Before tickets for the Hannah Montana 54-city concert tour went on sale in October 2007, thousands of young children (and presumably some of their parents) were sitting in front of their computers anxiously clutching credit cards and waiting for the internet ticket purchase link to activate. Frantically clicking the mouse, families raced to enter their credit card billing information to gain access to the coveted concert tickets. Much to their dismay, the concerts sold out in just a few minutes.1 Almost immediately, tickets to the “sold out” venues could be found on internet ticket sites for prices much higher than their face value.2 Angry parents (and angrier children) yelled at their computer screens (and each other). How could all of these concerts be “sold out” in mere minutes? Who could get access to enough tickets to sell out a whole arena? Why were “sold out” venue tickets almost instantaneously appearing at quadruple their face value on ticket resale sites?
The questions that angry families were asking about the legitimacy of the internet ticket sales process rapidly became questions before state legislatures all across the country.