have a little Mike Damone in him too, at least according to the veiled accusation in this WSJ article.
Meanwhile, guy-who-gets-it Trent Reznor clued in his fans with incredible transparency on the NIN forum (see quote below) — picking up a story that, as Lefsetz noticed, didn't get much traction in the media beyond the original article.
The true market value of some tickets for some concerts is much higher than what the act wants to be perceived as charging. For example, there are some people who would be willing to pay $1,000 and up to be in the best seats for various shows, but MOST acts in the rock / pop world don’t want to come off as greedy pricks asking that much, even though the market says its value is that high.
Trent Reznor on the NIN forum
Related Links
- Concert Tickets Get Set Aside, Marked Up by Artists, Managers [WSJ]
- Singer Neil Diamond Under Scrutiny in Ticket Markup Arrangement [FOXNews]
- Who's Scalping Those Concert Tickets? Artists And Agents, Frequently [Consumerist]
- Scalping [Lefsetz Letter]
- Trent Reznor thoughts on ticket re-sellers / scalping [NIN Forum]
- AEG Accuses Ticket Agent Of Scalping Jackson Show [WSJ]
- More Scalping [Lefsetz Letter]
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