USA Today Article "The Traps of Shopping For Concert Tickets"

USA Today has a very interesting article with 2 Clay mentions about "The Traps of Shopping For Concert Tickets". I think we can all identify with the frustration of trying to buy tickets for Clay before the good seats all sell out, and then the frustration of trying to find a good seat at a reasonable price that hasn't been bought by a ticket broker already. After reading this article, I'm afraid it looks like the brokers are here to stay.

Just a few highlights from the article:

"We have no problem getting tickets — we have a problem getting good tickets at a good price," says Linda Casey, 45, of Bayside, N.Y.

Casey bought tickets for Live Earth, Clay Aiken and the Goo Goo Dolls, but balked at paying $300-plus to see Bon Jovi open the Prudential Center in Newark in October — tickets that already are being offered for more than five times their face value on resale sites.

States like New York and Minnesota have rescinded anti-scalping laws, and online companies like StubHub, TicketsNow and RazorGator have taken the resale market national, transforming it into a multibillion-dollar industry built on convenience and fair market value. Want a pair of front-row seats for Jimmy Buffett at Madison Square Garden in September? They're still available from TicketsNow — for $2,000 apiece.

An estimated 700 ticket broker websites currently operate in North America, and business is booming. StubHub's gross sales have increased 3,000% over the past three years; TicketsNow's have grown 512% during the same period.

Estimates for the secondary ticket market for concerts, sports and other events range from a conservative $2.5 billion to a high of $10 billion annually, factoring in sidewalk Calpers.

"The super-fan doesn't care what it costs," says Waddell. "Price isn't the object, it's the seat location."

Ticket buyers gripe about the convenience fees that sellers often add, but for Carol Ellis of Hickory Hills, Ill., nothing's as convenient as being able to snag the seat she wants — and it's worth the extra price. Ellis, 58, recently paid $400 for a single ticket to an upcoming Clay Aiken show in North Carolina. She has grown annoyed with buying tickets by phone or online.

"You either can't get through, or you're told there are no tickets available," Ellis says. "You wait until you finally can get tickets, and the tickets are really far back.

"I'm at the point now where I'll try that once or twice, then I'll go to a broker and pay the big bucks."

The article is long but very interesting reading. It seems that it is not only Clay concert tickets that are being resold at triple and quadruple prices, but many other artists at well. Unfortunately, this is something that fans may have to live with for a long time.