Ticketmaster, Live Nation in merger talks

[LukeA]

Originally Posted by bikerchic

Ticketmaster *is* the party re-selling the tickets, through Ticketsnow. They own the tickets, they are the re-seller (scalper). They are "ticket flipping". There is no actual consumer buying and re-selling the ticket. Allegedly.

That is completely false, and amounts to pure paranoia. I can't believe I'm a position where I'm defending Ticketmaster/Ticketsnow/etc., but you are WAY off base.

[MacMan]

Personally, I don't believe for one second that your average everyday concert goer is re-selling their tickets on TicketsNow... If it's not Ticketmaster doing the reselling themselves, then they sure as hell are providing an outlet for scalpers to do so - how else can you explain numerous tickets (and we're not just talking a few tickets) show up on TicketsNow's site immediately after the official ticket sale?

[LukeA]

Originally Posted by MacMan

Personally, I don't believe for one second that your average everyday concert goer is re-selling their tickets on TicketsNow... If it's not Ticketmaster doing the reselling themselves, then they sure as hell are providing an outlet for scalpers to do so - how else can you explain numerous tickets (and we're not just talking a few tickets) show up on TicketsNow's site immediately after the official ticket sale?

Oh, of course... I completely agree with you. No argument there.

[MacMan]

If anyone is going to investigate anything... that's what they need to be looking at... Who is posting those tickets for-sale on TicketsNow... Once that's determined 100% either way whether it's Ticketmaster themselves, or a legitimate ticket holder then I think the argument will be settled. Taking it a step further would be determining how those TicketsNow sellers managed to get some of the primo seats right off the hop!

[bikerchic]

Originally Posted by LukeA

That is completely false, and amounts to pure paranoia. I can't believe I'm a position where I'm defending Ticketmaster/Ticketsnow/etc., but you are WAY off base.

What? You trust Ticketmaster? So you're saying that there's no way that a huge company like Ticketmaster would never do anything immoral or illegal? Please. Does the collapse of wall street ring a bell? Those huge corporations did nothing but lie, cheat and steal from people every day.

TicketsNow is nothing more than a front for Ticketmasters "illegal scalping" business.

[trackaghost]

Originally Posted by bikerchic

TicketsNow is nothing more than a front for Ticketmasters "illegal scalping" business.

Personally, I think the Springsteen incident makes a good case for this because otherwise why would it immediately re-direct to a re-seller?

It's funny, in the UK it's actually illegal to re-sell tickets for sports events but not concerts. I've never understood the logic why one is acceptable and one isn't.

I do wonder though why the likes of Fleetwood Mac aren't more outraged by stuff like this because they aren't getting a cut in the profits gained from the re-sale. I'm sure if someone explained that to Mick he might get involved.

[Erin]

I used Ticketsnow last year to see Stevie. Basically I was connected over the phone to a ticketsnow agent who arranged with the seller for me to purchase the ticket. The agent told me it was a law firm (she even told me the name of the law firm and where it was located) who had purchased a bunch of tickets for clients, but apparently Stevie is just not that popular! This was on the day of the show, and I was able to get a ticket for $50 below cost (be patient and let the resellers sweat it out is my motto). My point is there are "clients" reselling their tickets, but one wonders how they got all the good tickets in the first place. That's where the shady part comes in. I always surmised that Ticketmaster sold off all the good tickets to these types of clients and then put them on sale to the rest of us plebs.

[LukeA]

Originally Posted by bikerchic

What? You trust Ticketmaster? So you're saying that there's no way that a huge company like Ticketmaster would never do anything immoral or illegal? Please. Does the collapse of wall street ring a bell? Those huge corporations did nothing but lie, cheat and steal from people every day.

TicketsNow is nothing more than a front for Ticketmasters "illegal scalping" business.

That's all well and good. However, in my case, I actually have a background of knowledge and experience of which to base my opinions on, rather than following popular opinion, a frivolous & meritless class action suit, and, well, idle speculation.

I've promoted literally hundreds of shows where ticketing was controlled by Ticketmaster. A few happened to be pretty hot shows that sold out in a minute or two. Out of pure curiosity, I pulled complete Ticketmaster audits for these shows, (especially after I saw some tickets listed on eBay). I was able to account for each and every one of those prime, premier seats- how they were made available, who they were sold to, where the tickets were sold, etc.- and, to make a long story short, there wasn't a conspiracy. Just a bunch of fans & amateur scalpers.

The whole Ticketmaster conspiracy bull**** (in regards to getting tickets in the on-sale) is SO tiring. I've pretty much given up trying to explain things logically to people, because there's such an emotional component to trying/failing to get tickets online ("even though I was logged in right at the top of the hour!!!!") that there has to be a conspiracy when scalpers get tickets and you don't. (Never mind the fact that there are TENS OF THOUSANDS of people trying to get tickets to the show online, just like you are) But, there simply can be no other explanation, it seems.

[trackaghost]

Wow.

Anyway, I'm not sure why you belittle the "emotional component". Seems to me to be a pretty important factor that differentiates it from selling and re-selling, say, a lamp.

Personally, I don't believe that Ticketmaster in the past has been in league with touts (or scalpers), they have just got the tickets online or on the phone like the rest of us (although the more professional scalpers hire lots of people to do this when the tickets go onsale ). But Ticketmaster re-directing to TicketsNow on the first day of sale when tickets are still available certainly seems rather fishy to me.

[LukeA]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

Wow.

Anyway, I'm not sure why you belittle the "emotional component". Seems to me to be a pretty important factor that differentiates it from selling and re-selling, say, a lamp.

I didn't mean for it to sound like I'm belittling the emotions that people have for their favorite band/sports team. When you do everything in your power to get the best tickets possible and fail, of course its disappointing. That said, just because it seems that scalpers got "most" of the premier tickets for a show doesn't mean that Ticketmaster had anything to do with it other than facilitating the initial transaction.

For most high profile events, there are FAR more amateur/professional scalpers trying for tickets than fans. They buy tickets to all the high profile events, so they're more familiar with how the site works, which call centers/outlets to use/avoid, etc. It doesn't mean that fans don't end up with great seats in public on-sales, but, in the end, its a numbers game. There's more of them than there are of us, is what it boils down to... which is something less fantastical than some of the conspiracy theories we've all read.

I think we will soon see a shift to where the top tier (in Fleetwood Mac's case, ~$150) is all will-call, or ticketless (swiping credit cards at the gate, like AC/DC). I think Azoff will be smart enough to install this procedure (or something similar) at all of Live Nation/Ticketmaster's high profile events, because it makes too much sense for all involved.

Originally Posted by trackaghost

Personally, I don't believe that Ticketmaster in the past has been in league with touts (or scalpers), they have just got the tickets online or on the phone like the rest of us (although the more professional scalpers hire lots of people to do this when the tickets go onsale ). But Ticketmaster re-directing to TicketsNow on the first day of sale when tickets are still available certainly seems rather fishy to me.

I completely agree with you- especially when the show isn't even sold out yet. It gives the false (in most cases) impression that tickets are scarce, or even completely sold out.

[michelej1]

Here's an article on the merger from Time Magazine. Phillips is the CEO of AEG, one of the big concert promoters. This is an excerpt from the article.

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,...903447,00.html

Can the merger result in lower ticket prices for the public? Phillips said Live Nation has a history of being "aggressive" with pricing. "We walked away from bidding on Fleetwood Mac because we thought the guarantee was too high and what we'd have to charge the public would be too much," he said. Mickelson noted that Live Nation's new ticketing company introduced service fees that were even higher than Ticketmaster's: "A Coldplay ticket at a Ticketmaster building had a $15 service charge, and the same Coldplay ticket at a Live Nation ticketing venue had a $21 service charge."

[BTFLCHLD]

Azoff said he supports efforts to clean up the ticket-reselling business, which he calls "the Wild, Wild West of the business" and hints that Ticketmaster may sell its TicketsNow resale entity if the merger goes through. "The furor about the secondary market really has nothing to do with this merger," he said. Azoff said he would ultimately like to see the merged entity offer dynamic pricing, whereby front-row seats are offered in the primary market at prices well above the average — possibly up to $1,000 — while nosebleed seats are sold below the average price for as little as $20 a pop.

Just when I thought I couldn't like Azoff any less.

[bikerchic]

Originally Posted by LukeA

The whole Ticketmaster conspiracy bull**** (in regards to getting tickets in the on-sale) is SO tiring. I've pretty much given up trying to explain things logically to people, because there's such an emotional component to trying/failing to get tickets online ("even though I was logged in right at the top of the hour!!!!") that there has to be a conspiracy when scalpers get tickets and you don't. (Never mind the fact that there are TENS OF THOUSANDS of people trying to get tickets to the show online, just like you are) But, there simply can be no other explanation, it seems.

I guess time will tell. Hopefully the truth will come out in the courts. I do know though, that the law suits are coming out of the wood work (in Canada and the U.S.).