Correspondence: Louis J Volpano, ascertain-ment®, Entertainment Industry Research and Strategic Analysis, 260 Newport Center Drive, Suite 100, Newport Beach, CA 92660, USA. Tel: +1 949 999 0810; Fax: +1 949 999 0868; E-mail: lou@ascertain-ment.com

¹Lou Volpano is Chairman of Op-Tix.com Ticket Pricing, Inc., which develops the technology to determine profit-maximized pricing for concerts, in addition to the managing partner of ascertain-ment^®, the only entertainment and media consulting company focused on finding the hidden value in America's largest export: copyrights and IP, for private equity, V.C's, and media companies. Current clients lead the markets in TelecomTV, direct response TV, and the internet. Volpano served as director of corporate development for turn-around firm Kibel/Green, Inc. and also as director of strategic marketing and licensing sales for Discovery Channel's Great Chefs™. From 90 to 99, his consulting assignments included House of Blues and Billboard Live, and production companies, Dick Clark Productions. Based in Chicago from 75 to 89, he produced the world's largest music festivals and led the vanguard of event marketing. He was also an integral member of the team that personally managed the Blues Brothers band and brand.

²Volodymyr Bilotkach, PhD, an advisor to ascertainment, is an economist at the University of California in Irvine, California.

Received 17 August 2007; Revised 17 August 2007.

Abstract

This paper demonstrates how we can rationalise ticket pricing to capture the surpluses, commonly found in ticket markets, for the artist. In the past two months, ascertain-ment collected data and analysed ticket prices for Eric Clapton's sold out concert in Oklahoma City, OK. Clapton's tickets were sold at a face value of $65 and $85 through Ticketmaster. Yet the secondary market of ticket brokers found demand could yield as much as $700 per ticket. We determined that over $250,000 in surplus revenue was not captured by Clapton. The primary data we collected have generated statistical links between prices and demand for tickets. Specifically, we have found that tickets must be sold for a wider array of prices, and we have determined an exponentially priced schematic to estimate an optimal set of prices to reduce the differential between primary and secondary ticket prices, capturing more revenue for concert artists.