[alexbeloi]

There was an interesting NPR episode on ticket resellers a while back: Planet Money (episode 468 - Kid Rock vs The Scalpers) http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/06/25/195641030/episo...

They talked about how it's more complex then resellers charging mark-ups to meet market demand. Often, venues have either social pressure or pressure from artists to keep prices low. The idea is that if the venue sells Katy Perry tickets at market price (say $2000/each), her fans are going to be upset with not only the venue but also her, so her management will make sure that doesn't happen.

However, simply lowering ticket prices means losing out on tons of money for both the venue and artist. One solution that is used is: the venue offloads large chunks of their ticket pool to ticket resellers (ticketmaster/stubhub) under the condition that they split a % of the markup with the venue and artist. The reseller absorbs the social blame for 'egregious' ticket prices, the venue/artist keep more of the profits than if they had kept prices below market price.

[maxerickson]

You forgot to mention the one weird trick that Kid Rock uses to help keep ticket prices for his shows lower -- he plays a lot of shows.

[hyperbovine]

The second trick is being Kid Rock.