Hannah Montana's Total Sellout

Fri., Oct. 5, 2007 11:40 AM PDT by Sarah Hall

Miley Cyrus is a hot ticket, all right—maybe too hot, as disappointed fans across the nation (and their parents) can attest.

As tickets to the 14-year-old Hannah Montana star's Best of Both Worlds Tour continue to sell out within minutes, officials in several states are taking action against online ticket brokers for allegedly violating scalping laws.

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon filed suit Thursday against three ticket retailers, accusing the companies of fraud under the state's consumer protection laws and of violating a Kansas City ordinance outlawing scalping.

Tickets to the teen singer's concert had a top face value of about $63, but they were being resold online for upwards of $2,000, Nixon said, calling the practice a "blatant rip-off of consumers."

He named ticket-sellers GoTickets Inc., Tickets Now Entertainment Group Inc. and Ticket Solutions Inc. in his lawsuit.

Nixon also announced he had reached an agreement with Ticketmaster to release 2,000 more tickets to two of Cyrus' upcoming shows—1,000 each in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Meanwhile, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has launched an investigation into five online ticket sellers, demanding documentation of their sales.

McDaniel said he was concerned that brokers were advertising tickets for sale before they even existed in order to determine buyer interest in buying those tickets at inflated prices.

He also said he would be looking into computer software used by scalpers to snap up large numbers of tickets on sites such as Ticketmaster, blocking average consumers from purchasing tickets at face value.

The companies named in McDaniels' investigation are Ticketliquidator.com, StubHub.com, Tickets-For-Events.com, TicketsNow.com and Gotickets.com.

Tickets to Cyrus' tour, which launches Oct. 18 in St. Louis, are currently selling through brokers for the average price of $230, a hefty price tag, especially when compared with the ticket prices of other in-demand acts such as the Police ($209), Beyoncé ($193) and Justin Timberlake ($182).

"It's the hottest concert ticket in the country, bar none," said StubHub spokesman Sean Pate.

"The market-driven prices...are skewing high currently, not unlike a company whose stock price soars after a positive earnings announcement," he continued, adding that fans might want to hold out for a downturn. "Although some people are purchasing, sellers will eventually have to adjust their prices to attract buyers."

The 54-date tour is on target to outsell the Police reunion tour, which currently holds StubHub's record for bestselling tour in company history.

Before kicking off the trek, Cyrus and her father and Hannah Montana costar Billy Ray Cyrus are due to perform a duet on next week's Dancing with the Stars results show.