The secondary ticket market is something that gets people riled up, but new companies are extracting a great deal of value. Yes, there's a lot of value in the secondary market. Call it an efficient market-clearing mechanism, or call it a fan-unfriendly prescription for higher prices, but it looks like it's here to stay.

Eric Baker, the founder of Stubhub! is bringing his other ticketing company, the UK-based Viagogo, to the U.S. through a deal with the Cleveland Browns. Viagogo will be the authorized secondary ticket seller for the team.

"(Baker) estimates the U.S. secondary ticketing market at about $12 billion annually, but he said his former company StubHub! controls less than 10 percent, even though it’s the dominate player in the market. With more than 90 percent of the market up for grabs, and with anti-scalping laws crumbling throughout the country, Baker believed it was high time Viagogo made its move."

Extra credit reading:

• "Can the Net Make Ticket Scalping Legit?" at News.com, June 5, 2006. "Analysts now say the Internet is helping to move the secondary market out of the back alleys and into the boardroom. Internet companies such as TicketsNow.com and StubHub are trying to clean up the industry's image by weeding out con artists, offering up no-nonsense pricing and guaranteeing on-time delivery."
• The English band Hard-Fi found out 200 or so tickets for an Edinburgh, Scotland concert were on eBay, so the band demanded each one back from the re-sellers.
• "Elusive, Expensive and Sold Out" at the Toronto Star, July 25, 2007. "The Internet Age may have dramatically altered the landscape for would-be concert-goers, but the simpler times of camping outside a concert venue or local ticket agent to be first in line when the box office opens have been replaced by cyberspace queues where victory goes to the quickest keystroke or fastest high-speed connection."

[music jobs] Brand and Online Marketing Manager at The Ascot Club/Am Only; Brooklyn, NY.