You know, it used to be all about the music.
Now it's all about the money.
With the promoters, the managers, and more than likely, the artists, too. Obviously.
Thanks to Bruce for trying, but I have real bad feelings about this.
You know, it used to be all about the music.
Now it's all about the money.
With the promoters, the managers, and more than likely, the artists, too. Obviously.
Thanks to Bruce for trying, but I have real bad feelings about this.
"They will never forget you 'till somebody new comes along"
1948-2016 Gone but not forgotten
Ticketmaster partnering with scalpers is such an obvious conflict of interest that it boggles the mind. It's only logical that Ticketmaster WANTS the TicketsNow scalpers to get the best tickets, because that puts more money into TicketMaster's pockets. Now, Irving says that despite the fact that Ticketmaster makes more money when the the TicketsNow scalpers get the best tickets, his company doesn't do anything to 'help' that happen. I hope he's telling the truth.
I haven't yet had a chance to look at this, but I certainly am planning to. I don't know if this might be helpful to you in other states. The NJ Division of Consumer Affairs, which is handling all of the consumer complaints re:Ticketmaster's bumbling/'scalping' of Springsteen's tickets earlier this week has placed an online complaint form on its main web page for consumers to link to. The form might be useful to y'all to duplicate, and use to complain to your own state's Consumer Affairs Board / Congressmen about Ticketmaster's policies regarding Eagles ticket prices, Springsteen ticket snafus, or whatever mess Irving Azoff has currently got his hands in! The website is: http://www.njConsumerAffairs.gov.
I just read on msnbc.com tonight that Canadian lawyers in Ontario are launching a $500 million class action lawsuit against Ticketmaster/Tickets Now (and soon-to-be-merger with Live Nation) for violation of scalping regulations in that province since Feb. 2007. The case cited in the article mirrors what happened last week with the Springsteen ticket sales in NJ....where within minutes of logging onto Ticketmaster's site, customers were redirected onto the inflated scalping site of TicketsNow during ticket sales for Smashing Pumpkins. However, as far as I can tell, the class action suit is looking for anyone having bought any tickets at all for any concert from either Ticketmaster or TicketsNow, at either face value or above, since Feb. 2007 in the province of Ontario. So, any Canadian Borderers who fit this profile, check it out! It looks like this may affect concert ticket sales in the future, both in the frozen North and in the good 'ole USA...as other lawyers "follow suit!" I'm bettin' NJ/NY is next in line!
Wow! To be fair to Irving, he wasn't involved with TM back then. If lawsuits start to rain down, he might begin to regret wedding FrontLine/Azoff Music Management to TicketBastard.
On the other hand, if he responds by making some fan-friendly changes... well then, Mr. Azoff can become DA MAN to the fans!
This is part of a quote about the whole situation from an entertainment writer with the LA Times:
"This prompted an abject apology from Ticketmaster chief Irving Azoff, the longtime manager of the Eagles, among many other notable artists. Since he's known in the industry as a fiesty, fiercely combative advocate for his artists--years ago, when I wrote something negative about Don Henley, Azoff sent me a Mafia-style bouquet of black roses--having a revered artist like Springsteen complaining about his business practices was a huge PR black eye for Azoff, especially at a time when Ticketmaster is in the midst of a proposed merger with Live Nation. So Azoff didn't beat around the bush, saying: "We clearly missed the mark. Fans are confused and angry, which is the opposite of what we hoped to accomplish. We sincerely apologize to Bruce, his organization, and above all, his fans."
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Black roses! You just gotta love Irving.
Black roses!!
I agree with what he says, but will he DO SOMETHING about it in order to restore the fans' confidence?
'I must be leaving soon... its your world now'
Glenn Frey 1948-2016 RIP
I agree with what everyone has said here. I certainly don't want to see Irving held accountable for Ticket Masters' past transgressions that happened before his time. However, being that this is getting so much recent attention (which I am glad about), this is his chance to fix what is broken and do right by the fans. As Soda said, if he takes the opportunity to do that on his watch, then he will deserve much credit.
"People don't run out of dreams: People just run out of time ..."
Glenn Frey 11/06/1948 - 01/18/2016
Here is Shorty with Neil Portnow, CEO of the Recording Academy, at the MusicCares tribue to Neil Diamond:
I HOPE he's telling the truth too.......but when we were 2nd in line to get tickets for the Fargo date.....the tickets had only been on sale for less than 2 minutes and every single section 40 (the entire first section of 5 or 7 rows) was already GONE! It seems a little fishy to me.