The Dave Matthews Band basically prints its own money on tour

11.2
million the number of tickets the Dave Matthews Band sold between 2000 and 2009 – more than any other band on the freaking planet
$500
million the total revenues that DMB grossed from touring alone during that period; we need to get in the crappy music business, apparently source

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one His communications secretary resigned, saying he couldn’t “in good conscience” support Paterson.
two Paterson’s scandal continues to broaden, with ill-gotten World Series tickets under deep scrutiny.
three Paterson said he’d be governor Friday, but stayed silent when asked if he would be governor next week. source

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The merger has been approved after a yearlong investigation. This nightmare merger had been what many music fans had been fearing, but it appears the Justice Department found some common ground. “We were prepared to litigate this case, and I told the parties that,” said Justice Department antitrust representative Christine A. Varney. “The required divestitures and behavioral prohibitions alleviate our concerns.” Ticketmaster has to ditch a ticketing division and license its software to a competitor. Oh, and the boys at Justice will be watching them like a hawk for 10 years. Good idea – music fans will thank you. source

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$1040 the face value of two tickets for tomorrow’s season opener owned by jailed bad guy Bernard Madoff
$7,500 amount the tickets sold for on eBay; their value doubled in the final two hours of the auction source

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The proposal Ticketmaster, which handles ticket sales at venues across the country, and Live Nation, a spin-off of Clear Channel that promotes and produces live shows and has recently gotten into the artist management business, want to merge, sources say. As both businesses cover much of the live music industry, the merger would face antitrust scrutiny.
The concern Fans are not very happy about this idea, largely due to Ticketmaster’s history of shady practices and overcharging. Ticketmaster convenience fees can significantly increase the price of a concert ticket. If Live Nation, which has recently gotten into the ticket-distribution business itself, remained a competitor, they could help lower prices by increasing competition.
Bruce weighs inBruce Springsteen, who has a long history of railing against corporate greed, weighed in with a note on his Web site. In it, he stated that “the one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system.” source

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04 Jan 2011 10:35