The New York Times reports, �Late this year the company plans to begin auctioning the best seats to concerts through ticketmaster.com. 

�With no official price ceiling on such tickets, Ticketmaster will be able to compete with brokers and scalpers for the highest price a market will bear.� 

The company looks to cash in on the success of ticket scalping (oops, I mean auctioning) on services like eBay. Ticketmaster President John Pleasants told the Times, "The tickets are worth what they're worth," said John Pleasants, Ticketmaster's president and chief executive. "If somebody wants to charge $50 for a ticket, but it's actually worth $1,000 on eBay, the ticket's worth $1,000."

The catch is the extra booty will be shared between Ticketmaster, the artists, venues and promoters. The ladder three parties will have to opt into the auction service and Ticketmaster will walk away with either a flat fee or a percentage of the sale. 

The internet future is here today; 51 percent Ticketmaster�s ticket sales are conducted online. 

Read the NYTimes article (free registration required)

(Thanks to siN�s Metal News for the heads up on this story.)

more on Ticketmaster
 

.