This is the artist himself saying that he'd rather have true fans in the seats at a reasonable price, rather than have the tickets snapped up by the asshole with the biggest wallet (not sorry for editorializing, that's the politest version of my view of scalpers).
The add-on effect he's looking for is fan retention over time. If 500 people bought from a scalper at some much higher price, there's a small chance that they will become disgruntled and stop being fans. In the long term, he could lose that business.
But if he himself levels out the market, the fans have less to lose. Sure, the artist takes a hit, but that's on him. He can always do something different next time if he's dissatisfied with his revenue.
Remember that this is a guy who made so much money the last time, that he was somewhat nervous. I don't think he's thinking about it the same way you are.
As for "not doing anyone any favors": way I see it, he's doing his fans a favor by keeping the ticket prices affordable.
So true fans are poor? What does having a fatter wallet have to do with your taste in comedy?
Also, fans don't work the way you think they do. If I like Louis CK, I like Louis CK. If he chooses to charge $500 for a ticket, I will just watch him on TV. It won't cause me to resent him.
In a perfect market, if enough people feel the same way, the price will drop down into the range that I am comfortable paying. If, on the other hand, he has so many fans that some are willing to pay exorbitant amounts to see him live, I will be forced to watch him on TV.
If he wants to give everyone (rich and poor) the chance to experience his set live, he needs to increase supply by touring more.
No? True fans are alone, and true fans are not necessarily the earliest at the gate. If scalpers can grab half the tickets before the show's sold out by buying in bulk, they're going to make a lot of money. Because now they control the product.
> he needs to increase supply by touring more.
He's booked 67 dates, he's only one guy, touring more? He'll need to put his million of sales in cloning if he wants to do that.
But he's at least found a way to keep control on prices and scalping and give everybody equal opportunity.
And you're sticking up for the fair-weather fans who aren't willing to take out a second mortgage on their homes.
Also, "true fans are not necessarily the earliest at the gate" is not an example of No True Scotsman, it's an example of Some True Scotsmen, the exact opposite.
I do say it as a bad thing. In my example, the 1000 fans and the artist would have been perfectly happy with the arrangement. Of course this is never the case.
So the scalpers are profiting from the mismatch in supply and demand and making the show less accessible to the fans. From a scalper POV, that's capitalism. God bless America. From the fans's POV, it just sucks.
And I could swap Louis CK for oil, and scalpers for Goldman Sachs, you know. Same thing IMO.
And the artist's POV as well, his fans are now poorer and there's no value into it: they don't enjoy it more, they don't get more merch, they don't keep their money to see the next show, they don't get to buy a nice dinner for their SO, etc...
That's an interesting angle. Internet piracy of content was supposed to be okay because the artist should be able to profit from concerts and related merchandise. But it seems that isn't entirely possible either.
How is that 'smoothing' the market? CK Louis seems to have smoothed it flat with $45 for all tickets.
If the scalpers didn't exist, the eventual ticket-holders would still be able to purchase from the original vendor. It's not like scalpers make tickets magically appear.
> If the scalpers didn't exist, the eventual ticket-holders would still be able to purchase from the original vendor.
A lot of them wouldn't, though. If the scalpers sell the tickets for, say, $500, then the people willing to pay $500 get tickets pretty reliably. If the scalpers didn't exist, those people would have to take a roll of the dice along with the many, many more people who are willing to pay $45. A lot of them wouldn't be able to see the show.
I didn't mean the same people. The same number of people would see the show, and people generally believe in a first-come-first-served moral system - spend a night in an busy ER department and see how the general public like the idea of 'triage'.
Really, my point is more that those tickets were going to sell anyway, and all the scalpers are doing is reducing the potential audience for those tickets. I don't see how this specific market is 'smoothed' by this practise.
You say 'flip them for profit' as if thats a bad thing, but as long as people buy those tickets, its just smoothing out the market.