OnStage Blog (03/18/20) Peterson, Chris

The Brown Paper Tickets (BPT) ticket management firm recently warned schools and theater companies that recent checks to them would bounce and to not attempt to cash them. These funds were raised by tickets sold through BPT's various websites. "It's perplexing to think how an organization that is hired to collect ticket proceeds, suddenly can't come up with said proceeds," writes OnStage Blog Editor-in-Chief Chris Peterson. BPT charges ticket buyers an additional fee of $0.99 plus 5% of the cost of the ticket, with the ticket's cost collected by BPT and then paid out to the venue. "But they were explicitly told not to cash recent checks. If those funds are gone, where did they go?" Peterson wonders. Hypothetical explanations include that BPT is using proceeds raised from events to pay the salaries of its own workers and other business expenses, but the service fee is supposed to cover those costs, not the proceeds from ticket sales. Peterson also speculates that BPT is using proceeds raised by one venue to pay out funds owed to another venue, which is potentially criminal. This situation is particularly damaging to schools and theater companies counting on those proceeds to see them through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full story from OnStage Blog.