Want to see a reunited Led Zep? Got $14,700?

[cthulufhtagn]

Keep in mind though that, say, Zep charged $150 a pop or something that you consider high yet reasonable. The scalpers were still going to get thousands regardless due to supply and demand for the show. Since that money would've been put in someone's pocket regardless, it would've made sense for the money to go to the actual artist rather than the scalpers.

right, right. that makes sense.

it's not like, after nearly 40 years of cashing in on their musical success, i'm gonna chide led zeppelin for selling out after they charge $250 for concert tickets. the time for that accusation has long since passed.

nothing is black and white when it comes to this kind of "band x sold out, man" discussion. what one person might find reasonable (in terms of label choice, ticket prices, licensing agreements etc) another might not. however, you can definitely argue that a lot of the questionable shit that big-name acts pull--such as selling their songs for use in advertising, deliberate commercialization of their sound notwithstanding--results from stepping in the bottomless cesspool that is the major-label recording industry. personally, i wouldn't feel comfortable knowing that profits from a hypothetical major-label release of mine were going to lobbying and lawsuits for absurdly restrictive copyright protection and industry deregulation. as such, i have a pretty skeptical view of acts that make that choice.