For Taylor Swift, public had slim shot at tickets

A few weeks ago, tickets to Taylor Swift's upcoming show at the Amway Center went on sale to the "general public."

At least that's what you were told.

In reality, members of the public had a very slim shot at scoring one of the coveted tickets that day.

In fact, of the 12,118 seats to Swift's April 12 show, more than 10,300 had already been sold to or held for certain credit-card holders, people with connections to Swift and members of other insider groups.

When the "general public" sale opened, only 1,740 seats were left ... fewer than 15 percent of the total seats available.

The result: About 30 seconds after the sale opened, the best seat you could find was a single seat (no twosomes were left) in the highest level of the arena ... for about $100.

The show had been billed as an affordable family night out at a city-owned venue with tickets starting at just $29 for the teen and preteen girls who make up the bulk of Swift's fan base.

In reality, these cheap tickets were virtually nonexistent by the time the general public was allowed to type in credit-card numbers.

Instead, regular folks were offered "VIP" packages that included pre-show parties for $387.

Welcome to the shady world of ticket sales ... in arenas that taxpaye! rs paid to build.

The story of modern-day ticket sales is murky and complicated.

It involves many moving parts from ticket scalpers to insider privileges.

But all of these parts have a common effect: driving up ticket costs.

Industry insiders largely shrug, saying it's simply the nature of the business these days. Sophisticated ticket-brokers have tainted the process. And artists, who have seen record sales decline thanks to Internet downloads, now want a bigger piece of the touring pie.

But there are those who believe the public deserves better especially when it comes to venues such as the Amway Center, which was financed with tax dollars.

"These public facilities are party to all this," said Dean Budnick, who wrote "Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped." "And the public has a right to know how it all works."

So how does it work?

Well, in Swift's case, the hot young country star planned two stops in Orlando something city officials describe as a coup and proof that building the new, $480 million facility was an investment that paid off.

But 85 percent of the tickets to the April 12 show were gone before the general public ever got a shot.

For the April 11 show, 78 percent of the tickets were gone before the public sale.