The woes continue for concert fans. Billboard has this report on the recent on sale controversy from Ticketmaster.
Bruce Springsteen and his manager Jon Landau are blasting Ticketmaster for redirecting customers attempting to buy Springsteen tickets to their secondary ticketing site, TicketsNow. On Monday, fans trying to make face-value purchases for tickets were instead sent to TicketsNow, "even when other seats remained available at face value," says a letter posted on BruceSpringsteen.net. "We condemn this practice." "We perceive this as a pure conflict of interest," the post continues. "Ticketmaster is there to ensure that we have a good, fair sale of our tickets at their face value plus normal ticketing charges. (HAHAHAHA. PLEASE!) 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." Springsteen and Landau also voiced outrage at the proposed merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which they say would return concert ticketing "to a near monopoly." "The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you," they concluded. "We will continue to do our utmost now and in the future to make sure that these practices are permanently curtailed on our tours."
So all you "lucky" ones who dialed up Ticketmaster at 8:58 A.M. and were offered one pair of seats near the cotton candy concession 200 yards back and 9 stories high before getting the "tickets are no longer available" page at 8:59 A.M. even though tickets went on sale at 9:00 A.M., do not worry. It will all be fixed by the next tour.
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And by the way, does anyone have a pair for either Jersey show they'd like to sell to me?
4 comments:
Hey Sal,
I am flip-flopping on Bruce. I stand beside him in his disgust with the 'Concert Ticket Mafia'. At a time when record companies can't sell records, music stores can't sell music (as you are personally aware) and now concert goes can't buy tickets, what will be left? I have to agree completely with your huffington post "The Music Industry: So Stupid They Make Sarah Palin Seem Brainy."
P.S. Please send my condolences to cousin Al. As I read your story, I wasn't through the first paragraph when I realized who you were describing. You also forgot to mention how he turned the steering wheel in conjunction with the radio knob.
Thanks JG. That steering wheel bit is hilarious. I don't remember that all.
Sal, Bruce has always tried to counter scalpers and do right by his fans so the "all be fixed by next tour" (which I took to be snarky), doesn't seem fair.
But speaking of ticket prices and the beacon, did you see Paul Simon's show? $275?? They've got to be insane. I had two friends on their own discuss with me about going, only to see the price and flip out. For $75 you can sit in the back of the upper level. I hope it's notably not full, though I love Simon.
Michael,
Maybe my comments were a bit unfair to Bruce and his management, but I find it hard to believe that this is "news" to them.
Last summer's ticket debacle which I just wrote about on Huff/Po, was all over Backstreets.com. TM has ben doing this for years.
As for Paul Simon, both shows are "listed" as sold out.
And by the way, Van Morrison is $350!
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