Re: Somethin' for nothin'

["Jeff House" <whocasa@hotmail.com>]

From: "O'Neal, Kevin W." <Kevin.ONeal@vtmednet.org>
"They're taking away the chance for me to buy a ticket at the offered price. 
  They're also taking away money from an individual who could have purchased 
(if given the option) the same ticket at cost."

Ahhh...they aren't taking it away from you, the *market* is.  That market is 
created by high demand for killer jams and disposable income created by good 
old-fashioned American economic stratification.

"If you consider that the band should be the only entity that should allow 
free-market price setting, then they (the brokers) are also taking away 
profit from The Who or Ticket Bastard."

Why consider that?  The band negotiates a lump cash payment, right?  It is 
the promoter and the venue who sets prices.

"What gives them the right?"

Geography, proximity, dumb luck, ingenuity - take your pick.

"There *is* a reason why ticketmaster and/or bands don't sell tickets to the 
highest bidder (just don't ask me what that reason is......fairness?)"

Fairness?  Come on.  You aren't that naive, are you?
The reasons are:  money, money and money.
Besides, the promoter *is* selling the best tickets to the highest bidder.  
The primary outlets for the front sections are brokers and "VIP" ticket 
holders (in the case of my local venue).

Do you think they are selling them to brokers at face?  Do you think the 
promoter has to pay Ticketmaster service fees and commissions on these front 
seats?  I think not on both counts.

"But there shouldn't *be* any competition."

But we live in a capitalist republic where competition at its core, not a 
democracy.  That's life.

"What the hell does the broker provide in all of this?
The service?
The broker get's something for nothin'."

Let's try an analogy to sort this out, shall we?

Let's say I am willing to be punched in the face for the entertainment of a 
bunch of people.  People come from miles around to see the sight of a guy 
getting hit.  Let's say 20,000 people come to witness the fun.  The entire 
crowd cannot do the punching as there is just not enough of my face to go 
around.  That means that the two best seats in the crowd to view the 
spectacle are the lucky people who get to throw the punches.

This presents me with an opportunity.  Should I:

A) Look for two people who love me and will do their best to make it a good 
show for me.  I can't charge them, because they are going to take it easy on 
me.  This seems like the most utopian of ideas to me.

B) Put the punching seats up for bid, myself.  I'll make a little extra 
money but have to dirty my hands with being my own agent.  Since I'm getting 
extremely drunk in preparation for the show, I probably shouldn't handle 
this transaction.

C) Hire a "punch pimp" who will take bids and handles the cash.  The punch 
pimp gets a commission.  This way I can concentrate on getting myself 
shit-faced *and* make some money.

It makes you think, doesn't it?

Jeff

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