The Wall Street Journal's Joseph de Avilla has an article today on fans who find ways to access fan club-only ticket presales. Fan clubs, which typically cost $30 per year, give their members pass codes to pre-sale ticket opportunities. Some fan club members are selling those pass codes to non-members through eBay, Craigslist and, in one instance, a website called UltimatePresales.com.

"This practice irks fan-club managers, who want to ensure that only fan-club members benefit from the codes. But there appears to be little they can do to stop the practice, short of expelling members they catch selling the passwords and revoking tickets bought using someone else's code.

A variety of individuals -- both novices and professionals -- are behind the sale of these codes online, says Larry Peryer, president of UltraStar Entertainment LLC in Brooklyn, N.Y., which manages presale ticketing for artists such as the Rolling Stones, the Police and Sting. It may be a fan-club member trying to make extra money on the side. Or it may be a team of professionals employing an army of collaborators to join multiple fan clubs to gain access to several codes. These professionals may use the codes to buy prime tickets to resell, or may put the codes up for sale on sites such as eBay, Mr. Peryer says."

There's nothing illegal about selling these codes, so bands and fan clubs are starting to come up with preventative measures. UltraStar, by the way, is owned by promotions (and soon to be ticketing) powerhouse LiveNation.