MUSIC NEWS - NJ congressman, Rep Bill Pascrell (D-8th Dist) has asked the federal government to investigate claims that tickets to two NJ Bruce Springsteen concerts were diverted to a ticket reseller right after they went on sale this past Monday morning. He said his constituents complained that Ticketmaster, the main ticket seller for the concerts, claimed that tickets were sold out and directed customers to its subsidiary, TicketsNow, a secondary marketplace where tickets were being offered for resale at three and four times the listed price. Yesterday, Rep Pascrell wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and the antitrust division of the Justice Department asking them to "investigate the relationship between Ticketmaster and TicketsNow to ensure that the procedure for purchasing tickets remains fair to the average consumer."
"There is a significant potential for abuse when one company is able to monopolize the primary market for a product and also directly manipulate and profit from the secondary market," he wrote. "The speed with which tickets were made available on Ticketmaster's official resale site raises questions about whether TicketsNow brokers were given preferential treatment."
About 30,000 tickets to the two E Rutherford, NJ Izod Center shows were sold in a little over an hour Monday morning. Many fans said they encountered error messages on the Ticketmaster website that stopped them from purchasing tickets before they were sold out. Others were furious that within minutes of the sale, hundreds of tickets were being offered for sale at TicketsNow.
"This burns me up. It's reprehensible," Pascrell said. "There has to be a deal cooking between the two companies, Ticketmaster and TicketsNow. One has no tickets and the other is selling them at three and four times the (original) price."
Springsteen & the E Street Band, who performed during Sunday's Super Bowl, recently announced a tour starting in April to promote his new album, " Working on a Dream."
Bruce Springsteen and his manager have issued the following letter in response to Monday's ticketing problems-
A Letter to Our Fans:
We know there was much confusion regarding Ticketmaster and TicketsNow during last Monday's on-sale dates. We were as confused as you were, as we were given no advance notice of the major changes in the Ticketmaster-TicketsNow world. (Bear in mind that we are not clients of any ticketing company, and that all those arrangements are between venues and ticketing companies.)
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 perceive this as a pure conflict of interest. Ticketmaster is there to ensure that we have a good, fair sale of our tickets at their face value plus normal ticketing charges. TicketsNow is supposed to be a secondary site where people who already have tickets may exchange, trade, and, unfortunately, speculate with them. 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.
We know the many cynical arguments some make in favor of the Ticketmaster system: There are rumors that some artists or managers participate in Ticketmaster charges--we do not. There are rumors that some artists or managers are receiving a percentage of the amount above face value at secondary outlets like TicketsNow--we do not. Some artists or managers may not perceive there to be a conflict between having the distributor of their tickets in effect "scalping" those same tickets through a secondary company like TicketsNow--we do.
While many of you have sent notes to us and your local promoters, you may also send accurate informational letters to Albert Lopez of Ticketmaster and he will try to address your questions.
A final point for now: the one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near monopoly situation in music ticketing. Several newspapers are reporting on this story right now. If you, like us, oppose that idea, you should make it known to your representatives.
The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you. We will continue to do our utmost now and in the future to make sure that these practices are permanently curtailed on our tours.
Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau and the entire Springsteen Tour Team
Springsteen Tickets - Verizon Center, Washington DC
Both my husband I ordered tickets from “Ticketmaster” within seconds of them going on sale on 2/2/09 and we were both AUTOMATICALLY redirected to "Tickets Now". The tickets were nearly 3x's the cost of the advertised price, but we both purchased 2 each anyway. After our individual transactions were completed, we received confirmation emails from TicketsNow confirming the sale & this month's credit card statements contain the charges.
Today (3/6/09), we received individual phone calls from TicketsNow saying "they oversold the venue and the tickets were no longer available and they were going to immediately refund all charges".
I AM HEARTBROKEN AND ANGRY. HOW could this happen
THIS IS FRAUD.
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MNN replies- contact your congress person and senator and the venue... good luck.
Posted by: Andrea F. | Mar 06, 2009 at 02:07 PM
Andrea -- I'm a reporter with WJLA-TV. Please call. (571) 839-4989. I'm trying to report this story today, 5/13. Thanks! (571) 839-4989
Posted by: WJLA-TV | May 13, 2009 at 11:25 AM