Coalition For Ticket Fairness Statement and commentary

 

Of course the CTF and National Association Of Ticket Brokers is going to take a conciliatory approach. Of course they are against BOTS, which are ALREADY ILLEGAL (thanks Obama!) or anything that is also unfair to people with tickets to sell whether professionals or fans who made other plans in the intervening years between date of sale and showtime.

I never used bots when I was doing serious volume and I felt they are unfair competition for me and my business. I also feel the same way about penny slicing auto-pricers and still bristle at the hefty extortion payment I paid to Broker Genius to protect my inventory. Thankfully the 2nd year of my contract ran thru most of 2020 (it was a percentage of sales).

And any crackdowns on the secondary market will only further solidify LiveNation/Ticketmaster dominance. And course there will never be any industry transparency for primary ticketing. I was always reluctant to use the term monopoly as long as I could get the same tickets from any other sources but they may soon be one.

I've always said a fan is a sucker to be taken advantage of which is why I think of myself a discriminating consumer. And that's an issue of personal responsibility. In no other industry is the consumer protected from the consequences of making uninformed and emotional purchasing decisions. Or not comparison shopping or research what they are actually buying and then cry foul when they find the prices lower on the official site.

And some people say this only about making sure ticket brokers pay taxes. Oh boy, do ticket brokers pay taxes. My tax bill on my biggest year will take your breath away. At least it did mine. Unless you are an all cash business all income is reportable. Even the guys on the street, when you can find them will take Venmo. There may be ways to game it a bit around the edges in a legal manner if you have a good accountant like any other tax payer but full on evasion? No way.

(I really don't know how to resize this but if anyone wants to read it, it's out there, same for the NATB statement I haven't read)