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Return of Ticket Terrorist and how to eliminate brokers



Hello all,

A couple of bits:

>Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 00:22:00 EST
>From: Deliphus01@aol.com
>  >
>  > may I recommend yet another book, _The Ominous Parallels_ by 
>Leonard Peikoff
>>  does an unequaled job of explaining the philosophical roots of Nazism.
>
>That I might check out, although I already know the general cause. It's the
>same as what gave birth to Communism: poverty. Non-prosperity, I could say to
>further my argument.

You're focusing on non-essentials.  Bad economic situations are the 
result of bad ideas, and philosophy is what guides ideas. _Parallels_ 
is about the philosophic roots of Nazism, and thus is an explanation 
of how it was possible and how it could happen again, without getting 
bogged down in masses of unnecessary detail.

The other bit I posted last week, but for reasons neither Paul nor I 
know AFAIK it never made it to the list:

The entire broker industry is based on tickets that are priced LOWER 
THAN MARKET VALUE -- i.e., lower than what people, fans and 
otherwise, are willing to pay.  Internet sales and box-office sales 
in these cases(e.g., Who shows) are nothing more than a lottery-like 
chance to get a ticket for LESS than market value.  You might be mad 
at missing your fair chance at underpriced tickets, but that's a 
different issue...the scramble wouldn't exist if the tickets were 
priced at market value.

BTW, tickets for many events ARE priced at market level -- say 
$20-$30 to see _South Pacific_ at a community theatre.  Don't see the 
brokers scrambling for those, do you? because brokers can only exist 
where there is a significant difference between the price printed on 
the ticket and the price people are willing to pay.  If that 
difference exists, the brokers are no more to blame than the 
band/management/promoter or whoever sets the price.

So the way to eliminate brokers is to price the tickets at market 
value from the start.  Say $1,000 for a front-row single for Las 
Vegas, $600 for a front-row single to other shows.  That seems to be 
roughly where the broker's prices are stabilizing. Think of it...no 
mad split-second scramble to get through on the Internet or the 
telephone, no dawn lineups at the box office, no dealing with 
scum-of-the-earth brokers...just a leisurely call to the box office:

"Hi, got any Who tickets?"

"Hm...$1,200 for a pair of front-rows, $800 for a pair of 10th-rows, 
$400 for a pair of 20th-row."

"Thanks, let me think about  it."

You hang up, think about it, and call back:

"Hi, still got those $400 20th-rows?  Anything else?  Two in the 
mezzanine for $350?  That sounds good, I'll take those."

THAT'S the way to get rid of brokers.  Sell the tickets right out of 
the box office for as close to market value as can be determined. 
Given the howls of protest that have gone up from Who fans over even 
the current *under-market* ticket prices, I wonder which band will 
grow the balls to do it first.

Cheers,
-- 
Alan
"That's unbelievable, if that's true."
    --Howard Stern, 5/25/00