Ticket Masters – Part 4: Online Ticketing and the Secondary Market

“Ticket Masters. The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped” by Dean Budnick and Josh Baron is one the first books that highlight the emergence of the modern concert industry by telling the story of the rise of its main players: Ticketmaster and Live Nation. It gives a deep insight into the processes within the network of concert promoters, ticketing firms and artist agencies and how this network has evolved over the decades.

In the first decade of 21^st century the ticketing market was fundamentally changed by the launch of online ticket platforms on the Internet. In part 4 Ticketmaster’s strategy towards online ticketing is highlighted as well as the rise of ticket scalpers to secondary market ticketing firms is outlined.

Ticket Masters – Part 3: The Ticketmaster’s Challenge: The Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam and String Cheese Incident

“Ticket Masters. The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped” by Dean Budnick and Josh Baron is one the first books that highlight the emergence of the modern concert industry by telling the story of the rise of its main players: Ticketmaster and Live Nation. It gives a deep insight into the processes within the network of concert promoters, ticketing firms and artist agencies and how this network has evolved over the decades.

Ticketmaster had a more or less monopolistic position in the ticketing market after the purchase of its main competitor Ticketron. In part 3 the conflicts between Ticketmaster and bands such as The Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam and String Cheese Incident over the right to sell tickets are highlighted.

EU Copyright Term Extension in Sound Recordings to 70 Years – An Economic Assessment

On September 12, 2011 the EU Council of Ministers passed the copyright term extension in sound recordings from 50 to 70 years, which was proposed by the European Commission in 2008 and voted on by the European Parliament in 2009. The term extension was welcomed by the music industry bodies and several musicians. The newly appointed IFPI chairman Plácido Domingo called the extension great news for performing artists which “(…) reflects the important role performers play in success of songs by narrowing the gap between the protection offered to recorded performances and that offered to compositions.” IFPI CEO Frances Moore added that “The extension of the term of protection to 70 years (…) improves the conditions for investment in new talent.” In first statements U2 manager Paul McGuiness and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus applauded to the EU decision.[1]

On the other hand, the extension is criticized by open access activists, but also by most of the academics in the field of intellectual property rights. In an open statement to the European Parliament the who-is-who of IP-law professors and economists, including Nobel laureats Sir James Mirrlees and Kenneth Arrow, opposed the copyright term extension as an ineffective and unnecessary extension of monopoly rights in 2008[2].

Thus, the question arises, what is the economic rational for such a term extension? What are arguments and counter-arguments and how they can be assessed by economic theory?

Ticket Masters – Part 2: The Rise of Ticketmaster

“Ticket Masters. The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped” by Dean Budnick and Josh Baron is one the first books that highlight the emergence of the modern concert industry by telling the story of the rise of its main players: Ticketmaster and Live Nation. It gives a deep insight into the processes within the network of concert promoters, ticketing firms and artist agencies and how this network has evolved over the decades.

After the main players of electronic ticketing service in the 1970s established a modern ticketing market, only Ticketmaster survived. In part 2 the “Rise of Ticketmaster” into a more or less monopolistic market position is highlighted.

Ticket Masters – Part 1: The Emergence of Electronic Ticketing Services

“Ticket Masters. The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped” by Dean Budnick and Josh Baron is one of the first books that highlight the emergence of the modern concert industry by telling the story of the rise of its main players: Ticketmaster and Live Nation. It gives a deep insight into the processes within the network of concert promoters, ticketing firms and artist agencies and how this network has evolved over the decades.

In the following six blog articles I am going to summarize Budnick’s and Baron’s book on the live music business starting in part 1 with “The Emergence of Electronic Ticketing Services”.