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Leaked Perry rider shows insider touting

By | Published on Monday 23 May 2011

Katy Perry

The Smoking Gun has published what seems to be Katy Perry’s rider for her upcoming US tour, which has all the usual comedic demands you’d expect from rock and pop superstars – the fridge in her dressing room must have a glass door, the coffee table must be of a “Perspex modern style”, any seasonal flowers are acceptable providing they’re white and include orchids, and absolutely no carnations, and chauffeurs must be instructed that under no circumstances are they to talk to Ms Perry, ask for autographs, or stare at the popstress in the rear view mirror. One assumes there’s a website for creating these things these days – randomstupiddemandstohammerhomeyoursuperstarstatus.com.

But probably most interesting in the rider document is the clause that tells promoters they may be required to hold back tickets for Team Perry to flog off to fans via a ticketing agent of their choice, most likely via a secondary ticketing website where the singer’s people can hike up the asking price. Any profits stay with Team Perry, of course. It’s no secret within the industry that a number of artists and managers now routinely take a chunk of tickets for their own shows and sell them on resale sites for profit. Indeed, that fact has hindered, somewhat, attempts by others in the management and live communities to get the secondary ticketing market limited or stopped by government.

Ms Perry, therefore, is not alone in including the ‘let me tout my own tickets’ clause in her list of contractual demands, though the outing of this fact could prove embarrassing for her – given it shows that, while some other high profile artists publicly bemoan that their fans are being ripped off by the rise of online touting, her people are seemingly participating in the great rip off.

Perry’s people are yet to respond.



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