Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped - receives rave reviews

Ticket Masters Earns Rave Reviews

Plume To Issue Paperback on April 24, 2012

The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Maclean's and Pollstar are among the many outlets that have issued rave reviews of Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped.

Based on first-person interviews with key players and meticulous research, authors Dean Budnick and Josh Baron have delivered a compelling, exhaustive exploration of the modern concert industry.

Plume will release the paperback version of the book on April 24, 2012, with an expanded epilogue that traces the course of events following those described in the hardcover edition, which ECW Press released this past June.

Ticket Masters chronicles the previously untold story of the live entertainment industry, revealing its origins, development and ongoing strategies of companies such as Ticketmaster, Live Nation and StubHub and the efforts of numerous independent competitors.

With over 100 exclusive interviews and utilizing many previously unreleased documents, this character-driven book explores the actions and impact of the iconoclasts guiding these companies while folding in related tales of scalping syndicates, old school music promoters and would-be Internet tycoons along with the brash business decisions of such world-renowned groups as the Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam and The Rolling Stones.

Like no previous book, Ticket Masters sheds light upon the complex relationships between artists, promoters, ticketing agents and the public. Beginning with the previously unreported details behind the rise and demise of the once-dominant Ticketron, Ticket Masters proceeds to share gripping accounts and analysis of Ticketmaster's eventual market supremacy, SFX and Clear Channel's promoter rollup, the cutthroat battle for secondary ticket sales and numerous other tales of the industry's most significant architects.

Whether it's Michael Cohl nabbing the Stones from Bill Graham, Ticketmaster's defeat of Pearl Jam or the silent efforts of music superstars to mark up their ticket prices for complicit websites, Budnick and Baron examine the pivotal developments that have shaped the industry as we know it.

Yet, Ticket Masters is also a personal story for the millions who purchase tickets, as it addresses the often-asked (but unanswered) questions: How and why do concerts sell out so fast? Why do service fees vary on tickets to the same event? Why isn't Ticketmaster considered an illegal monopoly? Is it worth joining a band's fan club to qualify for a pre-sale? How do ticket broker websites like StubHub get all their tickets - isn't scalping illegal? Who is pocketing all this money? What happened to the time when real fans could get great seats for a reasonable price? And (deep breath), just how did ticket prices get so high, anyway?

Ticket Masters, a timely account of the multi-billion dollar concert industry, answers these questions and many more. This engrossing book shares a compelling story of the many ways in which the American public is being scalped.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS/ADDITIONAL PRESS

Dean Budnick, the executive editor of Relix magazine, is the founder of Jambands.com, the cocreator of the Jammy Awards, and the director of the documentary film Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Rock Club. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard's History of American Civilization program and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Josh Baron is the editor-in-chief of Relix magazine, a music-based publication where he has been on staff for more than a decade. Baron also contributes to a variety of media outlets including New York City-based radio station WFUV where he serves as a music reviewer. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.

"A clear, comprehensive look at a murky business, the book is also an encyclopedia of information about the rise, decline and rebirth of the live music industry." - The Wall Street Journal

"Fascinating. . . . [The authors] delve deep into every aspect of the tour biz, from the rise of computerized ticketing to the consolidation of concert promoters." - Rolling Stone

"A fascinating insider's portrait of the music business once all of the pulsing lights, fog machines and sound equipment have been turned off. - Maclean's

"Authors Dean Budnick and Josh Baron have done an excellent job of pulling together the story of the industry's mom and pop history, the SFX rollup that forever changed the landscape, and how in the course of all this, ticketing went from a cost center to a virtually out of control revenue stream." - Gary Bongiovanni Editor-in-Chief Pollstar

"When community meets commerce, things get complicated. In Ticket Masters, Josh Baron and Dean Budnick take you behind the box office and explain, for the first time, the real reasons a good seat costs so damn much." - Alan Light, former Editor-in-Chief, Vibe and Spin magazines

"The definitive history... it reads like an adventure story, full of colorful characters, shady transactions, and surprising twists and turns. For everyone who has been dumbstruck by the extra fees added to the price of admission, this book is just the ticket. Highly recommended for eventgoers everywhere." - Library Journal

"Dean Budnick and Josh Baron brilliantly chronicle the storied history of ticketing, providing a front row seat to the back room drama. A must-read for any music business enthusiast." - Shirley Halperin, Music Editor, The Hollywood Reporter

"If you wonder why you're paying ten times as much for overblown, cross-promoted spectacles that are one-tenth as satisfying as the rock and roll of your youth, you need to read this book." - Steve Silberman, editor, Wired magazine

"For anyone who's ever suffered rock concert sticker shock-and we all have-Dean Budnick and Josh Baron's Ticket Masters is the best seat in the house to the show behind the show." - Fred Goodman, author Fortune's Fool and The Mansion on the Hill

"Reading this book won't make you any happier about spending four hundred bucks to go to a rock show, but you'll understand how it happened and who's to blame." - Bill Flanagan, executive vice president and editorial director of MTV Networks, author Evening's Empire, A&R

Buy CDs, MP3s, more:

Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped on Amazon.com

Ticket Masters The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped on Amazon.co.uk

Search for CDs, Mp3s, more: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk