Post by Halo on Mar 5, 2005 12:23:30 GMT -5
Read this report in full and you will get an idea on how crooked ticket sales actually are. This report was done in 1999 and focuses on New York, but it's still not only still relevant in 2005 and for all other cities, but has gotten much worse, instead of better, over the years.
Also see the board titled, "Take a Stand" here in the "Everthing Else" categroy.
Here's the link to the report:
SCALPING
Here's an excerpt:
"A. Corrupt Practices
Ticket brokers strive to monopolize the supply of tickets by paying illegal and substantial bribes (premiums over the face price of the ticket) to various persons who have control over tickets at the original point of sale. These persons with control over tickets include box office employees or their supervisors, managers of venues, ticketing agents (such as employees of Ticketmaster or Telecharge), concert promoters, security personnel, or a variety of house seat holders. The pay-offs made to a venue operator, agent or employee, (e.g., a box office employee), is historically known as "ice".
Ticket brokers must be licensed pursuant to New York’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Law ("ACAL"). Under ACAL, the payment or receipt of ice is currently a crime, classified as a misdemeanor, and also subjects a ticket seller to revocation or suspension of his or her registration as a ticket distributor. Payments of premiums to individuals other than agents of the venue (such as promoters and house seat holders) are not specifically covered by ACAL, but can be covered by other provisions of the criminal law, such as commercial bribery. Such payments are hard to prove. They are almost always made in cash, not necessarily at the recipient’s place of business, and generally occur between two people, without witnesses.
Brokers who pay ice must of course cover the cost of the bribe, which can range from 50 to 100 percent of the face price of the ticket. Therefore, they have to resell tickets substantially above the current legal maximum of an additional five dollars or ten percent of the face price (whichever is greater), and cannot operate within any reasonable cap. As such, these tickets are sold illegally, generally by out-of-state brokers to New York businesses -- such as securities firms that need tickets for clients. One major New York securities firm paid a New Jersey broker over $360,000 during 1994 to obtain for itself the finest seats at various venues, at clearly illegal prices, ranging from 150 to 600 percent above the face value of each ticket.
B. Unfair Practices
Aside from ice and bribery, huge numbers of tickets for popular events are diverted from sale to the public and are distributed through other channels[/COLOR]. The extent to which tickets are channeled through this non-public system, and the persons and businesses that get their tickets through "connections," are subjects that have been shrouded in secrecy for many years. Whether in connection with illegal payments or not, the sheer number of seats withheld from public sale lends itself to manipulation and abuse. Such tickets are almost always the best seats in the house. Tickets set aside for theatre party or group sales agents wind up being resold by ticket brokers; house seats at theatres make up a great part of the ticket broker’s stock in trade, as do tickets set aside by concert promoters.[/COLOR]
Moreover, the failure of venues adequately to inform the public -- as to the number and location of seats available for public sale, the date on which a new batch of seats for a show or concert might go on sale, or when unpurchased house seats become available to the public -- goes hand-in-hand with the practices set forth above. For example, during the 1994 Barbra Streisand concerts at Madison Square Garden, approximately 50 percent of the seats never went on public sale, i.e., they were withheld for the "house" -- the producer, the promoter, the record company, the performer, or other such individuals[/COLOR]. Had this been disclosed to the public in the advertising for the event, the public would have had more realistic expectations about their chances of obtaining a ticket through general sales. The Attorney General believes that most consumers would be surprised to learn that for most events, a very large percentage of all seats and most of the best seats for a particular event are in reality unavailable to the public."[/i]
Also see the board titled, "Take a Stand" here in the "Everthing Else" categroy.
Here's the link to the report:
SCALPING
Here's an excerpt:
"A. Corrupt Practices
Ticket brokers strive to monopolize the supply of tickets by paying illegal and substantial bribes (premiums over the face price of the ticket) to various persons who have control over tickets at the original point of sale. These persons with control over tickets include box office employees or their supervisors, managers of venues, ticketing agents (such as employees of Ticketmaster or Telecharge), concert promoters, security personnel, or a variety of house seat holders. The pay-offs made to a venue operator, agent or employee, (e.g., a box office employee), is historically known as "ice".
Ticket brokers must be licensed pursuant to New York’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Law ("ACAL"). Under ACAL, the payment or receipt of ice is currently a crime, classified as a misdemeanor, and also subjects a ticket seller to revocation or suspension of his or her registration as a ticket distributor. Payments of premiums to individuals other than agents of the venue (such as promoters and house seat holders) are not specifically covered by ACAL, but can be covered by other provisions of the criminal law, such as commercial bribery. Such payments are hard to prove. They are almost always made in cash, not necessarily at the recipient’s place of business, and generally occur between two people, without witnesses.
Brokers who pay ice must of course cover the cost of the bribe, which can range from 50 to 100 percent of the face price of the ticket. Therefore, they have to resell tickets substantially above the current legal maximum of an additional five dollars or ten percent of the face price (whichever is greater), and cannot operate within any reasonable cap. As such, these tickets are sold illegally, generally by out-of-state brokers to New York businesses -- such as securities firms that need tickets for clients. One major New York securities firm paid a New Jersey broker over $360,000 during 1994 to obtain for itself the finest seats at various venues, at clearly illegal prices, ranging from 150 to 600 percent above the face value of each ticket.
B. Unfair Practices
Aside from ice and bribery, huge numbers of tickets for popular events are diverted from sale to the public and are distributed through other channels[/COLOR]. The extent to which tickets are channeled through this non-public system, and the persons and businesses that get their tickets through "connections," are subjects that have been shrouded in secrecy for many years. Whether in connection with illegal payments or not, the sheer number of seats withheld from public sale lends itself to manipulation and abuse. Such tickets are almost always the best seats in the house. Tickets set aside for theatre party or group sales agents wind up being resold by ticket brokers; house seats at theatres make up a great part of the ticket broker’s stock in trade, as do tickets set aside by concert promoters.[/COLOR]
Moreover, the failure of venues adequately to inform the public -- as to the number and location of seats available for public sale, the date on which a new batch of seats for a show or concert might go on sale, or when unpurchased house seats become available to the public -- goes hand-in-hand with the practices set forth above. For example, during the 1994 Barbra Streisand concerts at Madison Square Garden, approximately 50 percent of the seats never went on public sale, i.e., they were withheld for the "house" -- the producer, the promoter, the record company, the performer, or other such individuals[/COLOR]. Had this been disclosed to the public in the advertising for the event, the public would have had more realistic expectations about their chances of obtaining a ticket through general sales. The Attorney General believes that most consumers would be surprised to learn that for most events, a very large percentage of all seats and most of the best seats for a particular event are in reality unavailable to the public."[/i]
