B magazine (didnt see it in their internt digest) has what looks like a pretty comprehensive article on the online ticket scalpers/"brokers", how fans are getting burned & frustrated, w/ the Stones highlighted as hot ticket, along with U2 & McCarney as the most in demand tickets this year. I've only read about a quarter of it so far, but as it quotes Ticketmaster prez/CEO: "55 % of Ticketmaster sales are online," (that's all? I guess that include lots of smaller shows by 2nd & 3rd tier artists) "up from the SINGLE digits in 1998..." the euphemism for these 'brokers' is "secondary ticket marketing". Also discussed is the increasingly common practice of "holding back 10% - 40% of a given venue's tickets for shows. These 'holds' serve such constituencies as the bands and their management, sponsors, promoters, radio stations, suite holders, sports tenants, record labels, and [my emphasis] FAN CLUBS...'A lot of [one broker's] tickets are coming from those holds, and from corporate sponsors.'" thats a online broker quoted. Others disagree. Like I said, have to read the whole piece. Check this article out! Also, in the same issue, album sales this year are down 7.6 %