Ticketmaster facing class action lawsuits over ticket resales

I remember one time a year or two ago I went online right at the onsale time (don't remember the show), couldn't get through, but immediately had any number of offers for high priced resale tickets - right on the TM site! Jeez, do you think that looks suspicious, or what?
 
jefferski said:
Jeez, do you think that looks suspicious, or what
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Well, it looks like the CBC and The Star caught them with their pants down with their undercover sting. I hope all the bands and acts boycott TM and don't allow them to sell their tickets anymore. It's gotten out of hand.
 
Toopy14 said:
Well, it looks like the CBC and The Star caught them with their pants down with their undercover sting. I hope all the bands and acts boycott TM and don't allow them to sell their tickets anymore. It's gotten out of hand.
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Yea. Fortunately a number of the bands I like either sell their own tix or play smaller places that aren't in the TM network. I really feel for the people who are into the big mainstream bands, where even in a fair system they'd likely be stuck pretty far away from the stage. And with the current situation, no chance.

And what hasn't come out in all this - who's to say that a lot of those "resellers" aren't really TM itself? So not only are they double dipping on fees, but it's likely they're making the extra profit on the markup as well. I find it hard to believe that independent resellers could buy their tickets, and have them back up for sale on TM five minutes after the initial on-sale time. But TM could certainly do that.

I'm fine with a system where there's *some* number of tickets available for resale - certainly from individuals who can't go to a show, or for times when I miss the original onsale date. I've happily bought tix from Stubhub and I've both bought and sold on Flash Seats, but the systematic scarfing of most of the best seats for resale has to stop.
 
The ticket sales system is so damn broken I've not been to some bands shows since 2005. When I log in for a U2 ticketsale and all GA tickets are sold out within 8 minutes I know something fishy is going on. And by buying 2nd hand resale tickets we're basically keeping this broken system intact. The only solution is to boycott the ticketmasters of the world. Politicians are already bought by these bastards, they're not going to do squat to help us. The big bands don't care either, as almost none of them do something about it, or they just profit from this as well. Boycott the bastards, even if it means that bands will suffer as well. It's the only way to pressure both them and TM to do something about it.
 
Muad'zin said:
When I log in for a U2 ticketsale and all GA tickets are sold out within 8 minutes I know something fishy is going on.
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There's that, then there's the stupid membership fee, so you can get advanced tickets. I didn't mind paying the $50 for the U2 I+E tour because I got great seats, both nights, but when they said I had to pay another $50 for the E+I tour because I had used up my four ticket purchases even though the membership was still current for the year, I said screw it. The tickets were up to $200, plus another $50 US and a trip to Montreal, which I wouldn't have minded because it's a beautiful city, I couldn't justify the total cost, $1,000+. That's the price of one ticket to an all inclusive resort in the Dominican!! All you can eat and booze included! :cool:
 
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Concert tickets sales, and I think the same probably applies to sports tickets as well, have become a well oiled machine to drum money out of our pockets. Prices keep going up, way past inflation, snacks, drinks and merch also keep going up. Its an race to the bottom that at some point has to become unsustainable as increasing numbers of people can no longer afford it. Like overfishing the oceans, soil exhaustion and depleting mineral resources the system is bound to collapse.
 
Sustainerplayer said:
Here in Denmark ticket scalping is against the law. If you want to resell tickets you can only do it at a maximum of the original price.

Not that it prevents scalping completely. But it prevents organized bull shit like this.
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Once upon a time it was like that in the US also.
But of coarse greed wins!! over here.
Flying the flag while while the general public is stabbed in the back
 
I'll bet absolutely nothing happens with this. If there is a settlement out of court, and TM will admit no wrong doing. At most, people in the suit will get a voucher towards a show, lawyers will make millions, and nothing will change.

The government has been complicit with their monopoly for decades now. Why would you think it would change? I do my part by refusing to go to any show if TM is selling the tickets, and I won't use their auction sites like stubhub either. If enough people did this, things might change, but there aren't enough people that care.
 
I love it when I go to buy tickets at the exact time they go on sale - and somehow, the only tix that are left are sections D and E. So tix master is telling me that all the seats have already been sold in less than a minute... hmmmm..... Then I go onto stub hub - oh magically theres a ton of seats available - at 4X the list price...
 
spagthorpe said:
I'll bet absolutely nothing happens with this. If there is a settlement out of court, and TM will admit no wrong doing. At most, people in the suit will get a voucher towards a show, lawyers will make millions, and nothing will change.

The government has been complicit with their monopoly for decades now. Why would you think it would change? I do my part by refusing to go to any show if TM is selling the tickets, and I won't use their auction sites like stubhub either. If enough people did this, things might change, but there aren't enough people that care.
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People love to complain, and yet they continue to fork out the money. Just like they love to complain about politics, but still vote for the same politicians. Being a fan and the desire not to miss out on a concert still wins out. For now. Until prices get so high that even the most rapid fanboys can no longer afford it.

Jimmytwotimes said:
I love it when I go to buy tickets at the exact time they go on sale - and somehow, the only tix that are left are sections D and E. So tix master is telling me that all the seats have already been sold in less than a minute... hmmmm..... Then I go onto stub hub - oh magically theres a ton of seats available - at 4X the list price...
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Well, you know what to do then. Boycott the bastards. To paraphrase that general from the Vietnam war, in order to save the village we have to burn that village. Stop going to major bands and let them play in their stadiums to the only ones who can still afford their overpriced tickets, corporate sponsors and their business relations. See how they like that.
 
Bands claiming in mags that they don’t care what people think about their new album ´cause they do it for themselves, certainly don’t care who buys tickets. The most important things being that they’re sold and the band gets paid ;-)

I just remember years ago that the price asked for tickets for a Slayer show was too high for my taste (not my wallet), I just did not go to the show. I’m not dead and unhappy for zapping gigs if tickets are too pricey or just don’t like the location.
 
OldSnail said:
Bands claiming in mags that they don’t care what people think about their new album ´cause they do it for themselves, certainly don’t care who buys tickets. The most important things being that they’re sold and the band gets paid ;-)
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Bands who make music only for themselves never fill stadiums, not even an arena. They're lucky to play clubs at all. If they play large venues and say they don't care they're lying. Because nobody reaches that tier of venues without being commercial in some way. Either musically, or through shrewd business dealings, and usually both. The one thing any band on that level MASSIVELY cares about is ticket sales. Because the Muse's, U2's and Radiohead's of the world will play in a small club again, for a special one time occasion, but if CD and ticket sales bomb that hard that they do have to go back to the club scene you can damn well bet that they will come up with something that restores their commercial success. Just look at how hard U2's been trying to recatch their commercial mojo after Pop bombed in 1997 and New Line on the Horizon in 2009

It's rock 'n' roll to act like you don't care. But the business of rock 'n' roll is still business.
 
I hope that due to some freak accident of law Ticketmaster explodes and dies, and its entire management team finds itself living under a bridge in Alaska with not a penny to their name. These greedy bastards are the reason why I don't go to shows anymore.
 
None of this is a surprise to anyone who logs on at the time of release, and can only find nose-bleed tickets or single tickets in decent locations. They've had the fix in for years. In between having to pay for 'privileged access', the over the top fees, and venue gouging, it's just not worth it. I feel the same way about sporting events; American Football is a disaster...super high prices, $10 for a hot dog, and surrounded by 50 year old power drinkers who care not if there are kids sitting around them. (Although our local soccer team is a good deal still...too bad they suck mightily.)

I go to *maybe* one large show a year these days. Paramore was my last one.

I'd rather go to local small shows with up and coming artists. Can see 5 acts for the price of 1 in a smaller venue. And a good chance that you can get bragging rights by saying 'I saw them BACK IN THE DAY.'
 
electronpirate said:
I'd rather go to local small shows with up and coming artists. Can see 5 acts for the price of 1 in a smaller venue. And a good chance that you can get bragging rights by saying 'I saw them BACK IN THE DAY.'
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Not to mention that you can actually still talk to bands at that level, before and after the show. They'll probably sell you their band t-shirt in person.

OldSnail said:
I was ironic but I believe that money is more important than who buys their tickets for those big bands.
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By now it is. But playing to a stadium of people who actually want to see you and go nuts during the show is not the same as playing to a stadium filled with people who got their ticket as a corporate gift, and who are more busy networking then being that missing band member who elevate a show into a happening. It was why U2 for a long time stopped doing stadium shows in the US, as they were tired of seeing the front rows with uninterested guests of corporations rather then real fans. But no more it would seem.
 
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