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Scalpers
- Subject: Scalpers
- Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 18:45:30 -0700
On the subject of Scalpers, Kevin O'Brien wrote
>Indeed, scalpers perform a great public service, for which they
>naturally receive a payment. When the tickets go on sale, they get
>sold to anyone who calls and has the cash. These people may not be the
>biggest fans, or the ones most desperate for the tickets. The scalper
>market creates a way for the tickets to get into the hands of the most
>committed fans.
I couldn't disagree more strongly. What happens often times, is the
promoter, the hall, and other non-artist types get, as part of their
compensation, maybe a 1,000 tickets per night. The best seats.
Factored into their compensation at cost. then, they wholesale them
out at say $20.00 over face and make a quick $20,000.00 a night. the
scalpers they sell them to sell mark them up another $30-50 per, and
you have fans paying $50-70 more per ticket than face. And this money
doesn't go to the artist. And these tickets NEVER went on sale. they
NEVER were available to the fans. they NEVER were available to anyone
who calls and has the cash. and the scalper market feeds this demand
for promoters, etc. scarfing up the good seats before they are even put
on sale. If the scalpers didn't exist, the promoter would just take
his $40,000 in cash, not tickets. but he takes the tickets, because it
means not $40,000. but $60,000., $70,000. or more.
and then the tickets that DO get released - sure, I'm standing on line
there, and there are six people in front of me, who have been there
since 4:00 am. at 8:00 am, a black mercedes pulls into the lot, one
guy runs over and gets six envelopes full of cash, with instructions on
what tickets for each of these guys to buy. Sure, a 14 year old kid
goes up to the window with $700.00 cash and buys the limit for every
night. He just wanted to make sure the tickets got into the hands of
some fans? Don't give me this @#$%$# about scalpers providing a public
service. They have totally undermined the distribution of
entertainment tickets in America. and it makes me sick.
Bob Hundertmark