[www.trashcity.org]

Wow ..... I'm impressed. There's folk out there that hate TM more than I !!

I wouldn't know how to speak about Ticketbastard
without several M-Fs in between real words.

Me neither.

This is unfortunately not the only case we've seen or will see when a company more or less controls a market completely, they start acting as - well you said it yourself Edith - as bastards.

Unfortunately a lot of Box offices charge the Ticketmaster markups because their system (box office) is using it. On the other hand, if I were able to save money by going to the Box office, lets say for a concert where all seats or at least good seats will be gone in minutes, the convenience of using my computer to get tickets is worth a reasonable service charge. I agree the markups these days seem more excessive than the past. I do know that the times we (my band) used Ticketmaster (actually, the venues we played at were contracted with TM), we received 100% of the face value of the ticket. I wonder in the "Old days" when they would add a dollar to a $12 ticket, if they took fees out of the face amount?

Anyway, until there is competition among ticket sellers (at least in the U.S.) there is not much we can do about it.....Unless you want to organize a boycott, which doesn't work about 95% (estimate) of the time.

Isn't Capitalism great?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-10-09 06:59 by BluzDude.

Here in L.A., I've been able to access tickets to shows that "sold out" quickly on Ticketmaster online just going to the box office where the show was going to take place.

And I paid no Ticketmaster service fees.

Radiohead, 2006, Greek Theatre. Minutes after tickets went on sale, people trying to access tickets on line were shut out, but a long line of fans waiting at the Greek box office were taken care of.

Stevie Wonder, 2007, Greek Theatre. I stood in line at the box office, was about 30 people back from the front. I was able to buy a front-row seat.

Rolling Stones, 2002, Wiltern Theatre. Admittedly, this experience was extraordinary, but I waited in line at the theater on the day of the show and eventually was able to buy a ticket at face value for $50 from the box office window.

Bob Dylan, 2002, Wiltern Theatre. Some computer glitch occurred the morning that tickets went on sale, but fans waiting in line at the box office went away satisfied.

Amazingly, Ticketmaster used to operate a location on Hollywood Boulevard where service fees for tickets were waived. I used to routinely buy tickets there from a Ticketmaster employee named Franz but Ticketmaster shut this service down years ago.

It's often possible to avoid dealing with Ticketmaster --not always, but often. Consumers should take advantage of these opportunuties whenever possible.

Must admit, I'm surprised Neil Young hasn't taken them on... always thought he was against corporate infulences on music, ever since he released This Song's For You. Will still walk over hot coals to try to get my mitts on a ticket, but disappointed he's not come out against them... guess I'm pretty naive about the music business.

Good point, especially as he's taken on clearchannel in the past.

If you have lots of hate then put it into some real work and it may be used to save the earth from global warming and war and all of that.

Bjornulf

use stubhub and you will never have to think about tickmaster again

Monkeylad Wrote:

> It's often possible to avoid dealing with
> Ticketmaster --not always, but often. Consumers
> should take advantage of these opportunuties
> whenever possible.

It's called a convenience charge for a reason! I also rarely use Ticketmaster but when I do, I have no problem paying the additional fee for the convenience it affords me to do so.

bv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you have lots of hate then put it into some
> real work and it may be used to save the earth
> from global warming and war and all of that.


And remember, only you can prevent wildfires.

rlngstns Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> use stubhub and you will never have to think about
> tickmaster again


Then people will start complaining about EBay instead of Ticketmaster.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-10-09 21:26 by WMiller.

least i can get through on stubhub...no complaints here

For my first ever rock concert in 1969 (to see The Moody Blues..ha!) I spent the night outside the theatre ticket office with several dozen others to be sure of a ticket.

For my first Stones concert I remember sending a cheque to Wembley Arena (the the Empire Pool) and waiting a few weeks before I knew whether I'd been successful or not.

These days thanks to improved technology we're able to secure (or not) tickets in a matter of seconds, and personally feel a reasonable service charge is worth paying to avoid sleeping on hard pavements and anxious waits for the postman.

rlngstns Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> least i can get through on stubhub...no complaints
> here


Rlngstns - I want to clarify that my use of "you" was not directed at you personally. I could have worded my comment better (and will attempt to do just that).

understood...i have had many bad experiences with ticktmaster over the years and gave up on them....wish pearl jam would have won the fight....no offence taken

Maybe thats the battle HArvey G should take on. Its increasingly difficult to buy direct from theatres.

bv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you have lots of hate then put it into some
> real work and it may be used to save the earth
> from global warming and war and all of that.


Can't I hate ticketmaster AND save the world from global warming as well?

I hate Ticketmaster for ALLOWING brokers to link onto their computers and buy blocks of tickets which end up on Ebay and STUBHUB and other pirates' sites! Something has got to be done to end this SCALPING! It is not right to even call them " brokers" because they are theives! CRIMINALS, who should be in jail!

even worse when the bands, their managers and promoters are in on this too...

Hate? TM, Clear Channel and the like are the spawn of the devil as far as rock 'n' roll is concerned.

How come these ticket agencies can get the best tickets and inflate the price ?

How many times have you logged on at the exact moment of sale (9am usually) and found that only rubbish seats are available ? Who controls these false sell outs,is it Ticketmaster or the promoter ?

EVERY concert I attended in 2006 ,I ended up selling,at a loss ,my TM purchased tickets and re-buying better ones from other sources nearer to the date.

Did better this year !

sc uk

Have not read the link supplied due to works policy, but my experience in trying to obtain tickets for friends etc is that i work just five minutes from one of the concert venues and having visited the venue found that the box ofice ws closed and only is only open on concert days etc.

went to the sister venue and discovered that they dont sell tickets for the other venue in which they used to do.Obviously it is all set up for these venues to obtain the ticket fees and using less personell.

For the second city in the UK i find the facillities disgusting.

straycatuk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How come these ticket agencies can get the best
> tickets and inflate the price ?
>
> How many times have you logged on at the exact
> moment of sale (9am usually) and found that only
> rubbish seats are available ? Who controls these
> false sell outs,is it Ticketmaster or the promoter
> ?
>
> EVERY concert I attended in 2006 ,I ended up
> selling,at a loss ,my TM purchased tickets and
> re-buying better ones from other sources nearer to
> the date.
>
> Did better this year !
>
> sc uk

<<< How many times have you logged on at the exact moment of sale (9am usually) and found that only rubbish seats are available ? >>>

Quite a few, now you mention it

<<< Who controls these false sell outs, is it Ticketmaster or the promoter >>>

Good question. Wish I knew for sure, but got my suspicions ... it's probably BOTH !

I'm sure there are a lot of back door deals. The situation is worse if it is at a venue that has regularly schuduled sports, theater or classical concerts because the season ticket holders are offered first crack at these seats and they turn around and sell them to brokers.

Also, I heard on the radio today that ticketmaster is suing some company for developing a software that can tie into the ticketmaster computer systems and get the best tickets...I don't have the details at this point.