In 2016 alone, despite the passing of federal legislation banning its use, automated ticket-buying software known as "ticket bots" attempted to purchase five billion tickets at a rate of ten thousand tickets per minute on Ticketmaster's website. The secondary market for tickets to live music, live theater, and sporting matches is worth roughly $8 billion worldwide, 1 and so far, the profits accrued by cyber-scalpers have proven valuable enough for violators to run the risk of facing fines or

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... minal penalties legislation may impose. It turns out that ticket bots are not the only problem contributing to secondary-market resale and price inflation. Industry insiders such as artists, managers, and producers, have a storied history of reducing the number of tickets actually made available to the general public. In some instances, less than half of available tickets for concert stadium tours have been put on sale.