Best Underdog Ticket Agency

Usually when you buy a ticket for a concert or theatrical production, you're automatically bombarded with trashy e-mails and large fees—gifts of Ticketmaster, the venue from which nearly all Seattleites purchase their tickets. But it shouldn't be like that. The time has come for a change: Welcome to Brown Paper Tickets (www.brownpapertickets.com).

Brown Paper Tickets began in Seattle in October 2000 as a consumer- friendly alternative to Ticketmaster. Its fees are lower (99 cents per ticket plus 2.5 percent of the sale price), and you're not married to the agency once you're ready to move on. It offers tickets for hundreds of artists, from Al Franken to Kanye West. It also sells tickets for plays and fund-raisers, and as time goes on, more and more movies. BPT donates much of its profits to the community and provides other services that Ticketmaster doesn't, such as around-the-clock customer service.

Unfortunately, you won't find tickets to many of Seattle's biggest shows at Brown Paper Tickets. That's because Ticketmaster requires most venues it deals with to enter into exclusive contracts. "These contracts prevent the venues and producers from using any other ticketing services," says William Scott Jordan, co-owner of BPT (with Stephen Butcher). "We believe that it's our job to make things as easy as possible for producers. We purposely don't require any exclusivity. If [selling] tickets by another means, whether through your own box office or using another ticketing service, is beneficial to you . . . we would be harming you by not allowing you to do so."

BPT moved from Fremont to Capitol Hill July 1, and it has begun selling regionally, from Utah to California. The owners envisions a day when more and more people, tired of money-munching Ticketmaster, will be able to bust out the glow wands without busting out the money. 800-838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com.