Point, counterpoint. Again!
Producers and Brokers sitting in a tree. Doing B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S. | The Producer's Perspective
Wrong-o!
“Partnerships” between producers and brokers have existed on the sly for…ever! Producers diverting tickets to brokers was a time honored tradition in days gone by.
In the modern age it continues. The StubHub arrangement is only the latest incarnation of this. Broadway.com is the 800 pound gorilla of an example.
Producers have found a few other ways to tap into “broker partnerships”. Many producers have their own group sales arms, and it’s no coincidence that some tickets procured in this manner often find their way to brokers, or to StubHub listings. Even some producer owned websites have links to known broker websites.
The funny thing about these arrangements is how very anti-consumer it all is. When you take high priced premium tickets and slap on top of them the additional broker fees, you are adding a new level of insult to the entire enterprise. How long can you treat your customers in such a shabby way and still hope that some other more reasonably priced diversion won’t deplete your audience?
If Broadway, as an industry, has accepted that it has reached the most people that it can, with no hope of broadening the audience, and it’s only hope of continuing profitability is ever higher prices, and splitting fees with brokers, then we must accept that Broadway has become merely a sunset industry, and sadly watch it wind down over the coming years.
Producers and Brokers sitting in a tree. Doing B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S. | The Producer's Perspective
Wrong-o!
“Partnerships” between producers and brokers have existed on the sly for…ever! Producers diverting tickets to brokers was a time honored tradition in days gone by.
In the modern age it continues. The StubHub arrangement is only the latest incarnation of this. Broadway.com is the 800 pound gorilla of an example.
Producers have found a few other ways to tap into “broker partnerships”. Many producers have their own group sales arms, and it’s no coincidence that some tickets procured in this manner often find their way to brokers, or to StubHub listings. Even some producer owned websites have links to known broker websites.
The funny thing about these arrangements is how very anti-consumer it all is. When you take high priced premium tickets and slap on top of them the additional broker fees, you are adding a new level of insult to the entire enterprise. How long can you treat your customers in such a shabby way and still hope that some other more reasonably priced diversion won’t deplete your audience?
If Broadway, as an industry, has accepted that it has reached the most people that it can, with no hope of broadening the audience, and it’s only hope of continuing profitability is ever higher prices, and splitting fees with brokers, then we must accept that Broadway has become merely a sunset industry, and sadly watch it wind down over the coming years.
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