Madonna has apparently signed a deal with secondary market ticket sellers StubHub and Viagogo. Why is this news? Well, because it’s the first time in the history of the universe that a major artist has had a formal agreement in place with the secondary ticket market.
John Wilson has an interesting write-up on his blog about the meaning of the deal.
Having sold her touring rights to LiveNation last year, this represents a major endorsement of secondary markets by one of the world’s largest promoters and blows a hole through the “moral” arguments that were advanced by some parts of the live music industry, who condemned such market as scalping or touting. Similarly, it leaves the recently formed industry association that was advocating a revenue tax on secondary markets completely wrong footed.
