at 19:56 on February 4, 2009, EDT.
By Beth Defalco, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TRENTON, N.J. - Bruce Springsteen said Wednesday that he is angry with Ticketmaster and believes its selling practices constitute a conflict of interest.

When tickets for Springsteen's show at New Jersey's Meadowlands went on sale Monday, some fans got an error message on their computer screen that shut them out. The potential ticket-buyers then saw an ad for Ticketmaster subsidiary TicketsNow offering tickets for hundreds of dollars more than face value.

Springsteen said on his website Wednesday that he and the E Street Band are "furious."

"We perceive this as a pure conflict of interest," the band said. "Ticketmaster is there to ensure that we have a good, fair sale of our tickets at their face value plus normal ticketing charges."

TicketsNow allows people who have tickets to exchange, trade or sell them at marked-up prices. The band said it has received assurances from Ticketmaster that it will stop redirecting Springsteen fans to TicketsNow.

The snub to Springsteen fans on Monday prompted U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell to call on the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to investigate possible conflicts of interest involving Ticketmaster and TicketsNow. The New Jersey attorney general's office is also investigating whether Ticketmaster has violated any consumer fraud or ticket resale laws.

Several phone messages left Wednesday for Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. spokesman Albert Lopez were not returned. On Tuesday, a company spokesman said only a few fans reported problems.

But state attorney general's spokesman David Wald said the office has received more than 250 complaints since Monday.

Heather Dunham, of Great Meadows, said she and about a dozen of her friends were among those who tried to buy tickets when they went on sale Monday.

"The website just kept throwing us all off, telling you it was down for routine maintenance. That's the same message we got routinely for the better part of an hour," she said. "Then it started redirecting us to the premium ticket site," where prices were double.

"It was outrageous," said Dunham, who has previously purchased Springsteen tickets from Ticketmaster. "It's corporate greed at its worst."

-

On the Net:

Springsteen statement: http://brucespringsteen.n...index.html


©The Canadian Press, 2009

WAAAA!

Another tidbit.....

Bruce Springsteen fans cry foul after Ticketmaster offers huge price increase


at 10:44 on February 4, 2009, EDT.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - A New Jersey congressman is demanding an investigation after Bruce Springsteen fans were unable to buy tickets from Ticketmaster's website, which then promptly offered them more expensive tickets from a subsidiary.

Representative Bill Pascrell of Paterson wants the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to investigate possible conflicts of interest involving Ticketmaster and a ticket reseller it owns, TicketsNow.

When tickets for Springsteen's Meadowlands show went on sale Monday, some fans got an error message on their computer screen that shut them out from buying tickets.

A TicketsNow ad offered tickets for hundreds of dollars more than face value. A Ticketmaster spokesman said only a few fans reported problems.

Similar complaints about TicketsNow have been made before in Canada.


©The Canadian Press, 2009

Yeah, tix were on "TicketsNow" instantaneously; something is hinky. Here's one fan's tale (from backstreets.com):



Caveat emptor!

This could get interesting.

Ace said:

I assume TicketsNow is a "scalping" site??

Ace said:

supposedly ticketmaster has merged with livenation

errant said:

I don't know, but she did profit from tickets re-sold on StubHub. I would think that that deal would've precluded "TicketsNow" from getting in on the action? Or did that even exist at that point?


I think he and his management didn't realize that his fans would be upset with what are now standard practices in the industry. In their defence, I don't think they knew that tickets would be gone to this "TicketsNow" before the freakin' public onsale.

he should do what U2 did...cancel those sales and have a new onsale.

sassybritches said:

But wasn't that a slightly diff. situation (w/the whole 'fan club' thing)?

Personally, I have a hunch that a lot of these tickets that ended up with "TicketsNow" were from seat licensees or other people who have advance access to tix . Anyhoo, it's all academic because if they were considering doing a re-do, it would've been in the press release.

Bruce is tight w/U2, so - yeah - I don't know why his camp didn't think of that.

I'm telling you, my idea would work:

The first week of ticket sales is an auction. People submit how many tickets they want, and what they'll pay for them. At the end of the week, orders are filled based upon the highest price offered. If you offered the highest price, you get the first tickets. If you were second, you get filled second, etc.

Then, after those orders are filled, the rest are sold in the regular manner.

Ticketmaster could get a percentage fee on the first week's sales and they'd increase their profit by 1,000%.

The artist would get the maximum price for each ticket. Their income would go WAY up.

Ticket scalpers would be wiped out overnight, because they'd be forced to pay top dollar for tickets, meaning there would be no margin for them to resell the tickets.

Fans would only be limited by their budget. They wouldn't have to wait in lines, or spend 90 seconds frantically hitting "refresh" only to find the best tickets they can get are in the second level.

This would work.

Ace said:

oh yeah, I think it was StubHub....