> Performers are not in the business of optimizing ROI, they're in the business of performing. I have to disagree; performers are absolutely in the business of

> Performers are not in the business of optimizing ROI, they're in the business of performing. I have to disagree; performers are absolutely in the business of optimization. Bo Burnham was singing about metrification destroying art 10 years ago. Every standup comic is using social media as a sales funnel to figure out exactly which cities they have an audience in. Even if the performers themselves are not concerned with gaming these numbers, they almost always have someone working for them who does. So I still don’t quite understand why the scalpers are the ones getting to eat the free lunch. > selling out quickly is in and of itself valuable for a performer This one seems like a more likely explanation, but the pattern with a lot of these ticket sales is that the demand is already there organically without scalpers entering the equation. I don’t really follow the space so I really don’t know, but I’d imagine the shows that get targeted the most are the performers who were going to be playing a sold out show regardless of the scalpers.