Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[KvP]

Dun dun dunnnnn.

So basically here's the gist of it for people who don't like reading - Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen's tour started its ticket sales today, and Ticketmaster, who handles all such sales, reserved up to 5,000 seats and sold them to Tickets Now, a subsidiary of theirs. While regular old Ticketmaster charges you for the cost of your ticket plus a heavy (at our) "convenience" charge, Tickets Now's purpose is to sell tickets at "market-sensitive value", ie scalping prices. Tickets from Tickets Now are up to several hundred dollars more expensive than normal. So basically what Ticketmaster is doing is creating an artificial shortage and inflating prices.

Also Ticketmaster is reportedly in talks to merge with Live Nation. If such a deal went through we'd have a single massive company that handled ticket sales for a vast swath of the music world, managed a large number of high-profile artists, and handled concert promotion for most any venue you can beat with a stick.

Our only real hope as consumers not to get brutally exploited by such a syndicate comes from the fact that the Obama administration is in office now and the FCC might be more inclined than it was over the last 8 years to bust up monopolies. We'll see.

[TheFuriousWombat]

Man, thank god almost all the shows I go to sell through ticketweb. They actually have really reasonable charges. Like...a couple bucks. Shocking!

[est]

Holy shit that is fucked

[0bsessions]

I wouldn't count on it ever going away. This bullshit has been going on for as far back as I've been going to concerts and I'd venture much further back than even that. Ticketmaster doesn't legally have a monopoly, they just happen to be the only game in town due to their heavy advertising. It's pretty much the same as how most towns only have one cable or phone provider.

[tania]

during tronnocon, tommy had gotten a few of us some tickets to go see nina nastasia but the show ended up being cancelled. we later spent something like an hour on the ticketmaster website and on the phone with them trying to get our money back and there was just absolutely no way. we went in circles hundreds of times and never figured out how to talk to a real person or get a refund.

their "convenience" fee - which is really just their "we're a monopoly so give us some extra money for no real reason other than that you don't have a choice" fee - is pretty bullshit too. i really fucking hate ticketmaster.

[michaelicious]

their "convenience" fee - which is really just their "we're a monopoly so give us some extra money for no real reason other than that you don't have a choice" fee - is pretty bullshit too. i really fucking hate ticketmaster.

I was going to post basically this exact same thing. Also, my roommate bought tickets to go see Fleet Foxes over the summer and when they cancelled he basically had to cause a ruckus to get his money back.

Ticketmaster is pretty much the reason I only go to local shows anymore.

[Hairy Joe Bob]

The name Ticketmaster itself sounds like it's some creepy clown dude who leads kids down dark woody paths and murders them.

Kind of like the Anti-Pied Piper. Ooooh the Ticket Master! Mwa ha ha!

[Liz]

I haven't purchased through Ticketmaster in a long time. Thankfully a lot of bands that play here use Ticketweb! Or I go to shows where you just pay at the door and get a stamp.

[KvP]

It wouldn't be so bad if they had a bulk charge, but they charge around a third of cost for every ticket. Two Andrew Bird tickets cost me $71. Tickets were $25 each before rent was added.

And that's what this is, really, it's rent. American insurance companies have the same sort of power. There are only a relative handful of private insurance providers in the US. It's a market system, but there are thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of individual consumers for every single supplier. It's so lopsided that consumers have no recourse if a firm wants to charge above the just market rate. What are they going to do? Go to one of those insurers that charges less? There aren't any.

[BrittanyMarie]

Yes, or you go to your friendly neighborhood record store and he sells you one of those little blue raffle ticket things. <3yourorangerekkids

[allison]

My nosebleed-section Kevin Smith tickets cost $55 or something originally...but cost $75 and change after 'convenience fees'. What the fuck, man.

[Inlander]

Jesus, when North American people in this thread started talking about convenience fees I thought you just meant to three-or-four dollar booking fees that you have to pay in Australia.

I guess rampant corporate greed is still the flavour of the month Stateside, then.

[Be My Head]

Unfortunately most bands I see use ticketmaster, however some venues have their own sites you can order from.

I think this should be how it is done (every venue has their own system)

[tania]

ticketmaster does have a big refund policy on their website that says they'll give you back your money if your show gets cancelled but it's all really convoluted bullshit. there's links and phone numbers all over the place and they take you in circles over and over while continuously reassuring you that you'll get your refund. frankly i find that a lot more insulting than if they just said flat-out on their site somewhere "hey, sorry if your event gets cancelled but we're keeping your money".

[Katherine]

I fucking hate Ticketbastard.  I avoid buying tickets through them whenever possible, which has been pretty infrequently over the last few years since a) no one good ever comes around here and b) when someone good does come here they go to the smaller venues where I can buy tickets at the door or who use other ticket sales companies.

[valley_parade]

Live Nation is even worse. I ended up paying $110 for a pair of THIRTY-FIVE DOLLAR Sigur Ros tickets.

[Clintaga]

Onewheelwizzard and I recently got totally clowned by Ticketmaster. We were 5 kinds of amped to go see Thievery Corporation, who were ALREADY CHARGING $35 a ticket, and then Ticketmaster added on convenience fees to the tune of $9 a pop and then some other ridiculous charge, making them $50+, which was sadly just out of my budget. I had barely enough to cover a $35 dollar concert, much less a $50 one.

So I guess what I'm saying is venues need to stop exclusively selling tickets through Ticketmaster In Philadelphia, because the Electric Factory and the TLA both have utterly retarded and borderline inaccessible box office hours.

[valley_parade]

And on top of that, it was a Sigur Ros gig

And it was the best fucking gig I've ever seen.

[KharBevNor]

This is what you get for going to Bruce Springsteen shows I guess.

[valley_parade]

That or a faceful of Springsteen crotch.

[Gurkburk]

This is what you get for going to Bruce Springsteen shows I guess.

Yeah man because corruption and greed is totally okay if it only affects people with inferior music tastes.

[Josefbugman]

And this is yet another reason why I don't go to gigs at all.

[Slick]

The thing that I hate is now the used record store that also sells tickets for my local club's shows has started charging a fucking convenience fee. I never really liked those record store guys, their used CDs are overpriced, and now they feel it's OK to charge us for the convenience of being able to buy from them.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

i only go to shows if it's a band that i really really really want to see, it's at a small bar, and the time/date is convenient for me.

those three things don't coincide very often, so i don't go to many shows these days.

[Cartilage Head]

 Just go to the damn box office and buy tickets.

[Darkbluerabbit]

That doesn't work if the gig is two or three hours away.  It may be worth the trip once to see a band you really like, but twice is a little excessive.  The gas would probably cost more than the convenience fee.

[BlahBlah]

I found out the other day that Nils Lofgren is in the E Street Band.

The dude played blues guitar on Tonight's the Night, for shit's sake. What a career arc.

Ha, I just looked him up to see what else he's done, and according to wikipedia:

"In September 2008, Lofgren had hip replacement surgery for both of his hips as a result on years of playing basketball, performance "flips" on stage and age."[5] . He was recuperating in an effort to return in time for Springsteen and the E Street Band's appearance at Super Bowl XLIII. And he's live, and man is he rockin!"

That's a pretty huge change though, from Tonight's the Night (and am I right in thinking he played on On the Beach too?) to Born to Run.

Just to drag this off-topic even more, does anyone know of any albums that are as desolate, yet brilliant, as Tonight's The Night? It's possibly my favourite record but I've never found anything else like it.

Anyway, is it just me or are these Ticketmaster fees worse in the USA? I know they still charge them in the UK but I've never noticed them being that large.

Also, http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/148966-clash-of-the-titans-springsteen-vs-ticketmaster

[RedLion]

Now, I happen to love Springsteen. I'm seeing him when he comes to Chicago in May. When I tried to buy tickets, it first send me to ticketmaster, of course. They claimed they were all sold out, except for some seats behind the stage, at nosebleed level. To be helpful though, Ticketmaster directed me towards Ticketsnow where I could find "Great deals" on already sold seats! This was, of course, 200 dollars more than they would normally have cost, and it was pretty much all the tickets that weren't available on Ticketmaster. So, basically Ticketmaster bought their own tickets and put them up on Ticketsnow at exorbitant prices. 

I would up getting my tickets on eBay, which actually proved to be 200 dollars cheaper than the original Ticketmaster seats would have been, and they're in the lower section, near the front.

It's sad when eBay, a place notorious for scalping, is a better source for tickets, both in terms of place and price, than a ticket company.

[tania]

it doesn't really matter whether you like bruce springsteen or not because he's done a pretty awesome thing in causing a massive ruckus about this situation and making it very loud and clear that ticketmaster fucked over his customers and are a bunch of sleazy assholes. nobody's going to listen to me if i say ticketmaster are assholes, but they'll probably listen if bruce springsteen says it. with any luck, this will draw ticketmaster a lot of unwanted attention and hopefully result in more people being informed about their ridiculous business practices and deciding not to support them.

[mooface]

this isn't the music forum, geek

[KvP]

Hey Neil Young get out of my thread

[KvP]

This isn't over.

[Gemmwah]

I fucking hate Ticketmaster.

[valley_parade]

Oh hai. $24 in convenience fees on a $33.50 Bruins ticket.

Yeah, THAT'S convenient. You SHITFUCKS.

[Alex C]

I hadn't really noticed this thread until today. The best thing in it so far has been Gemmwah's link. Not because the clip was funny (I didn't really care for it), but because if you watch long enough Google Ads will start happily shilling Ticketmaster gift cards while the clip plays.

[Inlander]

I'm impressed by this wonderfully self-serving comment from that YouTube link:

Pay the additional fees! Your going to pay more on the second market. You all just love to complain about those fees. When you people say "Um ...what? On each ticket? No way, I'm not paying that!" We see it as "Your Loss, You'll Call Back!" You always do!

[Alex C]

I hate it when douchebags post patronizing comments like that. I don't go to shows that virtually require me to deal with Ticketmaster; nobody's holding a gun to my head and making me go to live events. Ticketmaster hasn't gotten a cent out of me in over a decade and I plan on keeping it that way. Antagonizing me further certainly isn't going to convince me to put my money in anyone's pocket, I can tell you that much.

[Cire27]

Apparently that Ticketmaster and Live Nation merger did go down .

[Dazed]

So I just paid $68 for 2 $20 Decemberists tickets. I can't imagine this is going to get better once the merger takes effect. GodDAMN I really hope someone federal gets annoyed with this shit and busts up the horror that is to come.

[Toba]

I don't want to be that guy, but it's the FTC, not the FCC, that regulates mergers and monopoly busting.

[Aztex]

Unfortunately most bands I see use ticketmaster, however some venues have their own sites you can order from.

problem with this, is that smaller venues often might not have the infrastructure to deal with the large amounts of traffic. I tried to get Snow Patrol tickets when they were playing a small gig at the Metro last year, and the site was down for half an hour, phone lines were blocked. Didn't end up being able to get tickets.

[Juxtaposition]

I really, really wanted sasquatch tickets... But I don't have an extra $50 for ticketbastard. I guess I'm not going...

[Toba]

I think the issue is one of monopoly, not one of the badness of non-independent ticket brokers.  Putting capitalism to work to fix this problem could create a better site, but the problem is this:

"Alternative ticketing companies have emerged but due to Ticketmaster's exclusive agreements with a large percentage of venues the competition has not lowered service fees. Not all events generate the same consternation." - Wikipedia

[valley_parade]

The resellers are even worse. I thought I was getting the same $33 ticket to that game that Ticketmaster wanted $60 for with charges for $44..

Turns out StubHub sold me a $19 ticket for $44. =/

[Reed]

Stubhub can be hit or miss. I went to the last Yankees/Red Sox game at Yankee's stadium (which was sold out) and stub hub was significantly cheaper than getting the tickets from anywhere else. I paid about $100 for two tickets when ebay and any other site I could find that was selling them was $150+. It all depends on the demand for the tickets you're buying from the site.

[Dazed]

Stubhub and Aceticket are both simply awful. Basically, short version: All ticket vending agencies are horrible horrible people.

[sean]

Tommy just dig a tunnel from your bar to the place neil young is playing and sneak in.

nothing could go wrong!

[lprkn]

I really, really wanted sasquatch tickets... But I don't have an extra $50 for ticketbastard. I guess I'm not going...

Ooooh, Sasquatch!

The question is: Am I willing to drive 6 hours to get there in addition to the money I will have spent on tickets already?

The answer is: Probably not.

[valley_parade]

Stubhub can be hit or miss. I went to the last Yankees/Red Sox game at Yankee's stadium (which was sold out) and stub hub was significantly cheaper than getting the tickets from anywhere else. I paid about $100 for two tickets when ebay and any other site I could find that was selling them was $150+. It all depends on the demand for the tickets you're buying from the site.

AHAHAHA I GOT TICKETS TO THAT GAME FOR FREE.

Actually, it was the night before. When Pedroia hit a grand slam and Sidney Ponson nearly shit himself. AHAHAHAHA.