For years, musicians have used riders to ensure promoters treat them properly, from getting a nice pair of dry socks after a sweaty gig to having a punch bowl filled with nothing but brown M&Ms. It looks as if pop star Katy Perry has some more sinister demands though.
A recently obtained copy of her rider suggests that the "California Gurls" singer asks promoters to intentionally hold tickets so that she and her team can resell them. Long story short, Katy Perry appears to be a scalper.
The document, uncovered by the Smoking Gun, explains that there's a clause in her rider that says that Perry and co. reserve the right to sell floor seats on the secondary market:
If Company elects to use "Resellers", Promoters shall hold tickets for each Performance, in quantities and in locations as designated by the Personal Manager, for distribution to the public through "Resellers". "Resellers" shall mean any ticket agency, ticket re-seller or other so-called "secondary market" seller of tickets (such as, by way of example only, StubHub in the United States) who sell tickets to the general public. Promoter expressly acknowledges and agrees that Company shall be entitled to retain, for Company's sole account, such portion of the proceeds from sales by Resellers.
From a struggling artist's point of view, reselling the tickets on StubHub ensures a little bit of extra income, but that may be a bit of a stretch for the Forbes-approved mega-star. Stadium shows aren't exactly the cheapest of gigs, so selling tickets on their own at an inflated price seems a little suspicious. It does beg the question: how much of the reported $44 million she made over the last year came from scalping on the open market?
Maybe if she sold them herself outside of the venues, it wouldn't be so bad. Having Perry barter the transaction with you while sporting that whip-cream-squirting bra of hers would really, uh, sweeten the deal.
A recently obtained copy of her rider suggests that the "California Gurls" singer asks promoters to intentionally hold tickets so that she and her team can resell them. Long story short, Katy Perry appears to be a scalper.
The document, uncovered by the Smoking Gun, explains that there's a clause in her rider that says that Perry and co. reserve the right to sell floor seats on the secondary market:
If Company elects to use "Resellers", Promoters shall hold tickets for each Performance, in quantities and in locations as designated by the Personal Manager, for distribution to the public through "Resellers". "Resellers" shall mean any ticket agency, ticket re-seller or other so-called "secondary market" seller of tickets (such as, by way of example only, StubHub in the United States) who sell tickets to the general public. Promoter expressly acknowledges and agrees that Company shall be entitled to retain, for Company's sole account, such portion of the proceeds from sales by Resellers.
From a struggling artist's point of view, reselling the tickets on StubHub ensures a little bit of extra income, but that may be a bit of a stretch for the Forbes-approved mega-star. Stadium shows aren't exactly the cheapest of gigs, so selling tickets on their own at an inflated price seems a little suspicious. It does beg the question: how much of the reported $44 million she made over the last year came from scalping on the open market?
Maybe if she sold them herself outside of the venues, it wouldn't be so bad. Having Perry barter the transaction with you while sporting that whip-cream-squirting bra of hers would really, uh, sweeten the deal.
