Tag Archives: scalpers

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Ticketmaster Buys Big Scalper

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According to the Wall Street Journal, “Ticketmaster has agreed to pay about $265 million for TicketsNow Inc., the country’s second-largest Web site for reselling tickets to concerts and sports events.”

The largest online ticket broker is StubHub, which is owned by eBay.

Apparently, perceptions of ticket “resellers” is changing: “Where resellers once were viewed as shady scalpers, now, thanks largely to the Internet, they are becoming more respectable.” Wrong. They’re still just shady scalpers unfairly raising the price of tickets and keeping real fans from being able to afford to go to shows.

Scalping should be illegal.

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Shorties

New York Legalizes Scalping

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Get ready to pay up, New Yorkers. As if the face value on tickets to see The Police wasn’t enough, New York Governor, Elliot Spitzer, has just thrown in the towel on fighting scalpers by dropping all but the most innocuous limits on ticket brokers and how much they can mark up a ticket price.

Before today, New York limited mark-ups to 45% over face value. That limit has been removed, which means scalpers (or “brokers” as they’re known today) can charge whatever you suckers are willing to shill out to see reformed rock and roll has-beens or overpaid and under performing sports teams.

A few of the original limits remain, including the ban on scalpers selling tickets within 1,500 feet of the larger arenas and within 500 feet of smaller venues. Large-volume brokers must also register with the state. Big fucking deal.

Free marketers think this is great, but they also see no problem with gouging during disasters or jacking consumers who are too dumb to buy warrantees that cover what use to be standard product lifespans.

Once again, the customer eats it.

Articles

Out in the Cold

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Money money moneyIt’s overcast in Chicago. It’s mid-Spring and you wake up each day wondering if it’s going to be the most beautiful day you’ve ever seen or the gray overcast and piss rain Coldplay’s Chris Martin walked through in his band’s video for their breakout single “Yellow.” For Chicago fans hoping to score a ticket to Coldplay’s rare club appearance at the Metro, the weather called for shortshrift.

I hate ticket brokers. I hate them so much that it led to a very short, but very serious battle over advertisers here at GLONO HQ. [We decided against it, for now. – ed.] I think ticket brokers are killing live music in America. We can debate the merits and shortfalls of Capitalism until Lenin returns, but what it boils down to for me is sheer greed and that has killed more good in this world than any other deadly sin.

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