You're a promoter or ticketing exec or agent setting ticket prices for a major tour. Do you seek the price most likely to stifle speculative ticket scalpers or do you go for the number that won't price out a mom and her kids? The price that leaves the scalper no room to ask for more, or the price that leaves mom with enough money to buy sodas and beer? Pick one. Is there a bipartisan middleground or is this the concert industry's irreconcilable difference? On the final day of the POLLSTAR LIVE conference last week in Los Angeles, I listened to JUSTIN BURLEIGH, TICKETMASTER's chief product officer, decry scalpers who speculate on someone else's precious tickets and pocket the difference, same as if they were speculating on gold. "We want more of that to go to the artist," he said. Translation: We should charge more. It's a widely held point of view in the ticket business, and it's fair, and it's hard to argue with. But a day earlier, I had listened to PARADIGM TALENT AGENCY's MARTY DIAMOND talk just as passionately about the need for a price point that works for the fan as much as it works for the artist. A price point where beer remains affordable and a t-shirt doesn't become a luxury item. "I still ask myself," he said, "what is it gonna cost a mom and four kids to go out?" Technology goal for 2019, or maybe 2020 or 2021: Solve this... Here's CHERIE HU on music tech goals, and actual possibilities, for 2019... Elsewhere at Pollstar, one of the few conferences where you might find yourself having lunch with the Brazilian guy who choreographs drone shows for a single song at METALLICA shows: The cutting edge in punk-rock touring is mixing and matching bands and genres, SOUNDCLOUD rappers with rock bands, indie-rock with pop-punk, etc. In a world where kids skip freely from JIMMY EAT WORLD to DRAKE on streaming sites, why shouldn't live shows feel the same?, asked EVANGELIA LIVANOS of SYNERGY ARTIST MANAGEMENT. The trick is to maintain the feeling of punk cooperation and community, said WARPED TOUR's KEVIN LYMAN. "Ninety percent of the things we did on Warped Tour," he said, "were outside of booking bands." Problem A with selling tickets six to eight months in advance: Marty Diamond recalled buying ONE DIRECTION tix for his kids, but by the time the show rolled around the kids were like "that's a nonstarter, dad." Kids move on much faster than they used to, he said. Problem B: If you want to accept blockchain as currency, Burleigh warned, you may find your take looks a hell of a lot different on concert day than it did when you originally sold all your tickets, thanks to blockchain pricing volatility. DAVE GROHL on why it's too late for FOO FIGHTERS to ever break up: "Imagine your grandparents getting a divorce. I'm sure it happens, but why?"... And one leftover nugget from the UPFRONT SUMMIT, a tech investor gathering a couple weeks earlier: DUFF MCKAGAN sharing an early lesson in controlling your own publishing. When GUNS N' ROSES were coming up, before they had hits, they were offered $10,000 for the publishing to one song (by a guy at a DENNY's, which is an excellent THAT THING YOU DO touch). But McKagan and his bandmates had studied DONALD PASSMAN's ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MUSIC BUSINESS (as all musicians should, no matter how long their hair, no matter how good their riffs). That was a lot of money. But "we figured if it's worth 10,000 bucks to him, then it must be worth something to us." Welcome to the jungle... Financial scheming behind the expected sale of a big piece of UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP... BRIAN ENO on EUROVISION and Israel... RIP HARRY HIRSCH.