Brokering Tickets

I’m flattered that Patrick Goldstein considers tickets brokers to be “the music industry’s real insiders,” but several of his observations cry out for clarification.

Goldstein’s allegations of “brokers’ access to large amounts of tickets” are completely unfounded and unsubstantiated and the charge of KLSX’s Phil Hendrie who states “. . . (the brokers) get tickets before they even go on sale” is patently false.

The California Legislature has examined the ticket business in great detail and at considerable cost over the years and has come to the conclusion that any type of price control would not be in the best interest of anyone because it would result in higher ticket prices, because a black market situation would then exist. How would the owners of KLSX like a law limiting how much they could charge for advertising?

The incessant whining of Phil Hendrie and KLSX appears to be nothing more than a thinly disguised attempt to bolster their sagging ratings at the expense of an industry that typifies the very essence of what “supply and demand” is all about.

If the public is as fed up as Hendrie claims, then the solution is a simple one. Stop buying tickets from ticket brokers. After all, no one is forced to come to us.

BRIAN F. HARLIG

Partner, Good Time Tickets