Money makes the world go round.

Michael Jackson is evil.
Trent Reznor is good.

2 very well established facts, but further evidence of these facts (in the shape of MORE FACTS) has come to my attention in the last couple of days.

Jacko's 3000-show run at the O2 Arena in London has been under the media spotlight for all kinds of reasons. Who's in the band? Whats he gonna play? Are these farewell shows? Will there be a creche? (answers are: no idea, no idea, no, and definitely, although finding it might be tricky.) But it turns out that the ticketing agent has been accused of scalping tickets for these shows.

Shock! Horror! Media Frenzy? No, not this time. Mainly because it's common practice. Promoters, Bands, Crew, Agents, Labels... everyone's been at it for years. Even here in humble little Glasgow, i can name 3 promoters that i know for a fact employ scalpers outside their own shows, selling tickets for "sold out" shows at massive mark-ups. It's been going on for decades.

But Trent Reznor went and blogged about it, speaking honestly about the established "practices" that go on in relation to ticket allocations for high-profile concerts. It's an interesting read, and you can check it out on nin.com here.

As serious a subject as this may be, there is still a funny side to it. When things go wrong in these kind of situations, it's always hilarious to observe. Like when Coldplay played in Glasgow a few years back, and sold out the first night almost instantly. Promoters eagerly booked them for a second night, which undersold by at least 8,000 tickets, meaning that the entire stage had to be moved forward about 20ft to make the venue seem a little less empty....

Greed is the foundations upon which the established music industry is built, and hopefully raising some awareness of the true profiteering, backstabbing shite-hawks that carry out such activities is a step in the right direction. If scalping - and i mean the true scale of scalping practices, industrywide - comes to an end, we'll all be better off.

But eventually, you'll be bidding for tickets. Thats the way its gonna go, because it's open to corruption, and - even better than regular corruption - it's gonna be entirely faceless. Don't say i didnt warn you! When you're paying £350 for a shit seat to see Faith No More's 10th reunion shows in 2030, you'll be no better off than you are now, but you'll feel a little less ripped off.

Is there any way out of this mess?