Ticket Masters

The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped

By: Josh Baron, Dean Budnick

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

Your favorite band has just announced their nationwide tour. Should you pay to join their fan club and get in on the pre-sale? No, you decide to wait. But the on-sale date arrives, and the site is jammed. You can’t get on - and the concert is sold out in six minutes. What happened? What now?

Music journalists Dean Budnick and Josh Baron chronicle the behind-the-scenes history of the modern concert industry. Filled with entertaining rock-and-roll anecdotes about The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam, and more - and charting the emergence of players like Ticketmaster, StubHub, Live Nation, and Outbox - Ticket Masters will transfix every concertgoer who wonders just where the price of admission really goes. This edition has an updated epilogue that covers recent industry developments.

©2011 Dean Budnick and Josh Baron (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Incredible book and I’d love a second to cover the years after this was published

I really cannot applaud this book any more for its deep diving into history and facts relating to the ticketing industry. As a ticketing professional this book taught me how this industry started and mentions practices we still use in the field today. Great story, well told and now I need another installment to take us from 2010 through 2021!

A great history turned to stodge

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This story is rather interesting (especially if you're wanting to find out WHY Ticketmaster charges so much) but the story goes over and OVER itself from all different angles. Also, while I'm sure the first narrator is a good actor, listening to him read for more than five minutes makes you favour scraping a cheese grater against your forehead... or at the very least, your ears.

Would you ever listen to anything by Josh Baron and Dean Budnick again?

No way

Which scene was your favorite?

The poem written for the old guys retirement.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Only if it was stripped of the stodge. It's like listening to someone wade through porridge (oatmeal).

Any additional comments?

Please tell the narrator to find a different job.

The recent history of live ticketed music

Ostensibly this is a book about ticketmaster and while they are front and center to the book, the real value comes from the exploration of the historic consolidation of the live music industry. It certainly adds much more flavor and background for today's current ticketmaster fights. A must read if you want to know the why of service fees.

Great story and amazing subject; a very difficult listen

Ultimately, this is a great book with a very interesting subject. The narration is excellent. The two flaws are: there are so many names, and so many parallel stories taking place at the same time that it’s difficult to keep them straight while listening. Found myself going back to re-listen to parts numerous times and still having some bit of confusion.

The other thing I would love to see. This book essentially ends in 2010. A lot has happened over the last 13 years with respect to the live performance industry and ticketing practices.

A rewrite and or edit of this book along with a freshening would go miles.