It was widely reported yesterday that TicketBastard and Live Nation intend to merge to create the biggest concert ticket/promotions monopoly known to mankind. Can you tell how I feel about it?These companies are the sleaziest of sleazy. Case in point – during a recent Springsteen ticket sale, Ticketmaster was sending buyers to its sister site TicketsNow, which brokers tickets once the original round is sold out. It is known in the industry as an official ‘scalper’ site. Of course tickets wind up being harder to get and more expensive and in this case, there were still Bruce tickets available at regular prices. Bruce himself had a mighty shit fit, posting to his Web site:
“Last Monday, we were informed that Ticketmaster was redirecting your log-in requests for tickets at face value, to their secondary site TicketsNow, which specializes in up-selling tickets at above face value. They did this even when other seats remained available at face value. We condemn this practice. We have asked this redirection from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow cease and desist immediately and Ticketmaster has agreed to do so in the future and has removed its unwanted material from their and our site.”
Read more about that debacle here.
With Ticketmaster merging with its main competitor, Live Nation, ticket buyers will get screwed even more mightily, as there will be no competition and service charges will likely continue to drive ticket prices up.
Reports say that Ticketmaster will focus on tickets, while Live Nation will focus on concert promotions. They combined company will focus on taking it out of our asses.
The only hope is that the Department of Justice will not approve the merger, as it’s pretty much a monopoly on the Microsoft scale. But hey, who can afford to pay $265 plus $47 service charge to see the frickin Eagles this year anyway? Supply and demand, baby.
A few interesting posts below for those who want to read more:
PaidContent.org
TechCrunch.com
New York Times
1 comment:
Probably one of the big reasons I don't go to concerts that much. I don't want to have to pay Ticket (insert whipcrack sound effect) massuh one red cent...
Post a Comment