Taylor Swift's most recent tour was a success by every measure. Named after the bestselling album of her career 1989, it grossed more than $250 million worldwide the top tour of 2015 raved about the pro duction, with one going so far as to was engineered to be the best night of your life. Yet Swift felt some missing-about $85 In revenue that went to scalpers. Some 30% to 40% of tickets to the world's top concerts are resold on sec ondary websites such as StubHub and SeatGeek. Many of those sales are by scalpers who belleve people are pay more than the initial price to see stars of Swift's magnitude ; they double and sometimes triple the ticket price . Thousands of Swift's die hard fans, Swifties , spent huge sums was engineered to be the best night of your life. Yet Swift felt some missing-about $85 In revenue that went to scalpers. Some 30% to 40% of tickets to the world's top concerts are resold on sec ondary websites such as StubHub and SeatGeek. Many of those sales are by scalpers who belleve people are pay more than the initial price to see stars of Swift's magnitude ; they double and sometimes triple the ticket price. Thousands of Swift's die hard fans, Swifties , spent huge sums the singer never saw. That didn't sit well with Swift, who is as much an entrepreneur as she is an artist As she prepared to hit the road to Support latest album, Reputation Swift and Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. concocted a strategy to neuter the Scalpers. They used Ticketmaster's Verified Fan program, which utilizes In-house technology to identify actual fans and determine which of them should have access to fan-only pre tickets , based on their devotion to Swift as measured by their willingness to buy albums sign up for a newslet terand watch her music videos . While prices in the presale were fairly low for most people Swift and promoter AEG Presents raised the cost of all the ets in the later general sale to make them less attractive to scalpers . The success of this latest attempt to combat scalping remains uncertain . Most major tours , Including Swift's most recent , sell out in minutes . But her upcoming Reputation tour hasn't sold out a single date in the past month and a halt prompting the New York Post to dub it a disaster Yet Ticketmaster says Swift will get the last laugh . Most tours sell out right away because prices are too low and scalpers buy up all the inventory Instead , Ticketmaster expects Swift's tour will sell out closer to when she takes the stage on May 8 In Glendale , Ariz the first of more than 40 dates scheduled through October . It also expects the artist and promoters to collect more of the cash -and provide the music industry with new model to boost North American concert ticket sales, which collectively hit $8 billion last year . so easy for people to take shots at Taylor," says David Marcus , head of music at Ticketmaster But, he says , "we were successful beyond my expectations and were able to drive the biggest registration we've ever seen for Verified Fan.” Ticketmaster has used the Verified Fan program to block scalpers from concerts, festivals, and Broadway shows such as Springsteen on Broad- way and the upcoming Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The company requires fans seeking tickets to regis- ter online in advance and identify the show they want to attend, hoping to weed out bots. It then uses artificial intelligence to determine which fans AEG tick- are most likely to attend and verifies a certaln number for a presale. Swift's use of Verified Fan added tweaks not tried before, Marcus says. Fans who wanted access to the first tickets on sale took part in a program called Taylor Swift Tix where they earned boosts in the virtual line by buying her album and merchandise, watching music videos, or spreading the word to friends. Javier Benavente, a 25-year-old Swiftie who's seen the pop star more than a dozen times, bought three albums and scored floor seats for $180 a pop. The new regular-price tick- ets can run as much as 10 times that. What's he loved being able to take his time deciding on his seat, because of the Swift tour's unusual assigned purchase windows - spread across a week and giving purchasers several minutes to view different available seats before mak- Ing a decision. "She somehow found this weird happy medium where you benefit both the fans and their pockets, he says. Some critics have called Swift greedy, panning her system as giv- ing the best presale slots to fans who spend the most on her other goods. Ticketmaster says most who participated in the presale spent no money apart from the ticket pur- chase and noted those early sales started at $49.50-cheap for a star of Swift's stature. While tickets in the the fans general sale can climb to near $2,000 for some shows, the prices aren't so different from those of male acts such as Justin Timberlake or U2. If some higher prices are what's needed to combat scalping, the Swift camp is unapologetic. Says Marcus: "Taylor is trying to take control of her tour.”

1. Playing devil’s advocate, do you think Swift’s decision was greedy or creative? Explain your reasoning.

2. Provide three reasons Taylor Swift could be considered an entrepreneur.