Sen. Schumer, Springsteen, NJ AG Make Ticketmaster Settle & Squirm (A Story Of Monopoly)

[Hissyspit]

http://www.backstreets.com/news.html

TICKETMASTER SETTLES AND THEN SQUIRMS

As we reported after the U.S. tour went on sale three weeks ago, Ticketmaster found itself in hot water with the New Jersey state Attorney General as a result of its redirecting potential ticket buyers to its affiliate/scalping arm, TicketsNow, while tickets for the shows at the Izod Center were still available.

On Monday, Attorney General Anne Milgram held a press conference at the Izod Center to announce that her office had reached a settlement with Ticketmaster, after the state Department of Consumer Affairs received over 2,000 complaints from fans who had problems with Ticketmaster’s business practices. The official announcement can be found at the AG’s website; the most important points for Springsteen fans are:

- Fans who complained directly to the NJ Department of Consumer Affairs before 5pm on Tuesday, February 17, will automatically be entered into a lottery to be conducted by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. One thousand fans, almost half of those who filed a grievance, will be given the opportunity to purchase two tickets to one of the shows at the Izod Center, May 21 and 23. These tickets were held back from the original onsale by the promoter for VIPs, ticket drops, and the like.

- Fans who don’t get selected in the lottery will receive a $100 Ticketmaster gift certificate and the chance to purchase tickets to a future (unspecified) Springsteen show in New Jersey.

- Fans who purchased tickets through TicketsNow within 5 hours of the original onsale (i.e., by 2pm on February 2) and who linked to TicketsNow directly from Ticketmaster will have the amount they paid over face value refunded by Ticketmaster.

No love for those who didn't file a complaint. And it should be noted, New Jersey was far from the only market in which Ticketmaster redirected fans to TicketsNow.

The New Jersey AG's office imposed a number of other restraints on Ticketmaster’s business practices going forward, some of which may help concertgoers in the future. But how much it will actually help may depend upon another battleground. A week after the TicketsNow fiasco, Ticketmaster announced that it was merging with Live Nation, the concert promoter. This didn’t sit too well with many people -- including Bruce Springsteen, who warned: "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." It didn’t sit too well with members of Congress either. Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights held hearings on the proposed merger.

The written statements of the various witnesses can be found on the Senate website. Suffice it to say that the subcommittee members, including New York Senator Chuck Schumer, were very skeptical about the merger's supposed benefits to consumers. Schumer blasted Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff about the Springsteen onsale, saying that there is no reason that Ticketmaster should be in the secondary market to begin with. (Hear, hear!) Schumer got Azoff to admit that Ticketmaster could make “way more” money through TicketsNow than it does through regular sales. Read a press release from Schumer's office here. Sen. Russ Feingold asked Chicago-area promoter Jerry Mickelson if a major artist like Springsteen could do a tour without Live Nation or Ticketmaster. Mickelson, testifying against the merger, said it could not be done and that there would be no way to get around working with the combined company.

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MORE LINKS AT ORIGINAL LINK

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2009/02/23/2009-02-23_bruce_springsteen_rocks_ticketmaster_boa.html

Bruce Springsteen rocks Ticketmaster boat

BY OWEN MORITZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, February 24th 2009, 12:32 AM

Bruce Springsteen fans got a promise - and an apology - from the widely criticized ticket seller Monday that it won't play sales tricks with two of the rock star's upcoming concerts at the Meadowlands.

New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram announced Ticketmaster has agreed to pay $350,000 to compensate ticket holders who filed complaints and will change the way it sells tickets on its secondary resale site.

More than 2,000 angry Springsteen fans complained to Milgram's office about being shut out of concert tickets, which were running from $65 to $95, on the main Ticketmaster Web site.
The fans were then directed to its subsidiary, TicketsNow, which was charging $200 to $5,000 apiece.

When he learned about the scam, Springsteen ripped into the ticket seller, saying he was "furious." "The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you," he said in a message on his Web site. "We condemn this practice."

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[Captain Hilts]

1. Ticketmaster is the BIG reason I stopped going to concerts. Large fees...

and you stand in line for hours and they're sold out 5 mins. after opening sales.

[Hissyspit]

2. Well, you buy your tickets online now, but that favors those who can afford high-speed

connections. I was lucky enough to be buying tickets for the Greensboro, NC show, one of only two shows that went on sale the Friday AFTER this debacle/scam. All the other U.S. shows went on sale the day of the TicketsNow scam. Like the article says, someone like Springsteen pretty much can't go on tour without dealing with Ticketmaster, as Pearl Jam brought attention to a decade ago. There are hardly any shows besides him that I would consider going to throught Ticketmaster.

[Captain Hilts]

6. And they often charge parking for EVERY ticket no matter what. nt

[Bluzmann57]

3. I do not understand "handling charges".

Even with print at home tix, there is a "handling charge". I order, print, and there are all these extra charges. Mostl of the bands I like are not major attraction type bands, but sometimes there is someone I want to see. But Ticketmaster is ripping folks off and frankly, my economy just can't take it.

[DainBramaged]

4. My electric company charges me a 'delivery charge' now

it is usually 2/3 of the actual electric bill. I think that some of these scumbag companies who were able to scam the public under Booshe are going to be unhappy under Obama.

[FiveGoodMen]

5. My understanding is that artists don't get a cut of the "handling charges"

so they add a bunch of those and keep all the money.

Kind of like banks changed from making their money on interest to making it mostly on an endless list of fees.