June 1 is the official release date of Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped. Written by Relix Editor-in-Chief Josh Baron and Executive Editor Dean Budnick, portions of the book will hold particular interest for Relix readers. One chapter focuses on the development of the Grateful Dead Ticketing Service, while another examines the String Cheese Incident’s battle with Ticketmaster in 2003. The book “chronicles the as-yet-untold story of the live entertainment industry, revealing its origins, development and ongoing strategies of companies such as Ticketmaster, Live Nation and StubHub and the efforts of numerous independent competitors. With over 100 exclusive interviews and utilizing many previously unreleased documents, this character-driven book explores the actions and impact of the iconoclasts guiding these companies while folding in related tales of scalping syndicates, old school music promoters and would-be Internet tycoons along with the brash business decisions of such world-renowned groups as the Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam and The Rolling Stones.

“Beginning with the previously unreported details behind the rise and demise of the once-dominant Ticketron, Ticket Masters proceeds to share gripping accounts and analysis of Ticketmaster’s eventual market supremacy, SFX and Clear Channel’s promoter rollup, the cutthroat battle for secondary ticket sales and numerous other tales of the industry’s most significant architects.

“Yet, Ticket Masters is also a personal story for the millions who purchase tickets, as it addresses the often-asked (but unanswered) questions: How and why do concerts sell out so fast? Why do service fees vary on tickets to the same event? Why isn’t Ticketmaster considered an illegal monopoly? Is it worth joining a band’s fan club to qualify for a pre-sale? How do ticket broker websites like StubHub get all their tickets-isn’t scalping illegal? Who is pocketing all this money? What happened to the time when real fans could get great seats for a reasonable price? And (deep breath), just how did ticket prices get so high, anyway?”

The pair will mark the book’s release a few days earlier, on May 26, at New York City’s 92YTribeca. Budnick and Baron will moderate a panel of industry leaders who are featured in the book from 7-8:30 PM. The full details on this event can be found at the 92YTribeca site.