Flip this Ticket

There was an interesting article written by Ethan Smith in the Wall Street Journal on March 11, 2009: Concert Tickets Get Set Aside, Marked Up By Artists and Managers. With all the talk of Live Nation and Ticketmaster merging the scrutiny on the ticket industry and specifically the second market ticket industry is heating up.

The article revealed that the second market ticket industry is fed by the performers’ themselves. The article talks about a recent Neil Diamond concert where the tickets went on sale at Ticketmaster and within a couple hours there were 200 premium seat tickets listed on Ticketmaster’s second market ticket site TicketExchange. It's not surprising that this happens since the second market ticket industry is a 3 billion dollar business. What is a little surprising is the lack of honesty about the process.

I’m a capitalist and truly believe that if you have an idea and can make money you should do it. But there seems to be a need for transparency in the ticket industry. The second market tickets have been marketed as a place where folks with a few extra tickets or a change of plans can list their tickets. Ethan Smith of the WSJ writes, “Selling premium-priced tickets on TicketExchange, priced and presented as resales by fans, is a practice used by many other top performers, according to people in the industry. Joseph Freeman, Ticketmaster's senior vice president for legal affairs, says that the company's "Marketplace" pages only rarely list tickets offered by fans.”

If performers, production companies or ticket sellers want to get a little extra bang for their ticket so be it. Why hide behind a second market site? Artists shouldn’t pretend that they’re all about the fan and aghast at the price of tickets. The recent combined tours with Billy Joel and Elton John have engaged in the practice of selling premium second market tickets. Maybe Billy and Elton should listen to some of their old tunes.

Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard.
And mostly what I need from you.
-Honesty, Billy Joel

You remain to me a vision
of sweet honesty
-Sweet Honesty, Elton John