AP  2 hrs 18 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – Event tickets seller Ticketmaster said Monday that it is introducing new technology to let artists and sports teams raise or lower ticket prices to reflect demand during the initial sales period — a move it said will crimp the profits of scalpers and boost revenue for performers and teams.

The technology could push up initial prices for front-row seats while reducing prices on less-desirable ones that might have gone unsold otherwise.

Ticketmaster, a division of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., says the change should make it harder for anyone to send prices soaring by buying up all the best tickets and reselling them at substantial profit.

"When the fan experience is not clouded by scalpers grabbing seats, or when there's more options for fans to come to a better show, that has a great impact on our business," Ticketmaster Chief Executive Nathan Hubbard said in an interview.

The company already is testing the system, known as "dynamic pricing," with several professional baseball, basketball and hockey teams. Ticketmaster plans to roll it out at some North American venues in the middle of the summer concert season this year. A data analysis company called MarketShare helped create the pricing tool.

The San Francisco Giants baseball team started using a dynamic pricing system created by a company called Qcue Inc. in 2009. The team found that adjusting prices in real time to reflect sales data, league standings and which opposing team was visiting helped sell more tickets.

Qcue, which is not involved with Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing offering, now serves more than 20 teams in pro baseball, hockey, basketball and auto racing.

Its founder and CEO, Barry Kahn, said Ticketmaster's biggest challenge is bringing the system to the music industry, where there has been a "dysfunctional relationship" between artists, their promoters, and venues.

Since Ticketmaster's merger with Live Nation last year, however, the combined company now has all three functions under one roof, meaning the divisions should be able to work together, he said.

StubHub, the world's largest reseller of tickets and a subsidiary of eBay Inc., said dynamic pricing for sports events has not cut into its business. Tickets that command high prices on the initial sale tend to sell at even higher prices on the resale market because they're in limited supply, according to StubHub spokesman Glenn Lehrman.

And, when seats that aren't as good are priced even more cheaply, more tickets get sold, he said.

"Any kind of system that leads to lower prices, that is a good thing for fans," Lehrman said.

Live Nation's revenue fell 9 percent in 2010 as concert ticket sales dropped, even though it tried to get more people through turnstiles by cutting ticket prices. The company has said it expects global ticket sales to be flat in 2011, compared with an 8 percent decline last year, when it sold 120 million tickets.

Live Nation shares fell 14 cents, or 1.4 percent, to close at $9.73 Monday.

It's funny...I thought that THAT was exactly what happened with the PRINCE concerts a few weeks ago here in North Carolina...
At the start, tkts were $20.00 or $199.00...and $499.00 VIP tables w/ cocktail waitress service (I scored 2 of the best $20.00 seat, btw...REALLY SUPER AMAZING SHOW!!!)
A day or two later, ...there was a $79.00 and a $99.00 tier...

Come the nite of the show...we were asked to exchange our tkts...we were upgraded to $99.00 seats and the $20.00 seats were tarped off

Tarp me up !


sc uk

Where was that show, Paranoid? I checked the prices for his show in Greensboro and the lowest was $79. If I had known earlier, I would have picked up a couple of $20 tickets. Damn!

Greensboro!!!
I had to work the nite of the Raleigh show...which is closer to me in Chapel Hill. I was online ( as in "on the internet") at 11:59AM when tkts went on sale...the GSO show was so awesome...
So was the RDU show...but Prince has always loved GSO...after the Purple Rain Pre-concert shows in Pittsburgh, he opened the tour in GSO...
Also...I love going to venues that the Stones played many many years before...sorta chilling...

Where are you Trey?!?

Part of the fun, is showing off, your very, expensive, exclusive seats!

these guys should be thrown....under the jail........

I think this is a dynamicly bad idea. These people just don't get it. Lower ticket prices,people will come. Now we're supposed to guess when tickets will be the cheapest. Screw it I just won't go. :blankfriggingstare1

Actually this has been going on for the past year or two. I didnt buy Tom Petty tickets when they were $125 and they were reduced two days before the show to $29.99. Same with Rod Stewart, they were $250 and the day before the show I got a ticket for $65. TM has been doing this quietly but I guess nobody noticed so now they announced it. This is good for people who are last minute decision makers, such as myself. I cant predict what I'll be doing two or three months in advance, but if my schedule is clear and they weather looks good, I'll check out the availability and pick up the ticket at Will Call. Works for me!

Freaking Ticketwhore.  

By announcing they have been doing this they are trying to push the prices back up to face value, especially for concerts.

Now they know there will be a last minute push on left over seats if shows didn't sell out from those hoping to catch a bargain.   If 1,000 or more seats are left and demand goes up - prices will go back up too.

Same principal as those new Coke machines that charge more for a cold drink on a hot day.  Hotter the weather - more the price because the consumer will be willing to pay more.