when a consumer makes an online or phone purchase. Between service fees, processing fees, pick-up-in-person fees, and even print-the-ticket-at-home fees – this company has received heavy criticism for these practices over the years.Recently, Bruce Springsteen fans complained to New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram about Ticketmaster’s ploy to force fans into paying $200 to $5,000 for $65 to $95 concert tickets. It seems that Ticketmaster’s main Web site indicated there were no tickets available for Springsteen’s upcoming concerts at the Meadowlands. The solution? Ticketmaster directed fans to its subsidiary, TicketsNow, which was charging outrageous prices for each ticket. When the rock star learned about this situation, he immediately condemned the company for ripping off his fans, 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,” Springsteen said. “We condemn this practice.”
Ticketmaster did not admit to any tricks or unethical practices, but issued an apology and has agreed to pay $350,000 to compensate ticket holders.
The merger with Live Nation has Congress concerned that if the two come together to form one major company it will essentially monopolize the industry. CEOs for the two companies did not convince Senators last week that the merger would lower concert ticket prices for the consumer.
“I am disturbed by your unwillingness to discuss the main reason for the merger,” Senator Herb Kohl said to Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff.
Another twist in this story is the fact that Live Nation dropped Ticketmaster as its ticketing vendor just one month ago – selling tickets to its own events and directly competing with Ticketmaster. Unfortunately, their initial venture into ticket sales did not go so well. Live Nation’s website had technical mishaps, error messages, and many people could not purchase tickets.
David Colker, Tiffany Hsu and Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times argue:
“If there’s no merger and Live Nation succeeds in its ticketing venture, the company could put a significant dent in Ticketmaster’s business.”
This seems to be a point worth discussing – especially when Live Nation did not really put a full-force effort into this new business of selling tickets.
In the Times article, Scott Devitt, an analyst at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co is interviewed as saying:
“Because Live Nation owns its own ticket platform, they would not be sharing fees with Ticketmaster. This had the potential to lower consumer fees. With this possible merger, it takes away the only competition from a ticketing standpoint.”
This is a valid argument, especially when you have such a high number of consumer complaints regarding Ticketmaster’s business practices and enormous fees. There is such discourse on the internet, that ticketmastersucks.org was established. The site offers consumers information regarding current legal troubles Ticketmaster is dealing with, as well as an opportunity to vent your own problems you have experienced when purchasing tickets through the company.Should these two companies be allowed to merge? Only the Justice Department can block such a move. One important issue that should be on the minds of Congress and our elected officials is in this down economy, consumers are strapped for extra cash and when they want to enjoy a live-entertainment event, competition is celebrated and embraced. People like the idea of being able to shop around to find a good deal. When its time to hit “Checkout” on a ticketing website, the last thing anyone wants to see is the cost of their ticket skyrocketting because of special fees.
There is just something fundamentally wrong when you buy a $12 ticket, have to pay an extra $7.50 service charge, and a final charge of $2.50 to print the ticket yourself.
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