AEG Live To Partner With StubHub
DENVER (CBS4) - The big business of music is not necessarily in the concerts or promotion anymore. The latest battleground for new money is in ticket sales.
CBS4 Critic at Large Greg Moody looked into the shift in the music industry.
"The new money -- the new green -- isn't even in primary ticket sales. It's in resale," Moody said. "With a ticket selling website you get your fees and commissions which you have to share with the artists. With a resale site you get even bigger fees and commissions and may not have to share at all."
The word is that AEG Live, which has a huge music promotion presence in Denver, is going to make eBay's StubHub resale site an official partner. The move is hoped to grab some of the huge prices now controlled by scalpers and ticket resalers.
Starting next year, people buying tickets on AEG's AXS.com site will be offered the chance to buy or sell their tickets through StubHub.
"The big question now for musicians is they usually don't get a cut of the money and fees from resales," Moody said.
Now that AEG is involved, that could change.
"You had to wonder when this was going to happen -- as the secondary sales market for tickets of all kinds has quickly become a multi-million dollar industry," Moody said.
Moody says that it doesn't mean much for people who buy and hold tickets.
"But if you want to change or sell them, or get some choice seats that StubHub has already grabbed, you're going to have to dig deep."
Resalers make their money by charging steep commissions to both buyers and sellers. AEG will get a share of any of that money.
