Springsteen angry over Ticketmaster rip-off
p2pnet news view | P2P | Music:- The Boss is angry twice over with Ticketmaster.
The biggie ticket seller and Live Nation are close to a merger, says the Wall Street Journal.
It would mean a consolidation of, “two of the most powerful forces in the music industry under one roof,” it says.
Can you say monopoly?
Bruce Springsteen says he’s angry over the possible marriage, and also because some of his fans were sent to TicketsNow.com, a Ticketmaster resale site, where tickets for one of his shows were being sold at well over the odds.
Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff described the rip-off as “inadvertent”.
“We know there was much confusion regarding Ticketmaster and TicketsNow during last Monday’s on-sale dates,” says Springsteen on his site, going on »»»
We were as confused as you were, as we were given no advance notice of the major changes in the Ticketmaster-TicketsNow world. (Bear in mind that we are not clients of any ticketing company, and that all those arrangements are between venues and ticketing companies.)
Last Monday, we were informed that Ticketmaster was redirecting your log-in requests for tickets at face value, to their secondary site TicketsNow, which specializes in up-selling tickets at above face value. They did this even when other seats remained available at face value. We condemn this practice.
We perceive this as a pure conflict of interest. Ticketmaster is there to ensure that we have a good, fair sale of our tickets at their face value plus normal ticketing charges. TicketsNow is supposed to be a secondary site where people who already have tickets may exchange, trade, and, unfortunately, speculate with them. We have asked this redirection from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow cease and desist immediately and Ticketmaster has agreed to do so in the future and has removed its unwanted material from their and our site.
We know the many cynical arguments some make in favor of the Ticketmaster system: There are rumors that some artists or managers participate in Ticketmaster charges–we do not. There are rumors that some artists or managers are receiving a percentage of the amount above face value at secondary outlets like TicketsNow–we do not. Some artists or managers may not perceive there to be a conflict between having the distributor of their tickets in effect “scalping” those same tickets through a secondary company like TicketsNow–we do.
While many of you have sent notes to us and your local promoters, you may also send accurate informational letters to Albert Lopez of Ticketmaster and he will try to address your questions.
A final point for now: the one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near monopoly situation in music ticketing. Several newspapers are reporting on this story right now. If you, like us, oppose that idea, you should make it known to your representatives.
The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you. We will continue to do our utmost now and in the future to make sure that these practices are permanently curtailed on our tours.
Says Azoff in a fulsome apology on Springsteen’s site »»»
While we were genuinely trying to do the right thing for fans in providing more choices when the tickets they requested from the primary on-sale were not available, we clearly missed the mark. Fans are confused and angry, which is the opposite of what we hoped to accomplish. We sincerely apologize to Bruce, his organization and, above all, his fans.
We recognize that we need to change our course. We have committed to Bruce and state publicly here that we have taken down all links for Bruce’s shows directing fans from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow. This redirection only occurred as a choice when we could not satisfy fans’ specific search request for primary ticket inventory, but to make sure there is no misunderstanding in the future, we also publicly state that we will never again link to TicketsNow in a manner that can possibly create any confusion during a high-demand on-sale. Specifically, we will not present an option to go to TicketsNow from Ticketmaster without the consent of the artist and the venue, both of whom work together to bring the joy of live entertainment to millions of fans.
If any fans inadvertently purchased tickets in the resale marketplace believing in error they were purchasing from the initial on-sale, we will refund the difference between the actual purchase price and the face price of the ticket. (Please don’t abuse this good faith gesture – we did not give brokers any preferential access to tickets.)
We are committed to helping deliver the most transparent and best live entertainment experience to fans. We will do better going forward.
Stay tuned.
Wall Street Journal – Ticketmaster, Live Nation Near Merger, February 4, 2009
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February 6th, 2009 at 10:14 am
LOL “We were as confused as you were”
hahaha it always makes me laugh when a monopoly plays dumb.
haha “we will refund the difference between the actual purchase price and the face price of the ticket. (Please donât abuse this good faith gesture – we did not give brokers any preferential access to tickets.)”
We are doing you a favor since we got nailed in our little scam. Don’t abuse it though, this is from the kindness of our heart.
haha
Riiiight.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:37 am
ya loved that lil part about dont abuse
thats like hey ya we got caught scamming and ya we will refund t but be warned next time we’ll have it legally tight so you can still get scammed and we can laugh
(p.S. thanks john for making that reply part red before i thought this was a person actually spamming sorry for my comment in reply LOL )
February 6th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Azoff = azzhole
February 6th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Ticketscammer
February 9th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I take it TicketsNow is owned by Ticketmaster? So Ticketmaster can create artificial scarcity, by dumping a bunch of it’s concert tickets on to TicketsNow rather than selling them to concert goers?
Does the band get a higher % of return from the jacked up ticket price? Sounds like just another music industry fan ripoff to me.
June 11th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I thought the Ticketmaster sale was going to be on the up and up. So when I heard they added two more shows I would have a good chance to get 4 tickets. I logged on the Ticketmaster web sight at 1150 am and made sure my credit card info was up to date – all was good. At 12pm on the dot the Springsteen Tickets became active so I clicked on any available seats and selected 4 seats and entered the code then it went to 3 minute wait then started climbing to 15 minutes after about 9 minutes it came back to me as no match found. NO MATCH FOUND!!! (WTF) I gave it 3 more tries and even picked 2 tickets – after 30 minutes with the same result – I gave up and turned the computer off. I they really want the fans to get the tickets and not the scalpers the should make a 2 or 4 tickets max and credit card used to buy the tickets must be match at the event – PROBLEM SOLVED â This not only makes Ticketmaster look bad but also makes the fans loose interest in the groups. I remember standing on line for over 20 hours for tickets for Springsteen back then you had to earn your ticket and now you just get ripped off and I feel it is a given and the promoters are in on it. Thanks for shutting the fans out AGAIN!!! Have Fun Performing to all the Corporate Big Wig Family and the Ripped off Fans that were taken along with the Few Lucky Fans that were Very Lucky to get their tickets on Ticketmaster (probably nose bleeds) the scrap tickets. Thanks for the memories. Locked Out Fan.
June 23rd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Well it’s nice to know that Ticketmaster is now admitting that Bruce withholds thousands of ticket for Bruceâs closest and bands memberâs friends. This reminds me of Ford vs. Firestone. With Bruce being Ford and Ticketmaster being Firestone and Ford telling Firestone to keep it low key and donât blame Ford for changing the recommended tire pressure on their Explorers so it drove more like a car rather the a truck. Then Ford comes out and slams Firestone months later. So if you do the math for the five concerts in NJ only and holding back 2,000 to 3,500 tickets would equal 10,000 to 17,500 of the best seats. This explains why the close seat goes for thousands of dollars on scalping web sites sometimes prior to the tickets release date and even days after. Hello Bruce wake up! Did you ever think of checking those floor seat tickets numbers and see who your âclose friendsâ are using you making money by ripping off your true fans? I thought an artist wants to perform to his loyal supporting fans and maybe give a handful of tickets to each member of the band and rowdies. I never hear the super bowl and word series players locking out 3,500 tickets. They only get 5 to 10 tickets per player which is fair. Maybe you could pick one night to perform only to your closest âFRIENDSâ and only they can attend and those tickets have their name on it and cannot be sold. Then you can see who really are you close friends and show up. Remember they donât pay your salary the âTRUE FANSâ do. Unlike you many of your fans have not had a pay raise in years; got hours cut, and lost their jobs. Maybe a night out would of made them happy for one night and bring back some memories of your good old days. Enjoy playing in front of your friends resold tickets. I remember one time you heard about a tickets scam back in the 80âs and brought the entire tops nose bleed section to the floor area. That is the Bruce I want to remember. But it is hard to believe this is the same person. It must be nice to be rich as in the words you wrote â ârich man wanna be king and a king ainât satisfied till he rules everythingâ. Well you are rich and you rule your fans tickets.
January 25th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Simple solution. Don’t buy tickets. Seriously… stop buying tickets and maybe Ticketmaster will get the message. As it is, people just bend over and take it. Consumers are like sheep once herded (as we are forced to go through TicketMaster).
In the 70s, you could go see a concert for under $10. No fees — you paid whatever the ticket cost — end of story. TicketMaster comes along and ruins everything. I no longer support the music industry — and I think many have done the same. Look at sales… proof is in the pudding. It will only get worse.