Do ticket brokers provide a service or are they a detriment?

If you ask an Arlington woman who wanted to see Emmylou Harris, she'll tell you that brokers are evil and take advantage of people. Check out the story by clicking here.
Some observations about brokers:

1. They are like speculators who can drive up the price of tickets.

2. They send people into various venues to by up the good seats and then try to recover their costs by driving up the price. For example on Wolf Trap's website you can donate 5 grand and then get 8 guaranteed good seats per concert. They brokers try to recover their costs and make profit by adding to the face value.

3. Popular concerts return the highest profit because of fans looking for good seats taken by the speculators. Poor selling concerts can have the reverse effect. Brokers may dump tickets at reduced prices, lower than face value.

4. The laws about scalping and reselling are vague. Until there's a uniform law, brokers will remain in business.

5. The performers don't get the extra profits made by speculators.

6. Do the promoters and concert halls really care about brokers as long as all the seats are sold? If you check out the Redskins website you'll see Stubhub advertised there. Obviously the skins don't mind as long as they're making money and selling all the seats. Wolf Trap says it strives to keep prices affordable and will shut down resellers where they can.

7. You need to research to get the best seat at the best price. Check out the venue first. Then check out the brokers and compare prices. Use established brokers. Ticketmaster even sanctions resellers. Beware of buying through EBay and from those who are not established and whom you don't know because there's no guarantee you'll get the ticket and it could be counterfeit.