12/09/2017
This is really good. So often we read an analysis on this topic that is frustratingly oversimplified that it becomes almost worthless. That was not the case here. Eric Budish from the University of Chicago, Alan Krueger from Princeton University, and Sandeep Baliga from Northwestern do an excellent job of breaking down the problem from all sides.
*Side note for those of you not in this area of entertainment. David Marcus, head of music at Ticketmaster North America, confuses the role of manager and booking agent in his interview. While occasionally a manager may negotiate a show booking for a larger artist, it is quite rare. Typically a booking agent will negotiate with the promoter on an artist’s behalf. It’s an easy enough mistake to make in this format, but we don’t want anyone to become misinformed.
The public has almost no chance to buy good tickets to the best events. Ticket brokers, meanwhile, make huge profits on the secondary markets. Here’s the story of how this market got so dysfunctional, how it can be fixed – and why it probably won’t be.
