Save The Date: Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped.

Josh Barron and Dean Budnic number 1 and 2 respectively at Relix Magazine have co authored a book exposing the evils of the ticketing industry, and will be hosting a panel this coming Thursday at 92YTribeca from 7-8:30PM. with some great people participating inlcuding John Scher, Eric Baker (StubHub, Viagogo), Andrew Dreskin (Ticketfly, TicketWeb) and Mike Luba (S2BN Entertainment, Madison House, SCI Ticketing)


"As sales of recorded music plummet, live shows are supposed to save the music industry. Maybe so. But who will save the fans-beleaguered by scalpers, high ticket prices and insane "service" fees? Budnick and Baron explain how we got to this sorry pass, and what will have to happen before we get through it. Music lovers both, they're on the side of concert goers, who pay the bills and deserve more for their dollars and devotion."
- Anthony DeCurtis, Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone

"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

Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped. Is based on first-person interviews with key players and meticulous research, Ticket Masters by Dean Budnick and Josh Baron is the first book-length exploration of the modern concert industry

Just in time for the summer concert season, Ticket Masters chronicles the as-yet-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.