Concert ticket opportunists crash the party before it begins

"How can every ticket be sold before the tickets are even on sale? Something fishy is up here -- very fishy."
1 - It is not the ticket brokers. Ticket Brokers obtain tickets through legal means like every other consumer. There aren't shortcuts or backdoors or insiders.
The most common method for brokers is to buy tickets on their own, but they are restricted by ticket limits just like every consumer.
Another source is the parent who buys 8 tickets, and immediately calls a broker to get an offer for the 6 they don't need. This is not a new trend, but the combination of the internet and ebay has accelerated the trend.

"How can every ticket be sold before the tickets are even on sale?"
2 - Understand the music industry. Artists need to make money and in the age of the ipod, they cannot count on CD sales.
In the good old days, artists released new albums and toured to support the album. Now artists release albums to create buzz for the tour where they make their money.
And they want their money. The $20 GA ticket has been replaced by a scaled house with multiple price levels.
Fanclubs sell tickets ahead of the actual public onsale. Why sell tickets in a presale? Because each ticket sale is coupled to a $30 fan club membership goes that goes directly into the pocket.
And that doesn't include CD code presales where each CD has a code which allows you to buy tour tickets before the public onsale.

"I'm not sure the blame can be laid on Hannah Montana's producer and bankroller Walt Disney, Co."
3 - Hmmmm, who do you think is calling the shots? It is not the venues, or their minions, the primary ticket sellers (Ticketmaster, et all); it is Hannah's management team.
A significant percentage of tickets go on sale early in the Hannah Fan Club presale. Hannah's management team determines how many.
Then take a look at the auctions at the primary ticket sellers. The first 15 rows on the floor are resold by Hannah at market prices.

So why is all of this an issue now?

The public didn't complain when the Rolling Stones or U2 or numerous other artists did exactly the same thing.
Is it because a 7 year old is involved and no one has the courage to say that the cost of tickets for the family would fund a college education?

Getting backstage passes to concerts is a lot easier than people think. I am really surprised that more people are not doing it. I have been attending concerts since I was fifteen and have gotten backstage to more than thirty-five concerts in the last 10 years.

I have met most of my favorite performers and have a collection of memories that will last me a lifetime. I have tons of pictures, music, t shirts and autographs that I obtained throughout the years. My main suggestion is getting your foot in the door. There is actually a book that I saw at the library that had quite a bit on info about the subject. The book has a website address www.igotbackstagepasses.com where you can order it.

I have read a few books on the subject but this one was the most complete and did not have lame info that I have seen in other books. This book uses some of the exact same methods that I use. Once you get your foot in the door, you can easily get backstage. People think that you have to “trick” people into letting you backstage but that is not likely. I have learned that once you know someone on the inside, you are set for life. I now know someone at every venue in my city.

So my advice is to take it step by step and read some books on the subject. It is well worth your time and effort. While you are backstage, behave yourself and stay out of people’s way and don’t argue with anyone or you will get a one way ticket from where you came from and will never be invited back. I have seen this happen a few times. So go for it, there is nothing more exciting than getting close to these bigger than life stars.

Just because you were unable to get tickets does not mean that there were no tickets available. The fan club only sells a percentage of the seats in the venue. There are often times more than 1 presale, but there are always tickets for the general on sale date. Better luck next time. For Hannah Montana tickets, the fan club would obviously be a good investment if one is interested in getting decent seats for face value.

I'm sorry but blaming the fan club doesn't fly with me.
1) There were many fan club members who tried to get tickets the first day of the pre-sale only to be locked out from the get go.
2) Many of the web based ticket brokers are advertising specific seat locations two or more weeks in advance of the tickets going on sale. If conditions are the same everywhere then that would still be 8 - 10 days before the fan club pre-sale starts.
3) It is most probably true that the artist is intimately involved with the process that precludes a large number of tickets being available to the general public at face value.
4) As for tickets being available the day of the ticket sale, when as little as 3,000 tickets at of 17,000 are the only ones that make it to the official sale time then something is wrong.

everything I have read on the hanna montana issue is true. this makes me mad. WE THE PUBLIC SHOULD HAVE FIRST BIDS ON THE TICKETS BEFORE THESE TICKET BROKERS. WE ARE THE ONES AND ARE CHILDREN THAT SIT HOME AND SUPPORT HER SHOWS AND HER MUSICNOT TICKET BROKERS. MAD MOM W/SAD LITTLE GIRLS

We have been doing tons of research on the hanna ticket scam over the past two weeks. We even spoke to the Venue Execs, Ticketmaster Execs and even the Show Promoter. We have confirmed that tickets go on sale this tuesday and that there are only a total of 1000 seats that are going to be available. For those like us who have paid the $30 to get early tickets, this is fraud - plain and simple. Additionally, it is a week away from the presale and all the ticket brokers have tons of seats already (these are assigned seats with numbers, not seats they are hoping for). They are selling a floor ticket in Sunrise, FL for 1500 dollars each.

i had a family member 3rd in line @ our local ticketmaster in San ANtonio... I used 2 computers two telephones and 1 cell phone .. a total of 6 people (adults) trying to buy just 4 tickets at the designated time... ABSOLUTLY ZERO.. I dont know what else i COULD HAVE DONE!!! Man I just wanted to take my kids to a 2 hour show... not finance a vehicle for crying out loud... my family is left with a bad taste in our mouths.. we work hard but we just cant afford these brokers prices.. I guess these concerts are for the truly rich or extremely lucky.. I guess I just wanted to know if anyone else tried as hard as I did and got nowhere fast.

Sorry Hannah, we love ya but I guess us poor folks will never get to see you in a live event. Please hear the families out on this one. Cancel your tour and release tickets at stores/outlets only! with limitations and require ids so people can only get so many.... or something!!!

Hello
Same thing happened here in Pa, ticketmaster posted a note saying if you lived in greater pittsburgh or west virginia or eastern ohio you had fiorst chance at the tickets for the pittsburgh show. So meanwhile I live in Latrobe and got screwed out of tickets because of ticketmaster! Anyhow people were saying they were sold out at 10:01am and they only went on sale at 10:00 am. Our local giant eagle sold 5 whopping tickets and their a seller for ticketmaster. Now if you search oin eaby people are selling tickets for no less than 250.00 for one....outrageous! I think billy ray should cancel the whole tour, that would fix the people who screwed half the country out of tickets!!

I had to pay for the $29.00 Miley World fan club price in order to appease my daughter's wish for tickets to the Hannah Montanna concert... there were no presale tickets...so we geared up to buy tickets online as they went onsale to the public on the 29th...no tickets...not even one... something is incredibly wrong when you see kid concert tickets going onsale by scalpers for $200-$1,300 a ticket. When I was young, tickets were like $16 for acts like the Police, etc. Talk about inflation...or just something gone terribly wrong! High School Musical tickets were available and that was a pretty hot ticket to get last year. Still, they were available. Gwen Stefani had presale tickets for her fan club and got my daughter 8th row tickets... so what went wrong with the Hannay Montana ticket sales? Are the $29.00 fan club fees going to be refunded? When we purchased Gwen Stefani tickets through the fan club, the fan club fee was attached to the sale of tickets. Maybe there needs to be a more efficient way of ticket purchase validation. There could be presale pre-approved by social security numbers. Everyone born in this country has one...of course there are issues with that system because everyone wants to make a buck on something, but if you can get cell phones online and have your SSN# checked within 5 minutes in order to get approved...then maybe tickets should be sold the same way....cause the cost of some tickets are more expensive than a house full of cell phones!