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Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Scalpers and BroadwayStars
On Sunday night we received an email from a reader regarding the new text ads from Google that have been running on BroadwayStars.com for the past few weeks. Here it is, in its entirety:
- Does it bother you that Google lists links to ticket brokers and scalpers on your website? It does bother me, A LOT.
You're in good (well "good" might not be the best word) company, as the NY Post's website does the same thing. In fact, the article yesterday about the brokers bussing in homeless from PA to be the first in line for today's Producers on sale, "featured" 4 links to buy online broker tickets at greatly inflated prices through brokers. Kinda ironic. Being a Broadway professional for 10 years, I find it about as offensive or tacky, obviously not as serious, but humor me, as listing gun ads on an article about guns used in crimes. The fact that "we" (meaning the Broadway community) allows this to happen shocks me. I know it's hard to regulate this act, but by allowing these links to continue, it, in a sense, gives our approval. Why not list the links to re-sellers such as Broadway Inner Circle, where at least the great majority of the increase benefits the creative team and producers of the production. Or how about a link to Actors Fund where the overage goes to people in need, and not some scumsucking greaseball scalper.
Having been a daily reader of Broadwaystars.com for two plus years I find it absolutely shocking that you would allow this to happen on your website. Yes it's a free country and scalping tickets is as American, unfortunately, as Apple Pie and Trailer Parks, but it puts money in the pockets of these creepy and sleazy brokers, and out of the pockets of the productions or folks in need.
First of all, most people who read BroadwayStars.com fall into one of two categories. Either they are industry insiders (including media) or super-fans who are already well acquainted with box offices, ticket discounts, Tele-Charge, Ticketmaster, et al. BroadwayStars.com has very little traffic from the general public who has no interest in the news of the day from Broadway and just wants tickets to Mamma Mia. Our readers are very well educated in the area of getting tickets and most are aware of the ticket programs at BC/EFA and The Actor's Fund if they need that "must have" ticket and are willing to pay 2x face value in the form of a donation to these great groups.
Secondly, BroadwayStars.com cannot reasonably control the content of the Google Ads. We can ban certain ads based on their destination link, but as there are so many scalper websites out there, it is nearly impossible to do that. And besides, from the point above, our readers don't need the services of a scalper -- so the ad is harmless.
So, the root of the issue -- advertising. BroadwayStars.com is a small idea that grew into a large one. While it was never intended to be a source of revenue, I hoped that one day it would pay for itself. I turned to Google Ads as a simple way to generate revenue without having to hire an advertising department. I couldn't see fighting the other websites for advertising revenue when we get our content mostly from them! (It's that biting the hand that feeds you thing.)
Rest assured, BroadwayStars.com does not condone scalping. If you want to vote against the scalpers and help us at the same time... click on their link at the top of our page. This will cost the scalpers money and help BroadwayStars.com with some revenue. (Yeah, it is only a few cents, but if everyone who reads the site does it, we can bring you more cool things!)
And as a last note, we have added links to Telecharge.com and Ticketmaster.com on the upper left hand side of the page in case some newbie trips over our site and needs to purchase tickets. BroadwayStars.com does not receive any revenue from the Telecharge or Ticketmaster links.
Thanks for your input. It is always welcome and appreciated.
- James Marino
posted at 02:54 PM by James Marino | Item Link
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2007-08
Broadway Season
June 28 - Old Acquaintance (AA)
July 10 - Xanadu (Hayes) [Robert Ahrens, Dan Vickery, Tara Smith/B. Swibel and Sarah Murchison/Dale Smith]
Aug 19 - Grease (Atkinson)
Oct 4 - Mauritius (Biltmore) [MTC]
Oct 11 - The Ritz (54)
Oct 18 - Pygmalion (AA)
Oct 25 - A Bronx Tale (Kerr)
Nov 1 - Cyrano de Bergerac (Rodgers)
Nov 4 - Rock 'N' Roll (Jacobs)
Nov 8 - Young Frankenstein (Hilton)
Nov 9 - Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (St. James)
Nov 10: Local One Strike Begins
Nov 28: Local One Strike Ends
Dec 2 - Cymbeline (Beaumont)
Dec 3 - The Farnsworth Invention (Music Box) [Dodger Properties with Steven Spielberg, Dan Cap Productions, Fred Zollo, Latitude Link and the Pelican Group]
Dec 4 - August: Osage County (Imperial) [Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Steppenwolf]
Dec 6 - The Seafarer (Booth)
Dec 9 - Is He Dead? (Lyceum)
Dec 16 - The Homecoming (Cort) [Richards, Frankel]
Jan 10 - The Little Mermaid (Lunt)
Jan 15 - The 39 Steps (AA)
Jan 17 - November (Barrymore)
Jan 24 - Come Back, Little Sheba (Biltmore)
Feb 21 - Sunday In The Park With George (54)
Feb 28 - Passing Strange (Belasco)
Mar 6 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Broadhurst) [Stephen C. Byrd]
Mar 9 - In The Heights (Rodgers)
Mar 27 - Gypsy (St. James)
Mar 29 - Macbeth (Lyceum)
Apr 3 - South Pacific (Beaumont)
Apr 17 - A Catered Affair (Kerr) [Jujamcyn Theaters, Jordan Roth, Harvey Entertainment / Ron Fierstein, Richie Jackson and Daryl Roth]
Apr 24 - Cry Baby (Marquis)
Apr 27 - The Country Girl (Jacobs)
Apr 30 - Thurgood (Booth)
May 1 - Les Liaisons Dangereuses (AA)
May 4 - Boeing-Boeing (Longacre)
May 7 - Top Girls (Biltmore)
TBA - Godspell
2008-09
Broadway Season
Oct 16 - Billy Elliot (Imperial)
Nov 08 - Dividing the Estate (a Shubert theater)
Dec 14 - Shrek: The Musical (Broadway) [DreamWorks]
Talked About
Not Scheduled Yet
TBA - 50 Words
TBA - Addams Family (Elephant Eye)
TBA - American Buffalo
TBA - An American Vaudeville [Farrell, Perloff]
TBA - The Beard of Avon [NYTW]
TBA - Being There [Permut]
TBA - Benny & Joon [MGM]
TBA - Billy Elliot
TBA - Brave New World [Rachunow]
TBA - Breath of Life [Fox]
TBA - Busker Alley [Margot Astrachan, Robert Blume, Kristine Lewis, Jamie Fox, Joanna Kerry & Heather Duke]
TBA - Broomhilda
TBA - Bye Bye Birdie [Niko]
TBA - Camille Claudel [Wildhorn]
TBA - Camelot
TBA - Carmen [Robin DeLevita and The Firm]
TBA - Catch Me If You Can
TBA - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [Bob and Harvey Weinstein]
TBA - Cry Baby [Grazer, Gordon, McAllister, Epstein]
TBA - Designing Women [Alexis]
TBA - Don Juan DeMarco [New Line]
TBA - Dreamgirls [Creative Battery]
TBA - Duet
TBA - Equus
TBA - Ever After [Adam Epstein]
TBA - Fallen Angels (Shubert) [Kenwright]
TBA - Farragut North [Richards]
TBA - Father of the Bride
TBA - The Female Of The Species (TBA)
TBA - Fool For Love (AA) [Roundabout]
TBA - Girl Group Time Travelers
TBA - Golden Boy
TBA - Harmony [Guiles, Karslake, Smith, Fishman]
TBA - Hitchcock Blonde
TBA - The Importance Of Being Earnest
TBA - Jerry Springer: The Opera! [Thoday, McKeown]
TBA - Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train (Circle)
TBA - Josephine [Waissman]
TBA - Leap of Faith
TBA - A Little Princess [Ettinger, Dodger]
TBA - Midnight Cowboy [MGM]
TBA - The Minstrel Show - Kander and Ebb and Stroman
TBA - Moonstruck [Pittelman, Azenberg]
TBA - Mourning Becomes Electra [Haber, Boyett]
TBA - Monsoon Wedding
TBA - The Night of the Hunter
TBA - The Opposite of Sex [Namco]
TBA - Orphans
TBA - Pal Joey [Platt]
TBA - Paper Doll
TBA - The Paris Letter
TBA - The Philadelphia Story
TBA - Peter Pan
TBA - Porgy and Bess [Frankel, Viertel, Baruch, Routh, Panter, Tulchin/Bartner]
TBA - The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
TBA - The Princess Bride
TBA - Princesses [Lane, Comley]
TBA - Poe the Musical
TBA - Rain Man [MGM]
TBA - Robin Hood
TBA - Secondhand Lions
TBA - South Pacific
TBA - Speed-the-Plow
TBA - Stalag 17
TBA - Starry Messenger
TBA - Syncopation
TBA - A Tale Of Two Cities
TBA - Torch Song Trilogy
TBA - Turn of the Century
TBA - West Side Story
TBA - The Wall [Weinstein, Mottola, Waters]
TBA - Will Rogers Follies [Cossette]
TBA - The Wiz [Dodger]
TBA - Zanna [Dalgleish]
This list is compiled from various sources. If you have corrections to the Broadway Season, please contact us.
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