you know what? i hope they DO merge.

arena shows are dwindling faster and faster. super-musician status is no longer the norm, or sustainable. people want to see shows in theaters and clubs, not 300 yards away.

big shows are what ticketmaster and live nation ARE. they sell expensive tickets to huge shows. they’re old news, and will just fall harder if they merge.

alternatives like ticketforce are where it’s at. no BS $13.50 ticket fees.

Go out much? Ticketmaster sells tickets to smaller venues, not to mention non-performance sites like museums. Why should we tolerate corrupt business practices just because “people” (read ryan) prefer smaller venues so unprofitable Ticketmaster can’t be bothered with them?

Hey Irving,

While you are at it, why don’t you apologize to Phish fans too. Shame on you selling marketed up tickets on TicketsNow before the on tickets went on sale to general public.

worthless apology! they do it again and again. quite sure the apology is sufficient grounds to terminate the agreement, rescind the tickets and require resale with a surefire way to stop the touts – they do it in Europe for football matches. the concert attendee’s name has to appear on the ticket and photo id required to get into the stadium/concert hall.

oh please. these apologies are way too little too late. don’t be surprised if the artists themselves work out a deal to make a cut off of this scheme. and really why not in this case? you side with Walmart and you have already sold your soul to the devil.

If they openly declare that the Springsteen show was a debaucle then they too should refund for face value for the Phish shows where they deceptively implanted Tickets Now information. Why only the Springsteen show?

They apologize to the Boss, that is nice. WHERE IS THE APOLOGY TO ME???

Hey Azoff,

How about a GN’R update while you’re at it?

Thanks.

What about the Phish fans??? Thank gosh Phish does their lottery, at least we have that going for us. The Boss should take a page out of Phish’s book. I hope Irving Azoff gets herpagonnasyphilaids!

Ticketmaster’s quick action shows one thing. Those tickets that were available on ticketsnow were deverted prior to the on sale time. These idiots should be lucky that the country has bigger fish to fry right now. Ticketmaster and Live Nation are screwing every one of us.

I agree with the below post – Ticketmaster and Azoff should apologize to the fans who tried to buy tickets, also. TIcketNow has more inflated prices than Ticketmaster? Man, I bet Eddie Vedder has a massive migraine right about now.
Seriously, that is terrible news. With the economy in the toilet, and companies not matching 401K plans of their employees now, this isn’t a very good time for inflated ticket prices.

yeah! try to get refunds… good luck… (greed greed greed)

Phish fans don’t deserve an apology. They’re MORONS.

This is typical Ticketmaster damage control. Swindle fans and then issue an apology after they have already lined their greedy pockets.

This is far from the first time ticketmaster has utilized deception (google “entertainment rewards scam”). And just where do all these “service” and “convenience” charges go anyway? i’ve never found ticketmaster to be particularly “convenient”, and never once felt like i’m getting “service” i should be charged for.

It’s a racket and the worst part is there is nothing any of us can do about it because Ticketmaster is too big.

Maybe Bruce will take them on.

in today’s world economy, and the overly-apparent cause & effects of greed, I’m surprised Ticketmaster would continue to take this approach. Maybe if more “big-named” bands banded together, they could have a chance to fight for our ticket rights as fans…

It’s a sad world already, and stuff like this only makes it sadder.

Right now LiveNation owns many of national venues it sells tickets to and limits the amount of tickets bands can sell direct to their fan bases. This needs to change and the timing couldn’t be better given the recent questionable practices of LiveNation and TicketMaster, much less the thought of them combining together in future.

It is not unreasonable to consider what larger fan-oriented artists like Bruce, Phish & Dave Matthews Band (who share same manager now), Neil Young, Pearl Jam, The Dead, etc. could do if they joined togethter to develop and deploy their own ticketing systems to sell all tickets direct to their fanbases, cutting out the current ticketing services. Some of these bands do this in a limited capacity but get a low allocation of overall ticket pool. They have the collective bargaining power to force change and the fan bases to justify selling all tickets directly to their fans. If the have surplus, then sell via LiveNation and TicketMaster. That’s new distribution and a valuable service. However, the current reality is there is more supply then demand and these band’s tickets will sell out regardless of which ticketing service they use. It’s absurb for Nathan Hubabrd, CEO of LiveNation, to call The Dead and Phish’s recent on sale sell-out’s as success on their part. Their services failed repeatedly, frustrated fans not because supply exceeded demand but because they crashed while tickets were in carts during check-out, among a calamity of other well documented errors. The bands and their fans are the ones who created the success, not him.

These ticketing systems can be replaced if artist would be willing to challenge and renegotiate terms w/ promoters and venues that require them to sell the majority of their tickets through LiveNation and Ticketmaster. The service fees could be lowered (explain to me how fixed service costs get applied as a % of gross when the gross fluctuates), the artists would benefit from additional revenue streams and secondary markets for resold tickets would be limited. On that, TicketsNow is a conflict of interest for TicketMaster to own. The paradigm for live shows needs to be rethought and now is the time.

The condescending tone of Azoff and company is offensive. This was no mere “misunderstanding” as they claim, it’s a good old fashioned bait and switch. Make it appear as if everything is sold out, then purposely redirect you to their partner site which just so happens to have tickets available, at inflated prices. I signed on to get tickets for San Jose the minute they went on sale and for the first half hour it said nothing was available at any price. I selected “best seats”, “best price” and it kept coming up with the same screen saying “None available try ticketsnow”. At any price level it was the same story. It’s not right and someone should step in. God Bless Pearl Jam for trying.

So let me get this straight: Ticketmaster has now become its own scalper? This was not just a NJ issue, we had the exact same problem here in LA. If tickets had been available thru Ticketmaster we would have bought them. But since we refused to buy the offered tickets thru TicketsNow at 4 times the price, I won’t get to see the show.

don’t apologize to bruce he doesn’t deserve it.

Hey Paulsen,
Phish fans are morons is all U can come up with. Don’t you realize that if we the MUSIC fans allow this to continue, then WE are all morons!!! Down w/ Ticketwhore! Fan-based ticket sales should be the norm, not the MORONIC, JA!!

Oh no, you didn’t miss the mark you thieving corporate greedy mongrel, you just got caught again screwing over the hard working people of America. The ethics and politics of this country are so corrupt and ill conceived, it make me sick. Great, so now we are competing with ticketmaster to scalp tickets, essentially. Really, this is all legal and fair game? When will I learn how to put my morals and standards aside and put my “screw everyone else, gimmee gimmee gimmee” attitude to the forefront. Only then, shall I really succeed in America!

Ummm I think that this is also happening with Britney tickets. It says there are none left for the Verizon Center show in D.C., but then of course directs you to the over-priced, Ticketmaster-run “marketplace” with the outrageously expensive tickets. Basically giving people a format for scalping and price gouging.

On my intial attempt to purchase tickets for the Verizon Center show, I was redirected to TicketsNow, even though my search was as broad as it could be. Since my search for the for “best available” tickets was unsuccessful and I wasn’t about to be gouged by a “Ticketmaster-owned” company just minutes after tickets went on sale, I figured I was out of luck.

About 5 or 10 minutes later, I did another search for tickets (why, I’m not sure), expecting nothing. This time, I swear there was an extra dropdown list that wasn’t there on my initial search. It was right under the “Seating” dropdown field and it was labeled “Location.” The two choices were Best Available and Rear/Side of Stage (or something like that). I continued my search and to my utter astonishment, I almost immediately got two tickets, upper deck, side of the stage. Now, why wouldn’t these tickets match the criteria of my initial search, which was simply “Best Available?”

Azoff claims that the redirection to TicketsNow only occurred when they couldn’t satisfy a fan’s specific search request. Based on my experience, this simply is not a credible claim.

Does anyone really believe Azoff? Couldn’t he come up with anything better than that lame explanation? Trying to make it sound like Ticketmaster had the fans best interests at heart–it would be comical if it weren’t so insulting…

There is no question, the scalpers are getting tickets the second that they go on sale. There is a computer program they use to get around Ticketmaster rules and even though the software company – RMG Technologies- that makes this has been caught, they say that the “intended” use is not to commit a crime, so they are not held accountable.

Ticketmaster saw that if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em, so now they skim off the top the second tickets go on sale and offer them up on their “sister” site.

look folks, this is easy,,,,,,,,concert tickets are way, way, way to pricey,,,,,,stop buying them,,,,,boycott this bullsh@t,,,,,lets see the days of $35 tickets again!! Screw TicketMaster!

Ticketmaster can piss off.

I am so disgusted over this. I live near Philly and tried to get tickets for either Philly show. We used Comcast and Live Nation on several windows and 3 computers. Not the Ticketmaster debacle but were either in a queue or the server was “busy ” or “down”. I have been buying tickets for Bruce for many years and have NEVER walked away empty handed . I might have had lousy seats but I always got tix . Like I said , this was not Ticketmaster but something was just not right that day. My only hope now is if they give some away on the radio . I miss the days of standing in line sometimes.

I am so disgusted over this. I live near Philly and tried to get tickets for either Philly show. We used Comcast and Live Nation on several windows and 3 computers. Not the Ticketmaster debacle but were either in a queue or the server was “busy ” or “down”. I have been buying tickets for Bruce for many years and have NEVER walked away empty handed . I might have had lousy seats but I always got tix . Like I said , this was not Ticketmaster but something was just not right that day. My only hope now is if they give some away on the radio . I miss the days of standing in line sometimes.

Same Bull crap happened with Phish Tickets. Both Livenation and Ticketmaster can piss off and their $12 ticket fees. They blow!

I’m inclined to believe that artists are getting a cut of teh profits made on TicketsNow and I refuse to believe any different. They are robbing people blind.At this rate, the average fan won’t even be able to afford to go to concerts anymore.

I have experienced this before for Pearl Jam and Radiohead Tickets so they have been doing this for atleast a year. Ticketmaster are rotten thieves and the their corporate leaders and scum of the Earth!!!

Screw ticketmaster.
These greedy bunch of scumbags should be outlawed.

ticketmaster needs an Obama slap. you’re only selling tickets, you’re not providing security, parking or food, nothing really needed for an event other than a piece of paper to get in. you guys need to think about who might be wanting to minimize your presence, don’t you think? i truly would not want to walk the streets if i fucked people over with prices like this.

Ticketmaster has no interest in obtaining as much money as possible from the consumer. Any merger with Live Nation will only make things worse. They are awful people and we can only hope this public debacle brings some attention to what needs to be done – create some competition against them.

Sorry, I meant to say Ticketmaster is ONLY interesting in obtaining as much money as possible from the consumer. Unlike Bruce and other bands they have no interest in the consumer’s happiness.

Ticketmaster has been ripping people off for years with their fees and we’ve just put up with it. Just like the banks, Ticket Master (or TicketScammer as I call them), had to come up with another way to extract more money from us and they came up with one – - it’s called TicketsNow! Thanks for speaking up for us, Bruce.

Hey, I have a suggestion for TicketMaster! They could charge “freight” on the tickets like car dealerships do when they sell you a new car. This way, TM could charge us for the luxury of getting the tickets to us. And what about a “printing” fee? Or “bundle” the tickets with other shows so if you buy Bruce tix, you also have to buy Britany seats….there’s still so many ways left to rip us off! Scumbags!!

As I get older, I can afford concert tickets but I am not going to go through a lot of BS to get them. I have seen these acts before and I am not as desperate as I was as a teenager to go to see any band. Anyway, what I mean is that if they make it annoying or difficult I can totally skip it and I don’t think I am alone in that. They may be cutting off their noses to spite their faces as far as the older (and wealthier) fans are concerned.

whatever respect i had for azoff went out the window after reading his statement. he should have just kept quiet, instead of feeding us this bullshit…i used to go to about 75-80 concerts a year, for many years…sometimes two in one night. now, i might go to two a year. just when you think the whole ticket thing couldn’t get any worse, it does. the person above couldn’t have said it any better…ticketmaster and azoff need an obama slap.

It’s kind of like what happened in sports. When I was a kid you could go to a ball game. Remember that? Now kids can’t. It’s a mess and I don’t really have an answer. It seems that everything is broken because of corporate greed and unfortunately the greed of a lot of folks. Where is it written that performers have to make sooo much money. Why not make a decent living doing what you love? Join the rest of the country. Everyone is having a hard time. Can you deal with watching “Cribs”? I can’t. “Here’s my Thursday car” Barf. Festivals seem to be a decent choice except that they’re more expensive than a typical 2 act show. I feel so privileged to have lived through a time when shows were affordable. U2 for $3.00, no joke. But of course that was before they got huge. I guess the answer really is not believing all the hype and discovering young, independent bands before they get big. Widespread Panic is also a good alternative because they actually do something positive with the money they collect. If you could take the “business” out of the “music business you’d be OK.

Looks like Ticketmaster is engaging in racketeering…Hello? RICO anybody?

What a load of CRAP!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

ticketsnow.com is a ticketmaster site and broker hub. brokers have tickets before shows go on sale to the public?? I ask you fans out there: why bother going, you don’t have a fair shake at any tickets for some shows or the best seats regardless of show!! the whole scheme is rigged against the average joe. The ticket business is the shadiest business in the country..

The artists are being ripped off, too – they’re not getting a cut of Ticketmaster’s greedy and fraudulent profits, and fans are being cut off and turned off from going out to see them play.

I’m so glad that Bruce spoke out, and really, all musicians should get involved in this, because it ultimately affects all of them.
And as so many of these posts are saying the same thing – we true music fans are getting shut out of going to many performances.

I also got shut out of purchasing tickets for several performances – last year and this year, when I saw tickets appear and then vanish, and was redirected to TicketsNow, where the price skyrocketed.

The concert industry is in crisis, and everyone needs to wake up. This recession/depression that we’re in is only going to make it worse.
My hope is that there is an organized effort by musicians, the feds and fans to stop Ticketmaster from continuing to destroy the concert music experience, before it’s too late.

somewhere, pearl jam is very happy.

this happened last week with Phish, no apology or anything… ticketmaster sucks in oh so many ways… we need to find something better… or trust-bust the live-nation / ticketmaster monopoly

ticketbastards!

Hey RS, put your money where your print is, quit gathering moss and help organize a resolve to the Ticket Master and 3rd party scams. Unless of course, you are on the take too.

Brilliant! Ticketmaster and Live Nation merging, two thieves working together to create a monopoly. Don’t let Pearl Jam hear about this.

I had this same experience a couple of months ago. I was trying to purchase Kings of Leon tickets and was immediately redirected to TicketsNow where the prices were at least 2 and 3 times more than the original cost of the ticket.

Ticketmaster may have apologized to Bruce and his fans, and promised not to do this for his concerts, but what is going to stop them from continuing to do this corrupt and borderline illegal practice for other shows?

I plan on boycotting Ticketmaster. I will go directly to the venue or not at all until they go back to fair sales.

the same thing happend to me with phish too! i love them and they are playing on my birthday so i wanted to get tickets…i got them but the site i got redirected to charged me $500 a ticket! and they were originally $49!! this is rediculous. what about that show? and what about an apology for that!? i want the differece back too this is too much money they are ripping people off for. ticket master does suck!

Same thing happened to me with dead tickets for madison square garden.Minutes after tickes went on sale redirected to tickets now price so hi for crap seats we got NO TICKETS Thanks ticketmaster feels like being raped and theres nothing you can do about it .I too am boycotting ticketmaster.

Same thing happened to me with dead tickets for madison square garden.Minutes after tickes went on sale redirected to tickets now price so hi for crap seats we got NO TICKETS Thanks ticketmaster feels like being raped and theres nothing you can do about it .I too am boycotting ticketmaster.

I got screwed. This shit is going to stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YES WE CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

greed will kills art. period.

join the Facebook group “Boycott Ticketmaster Livenation for one year”

Ticketmaster and Ticketsnow Scam

I told you back when Ticketsnow.com soldout to Ticketmaster.com this would happen. Ticketmaster.com is pulling all the good tickets and marking them up on the Ticketsnow.com website and the are redirecting Ticketmaster buyers to Ticketsnow to pay higher ticket prices. If not for Springsteen this practice would have gone on unnoticed. Ticketmaster and Ticketsnow had a plan right from the start and that plan was to hose Ticketmasters buyers into paying higher prices for tickets on its sister site Ticketsnow.
If you or anyone in the music business wants the real story about what is going on please contact me at ibidfree@aol.com.

Robert Finnimore
http://www.Tailgatetickets .com

Peace

The United States Department of Justice, the New Jersey Attorney General’s office, the Federal Trade Commission and the Canadian Competition Bureau don’t understand that Ticketmaster is trying to blame Brokers when Ticketmaster had 2200 seats after the show Sold Out to give to Ticketmaster customers that complained.
Brokers do scam but this time they didn’t it was all Ticketmaster scalping the 2200 seats that got them caught and now they are trying to blame the Brokers.

Below is an email sent to Brokers that had Springsteen tickets listed when Ticketmaster sent customers to Ticketsnow on the day of the sale.

From: LegalInquiries@Ticketmaster.co m
Sent: 4/3/2009 3:50:34 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Subpoena Requests for TicketsNow Documents and Information

As you are aware, recent events have resulted in a heightened level of interest in Ticketmaster’s and TicketsNow’s businesses. One by-product of this heightened interest is that we have received a number of subpoenas and demands for sworn information about TicketsNow and its broker clients. These include formal requests for information and/or subpoenas from, among others, the United States Department of Justice, the New Jersey Attorney General’s office, the Federal Trade Commission and the Canadian Competition Bureau.

The purpose of this letter is to inform you that we are now required to hand over certain information about TicketsNow’s broker clients and their sales activities. In particular, we are required to identify: (i) information regarding any seller of tickets on TicketsNow for the May 21 and May 23, 2009 Bruce Springsteen concerts at the IZOD Center in New Jersey; (ii) the names and contact information of all ticket brokers with whom TicketsNow does business; and (iii) copies of TicketsNow broker contracts.

We are taking steps to protect the confidentiality of these materials once produced but feel we are required to provide these materials in response to lawful demands. Therefore, please be advised that we will respond to these subpoenas and demands for information one week from today.

We appreciate your understanding in this matter. Any questions should be directed to legalinquiries@ticketmaster.co m.

Ticketmaster Legal Department

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:

This message contains information from Ticketmaster

Working on a Dream….
In January, we purchased and have paid in full for (2)$299.00 (each)seats for the Albany show. We, being Bruce fans for 30+ years were very happy when we purchased our seats four months ago and have been looking forward to seeing the show. Stephanie, at the TicketsNow Headquarters called our house today,informed me our seat purchase of $598. + fees and taxes ($700.00) was no longer available. She could not tell me what happened to our purchase which was MADE BEFORE THEY WENT ON SALE TO THE PUBLIC. Offered us GENERAL ADMISSION…If that is what we wanted, we would have waited…and went in GA. We may now be out 700 dollars…because we are getting nowhere with TN. We have been trying for five hours to get someone at TN to make this right to us. They are not. When asked on several occasions three different occasions why our seats no longer existed and were not available, we were told “they” are not telling us. We asked, who are you referring to “they”, We bought our tickets from TN. We were then “consoled” with the psychological line “I understand your frustration” and reassured us that he had an email in to Stephanie and that he had left a message with her answering service and she would be calling us. She has not…
After pressuring for an answer as to what happened to our seats, we were finally told “must be they got sold by ACCIDENT. How can this be? We bought them four months ago…in J a n u a r y, before they went on sale to the public…
??Right now we are out our money, our seats and our dream. WE are fighting and getting nowhwere. Our seats WERE section 120, row M, seat 99 and 100, at the Times Union Center in Albany on Thursday (today is Monday). We have no email confirmation. We have no tickets in the mail, being yanked around by TN with no answers, offering us general admission (for our 600 bucks). What a deal! We made our purchase 4 mos ago and paid in full $ we work very hard for our money. We are P’d off, but, STILL “Working on a Dream” in N.Y.

I thought the Ticketmaster sale was going to be on the up and up FOR ONCE LOL. So when I heard they added two more shows in June 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. If 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 – 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.