Neil Diamond

WSJ: Top Artists "Scalping" Own Tickets on Resale Sites

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 12, 2009 - 8:54am.
New York - A number of top music artists, including Neil Diamond, Britney Spears, Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Billy Joel and Elton John, are partnering with Ticketmaster (NASD: TKTM) to sell some premium tickets to their concerts on a secondary ticket exchange for hundreds of dollars more than face value, The Wall Street Journal reported. Several managers of top artists and Ticketmaster executives told The Journal that the company "routinely offers to list hundreds of the best tickets per concert on one of its two resale Web sites -- and divides the extra revenue, which can amount to more than $2 million on a major tour, with artists and promoters."