This is an old article yet it tells you how scalpers and alike manage to get a hold off tickets and a lot more, it surprised me.

WHY CAN'T I GET TICKETS?

REPORT ON TICKET DISTRIBUTION PRACTICES BUREAU OF INVESTOR PROTECTION AND SECURITIES.

How Illegal Brokers Get Tickets

How tickets wind up in the lucrative resale market rather than in the hands of fans is one of the subjects of this report. The following is a summary of the methods by which ticket brokers acquire tickets -- those they are willing to talk about, as well as the corrupt methods they are not willing to acknowledge.

1 The Acknowledged Methods

There are various methods by which ticket brokers claim to obtain their product legally.

Brokers send "diggers" to stand on line at the box office.

Brokers use high-speed dialing equipment and other methods to increase their chance of getting through by the telephone.

Brokers buy tickets, for a legal premium, from fans who have been able to buy tickets.

Brokers send in numerous mail orders for Broadway shows, generally in the individual names of employees or of surrogates, such as family and friends.

2 The Unacknowledged Methods

Brokers obtain seats from promoters, performers and representatives of venues (including box office treasurers and ticket sellers) by paying ice. In some instances, box office personnel have ownership interests in ticket brokers or have family members who are ticket brokers.

Brokers obtain tickets from computer ticketing companies such as Ticketmaster, whose employees are skimming tickets for themselves and selling them to brokers (or from distant outlets less likely to have a great demand for a show in New York City). When additional dates are added for a performance for which there is a great demand, they may not be advertised, thus creating the opportunity for outlet operators to advise their "friends" when the additional tickets will go on sale. In one instance, a small video store with a Ticketmaster terminal is silently owned by a New Jersey ticket broker.

Brokers obtain from the box office "house seats" that are not used by those persons entitled to use the house seats or that are held for performances at which such seats are released for theatre parties or large groups, or they obtain seats which were set aside for other promotional or marketing purposes (e.g., special agreements with credit card companies to hold a certain number of "best seats" for their gold or platinum card holders).
Brokers also buy from each other. One may have a "hook" (a contact) at one venue, others may have different "hooks." Thus, there is a constant stream of faxes flowing between them showing the tickets available. As a result of the variety of contacts or "hooks" among ticket brokers, different brokers tend to become known as specializing in certain events (e.g., Knicks and Rangers, Phantom of the Opera, etc.) Actually, this "specialization" is nothing more than having a "hook" with whom a broker can transact illegal business.

Members of the organized ticket broker industry basically have one answer to the question of how they get their tickets: the use of "diggers." While they resist discussing the issue of the source of their supply, if pressed they almost always say that they send "diggers" to stand on line at the box office or, less frequently, that they buy from original purchasers or have techniques for getting in on the telephone. This answer begs the question of how the brokers obtain the best seats in the house -- the seats commanding huge prices and demanded by the brokers’ business clientele, who expect large volume service on short notice -- in such large quantities.

In addition, diggers always seem to get the scarce number of high quality tickets available at the box office while the real fans are left "in the cold." Many such fans have called the Attorney General’s Office to complain about and describe the chaotic scene outside a venue when numbered wrist-bands (presumably instituted to assure fairness) are distributed a day before or hours before an "on-sale." Fans also complain about standing on line or camping-out for hours, if not days, to buy tickets for concerts, just to be told that all tickets are sold out or that the best seats are not available because they are reserved for the "fan club" or "VIPS." Diggers however, somehow manage to buy seats that are not available to the fans.

Click link to read morehttp://www.oag.state.ny.u..._text.html


The next artical is by Tim Leiweke Anschutz Entertainment Group(promoters) at AEG, it is four pages long but well worth the read. Tim Leiweke talks about how the industry is run, how they bid for contracts, how the ticket prices are set and a lot more. He has worked with the likes off U2, Elton John an Celien Dion and many more.

Click to read more: http://www.pollstaronline...dress3.htm

I was like when i read this, i have learned something new....