Like the Boss? Wanna see him?

[Fasglas]

Best be coming up with some BIG bucks...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...t-gets-scalped


Springsteen Tickets Hit $10,000, and Wall Street Gets Scalped
By Laura J Keller
, Eben Novy-Williams
, Bob Van Voris
, and Katherine Burton
September 25, 2017, 5:00 AM CDT

We ain’t in Asbury Park anymore: prime tickets to "Springsteen on Broadway" are now going for as much as $10,000 on StubHub.

Even a cheap seat will cost you $1,400. Never mind that it says $75 on the ticket.

Sure, those $2.50 tickets, circa “Rosalita,” disappeared in the ’70s. But The Boss’s run at Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theater is just the latest example of how today’s ticket resellers, AKA scalpers, help drive prices to you’ve-got-to-be-joking levels.

No wonder Wall Streeters want in on this action. Tickets, whether to Bruce, Adele or “Hamilton,” seem like a sure thing -- as safe and liquid as T-bills, only a lot more lucrative. Talk about price inelasticity. And the business is huge: an estimated $15 billion a year.

That, anyway, is the thinking. Because now a few big-money types, including Paul Tudor Jones and Michael Dell, were allegedly snookered like out-of-towners in Times Square.

The pitch is an old one. The supposed fraudsters typically tell their marks they have the inside track on an investment, in this case, hot tickets. The marks hand over money and -- poof! -- it’s gone.

The latest case involves Craig Carton, the popular New York sports radio shock jock. He was arrested earlier this month, accused of taking part in a multimillion-dollar scam involving tickets to Adele, Barbra Streisand and Justin Bieber.

Carton got Doug Pardon, an important partner at hedge fund Brigade Capital Management LP, to persuade colleagues to lend $10 million to Carton’s ticket resale business. The firm, which had invested in the privately held Vivid Seats LLC, reasoned Carton had the connections needed to buy blocks of tickets cheaply for resale, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. But Carton used some of Brigade’s money to pay off his gambling debts, prosecutors said.

Carton’s side of the story

Carton has pleaded not guilty and vigorously denied the allegations. Brigade and Pardon declined to comment.

It’s not the first time supposedly sophisticated investors have been lured in with promises of lofty returns and celebrity connections. Money managers are particularly susceptible nowadays as they prowl for investments in a low-interest-rate world.

The cases highlight the dark underside of the largely unregulated resale business. While fans complain that tickets are scarce and expensive on popular sites like StubHub, TicketIQ and SeatGeek, the potential for investor fraud lies more on the broker side of the industry, where money is raised from investors to finance ticket purchases.

"Because of what’s happened in the last six months, if you’re a hedge fund and you’re investing in ticket brokers, shame on you," said Jesse Lawrence, founder of resale marketplace TicketIQ. "Just don’t do it, unless you can 100 percent verify how they’re getting tickets."

The Carton case and two other high-profile ticket fiascos pulled back the curtain.

‘Hamilton’ Ponzi Schemers’ Victims Said to Include Tudor Jones

A concert promoter and Hamptons socialite, Joseph Meli, allegedly cheated more than 125 investors, including billionaires Dell and Tudor Jones, in a scheme centered on tickets to “Hamilton” and popular concerts, prosecutors said.

And a former New York City math teacher, Jason Nissen, after running a well-respected broker company, was accused of falsely telling investors, including Falcon Strategic Partners and a Hutton Capital Management-affiliated firm, he’d use their money to buy tickets to sought-after events including the Super Bowl and “Hamilton.” Actually, he was repaying earlier investors, according to the government.

Meli and Nissen pleaded not guilty. Meli’s lawyer said during the arraignment that the charges weren’t true. Nissen’s lawyer declined to comment.

Ticket brokers typically buy up blocks of seats -- often employing blinking quick bots and then reselling them through their own channels, as well as on the familiar websites.

Verified Fan

Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift are among artists trying to beat the bots, teaming up with TicketMaster on a Verified Fan program, which limits ticket sales to fans who’ve been vetted to confirm they’re real people and not scalpers. Though demand is high, fewer than 5 percent of the Springsteen Broadway tickets have hit the resale market, according to TicketIQ. Hamilton shows, at the height of their fervor, often had upwards of 45 percent of seats sell through the secondary market.

Swift is taking it a step further. In her version of Verified Fan, she’s cashing in by giving priority to fans who spend money on her music and products. Springsteen didn’t ask fans to buy any Boss-branded gear.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who recently finished a three-year investigation of the industry, is also cracking down on the bot runners. Earlier this year, he got six companies to pay $4.2 million in settlements for violating New York ticket laws by using bots to scoop up thousands of tickets.

More than anything, the ticket business in general is plagued by a raft of problems, including under-the-table agreements and computer algos that swallow quantities of tickets.
Rigged System

“Ticketing is still a rigged system,” Schneiderman said.

A central plank of many the brokers’ pitches: supposed access to sports and entertainment figures. Carton told Brigade he had contracts with a concert promoter to buy millions of dollars in tickets. He also showed an email in which a sports and entertainment company agreed to sell $2 million of tickets. Those documents turned out to be fake, prosecutors say.

Even a hint of celebrity can be a powerful allure.

One wealthy individual, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, invested in Meli’s ticket scheme for a brief time after attending a party where he saw Mick Jagger’s manager give Meli a hug.

Fans, of course, are the biggest losers. But the new economics of tickets are also hurting another camp, albeit one fans already love to hate: old-fashioned scalpers.

“It ain’t the same no more,” said Terry Smith, who was trying to sell Mets tickets outside Citi Field on a recent Saturday night. “We ain’t making money like we used to.”

Rest assured, others are -- and then some.

[boracayjohnny]

Who?

[Black94lt1]

I'm happy to see more and more artists try to limit the resale market. As someone who attends 10+ concerts a year, I can't tell you how many times I've tried to get tickets to something, often on a presale only to be shut out, then magically hundreds or thousands of tickets are on the resale sites.

[Kerrmudgeon]

You should have to submit a photo of yourself when you buy the ticket, and that photo will be on the actual ticket, and that pic has to match your driving licence. No picture....no get in. fuck scalpers.

[99 pewtercoupe]

Originally Posted by Kerrmudgeon

You should have to submit a photo of yourself when you buy the ticket, and that photo will be on the actual ticket, and that pic has to match your driving licence. No picture....no get in. fuck scalpers.

When we went to Vegas this summer I wanted to see Penn & Teller's show while we were there. Ordered tickets online. At the time I bought them I had to fill in a name of who was going to pick up the tickets day of show. Tickets would not be released to any other name and I had to have photo ID when I picked them up. Makes it a lot harder on the resale market

[Jeff '79]

Was never a fan.
No thank you, but thank you for asking.

[snide]

Originally Posted by Jeff '79

Was never a fan.
No thank you, but thank you for asking.

I don't like Bruce enough to pay $100 for a ticket, let alone $10k.

[Aerovette]

I'd pay to see him off himself. That's about it. Liberal POS.

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by Jeff '79

Was never a fan.
No thank you, but thank you for asking.

I find it quite amazing that somebody who can't carry a tune in a bucket makes big bucks as a "singer"

Originally Posted by snide

I don't like Bruce enough to pay $100 for a ticket, let alone $10k.

If I was given free tickets I still wouldn't go to see that liberal piece of shit.

Originally Posted by aerovette

I'd pay to see him off himself. That's about it. Liberal POS.

Wasn't he one of the ones who was going to move when Trump got elected? Why is that piece of shit still here?

[Kerrmudgeon]

All you people who aren't fans should roll the dice and see him in person. I did, saw him in Montreal in around 84. BEST, bar none showman I've seen. Played for more than 3 hours and no one was in their seats. Simply awesome show. He lifted up the crowd and kept them there for the whole show. It was wonderfully exhausting....

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by Kerrmudgeon

All you people who aren't fans should roll the dice and see him in person. I did, saw him in Montreal in around 84. BEST, bar none showman I've seen. Played for more than 3 hours and no one was in their seats. Simply awesome show. He lifted up the crowd and kept them there for the whole show. It was wonderfully exhausting....

His voice is terrible. Plus he's gotten political during his concerts.

No way in hell

[boracayjohnny]

Originally Posted by Kerrmudgeon

All you people who aren't fans should roll the dice and see him in person. I did, saw him in Montreal in around 84. BEST, bar none showman I've seen. Played for more than 3 hours and no one was in their seats. Simply awesome show. He lifted up the crowd and kept them there for the whole show. It was wonderfully exhausting....

You gonna pay?

Second thought, mannnn, fukk that dude. He can't even pay me for my time.

[OddBall]

I like his music. Hell, I like Cher's music.
Wouldn't pay a dime to see either one though.

[Aerovette]

Originally Posted by TxAg

As much as I don't like the guy I don't wish him to commit suicide.

That's just wrong, IMHO.

I did not wish he would. I simply said I'd pay to see him under that circumstance.

Not the same.

[tjfontaine]

I think I would actually pay to NOT see him (or hear him). He was never a great singer - I saw him do a TV performance recently and OMG was he bad ...

[NCC-1701]

Originally Posted by TxAg

As much as I don't like the guy I don't wish him to commit suicide.

That's just wrong, IMHO.

Yea in the past I use to think like you but now I'll buy the ammo for the POS. And any other libtard I'd like to be a Kevorkian.

[NCC-1701]

Originally Posted by aerovette

I did not wish he would. I simply said I'd pay to see him under that circumstance.

Not the same.

I wish he would the POS.