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 By Alfred Branch Jr.
Nick Bucci, the President of TicketsNow's EventInventory division which
deals directly with brokers, has left the company, though his departure
has not been formally announced.
Bucci's name and biography were still on the TicketsNow website as of
today, but his absence this week at the Ticketmaster/TicketsNow
broker meeting was felt. His last day was this past Friday, May 9, and
his future endeavors are unknown. He did not return a message seeking
comment. Read
More
 By Tim Fraser
As Ticketmaster fights to end the use of software that
allows ticket brokers to purchase blocks of tickets from their site, such
as ones developed by RMG
Technologies, a recent feature by the ESPN program "E:60" revealed that the
ticketing giant has profited from the use of the same technology.
Ticketmaster's highly
publicized purchase of TicketsNow has led many to question whether there is a
conflict of interest involved in the deal. Ticketmaster stands to profit
from both the primary sale of the ticket and its resale on its secondary
site. Read
More
 By
Jane Cohen & Bob Grossweiner
Country singer John
Michael Montgomery has voluntarily checked himself into a
rehabilitation treatment center at an undisclosed location for substance
abuse due to severe anxiety attacks and sleep disorder. He has canceled
all concert dates and personal appearances for the next 30 days. His tour
will pick up on June 14 in Auburn Hills, MI.
"I will be disappearing for a while to try and defeat the demons that
have stripped me of my energy of life and good health for so many years
now," Montgomery says in a May 9 post on his website. "I assure you that however long it may take, I'm
gonna fight to the end and come out stronger." Read
More
 By Bob Grossweiner & Jane Cohen
Reba
McEntire and Kelly Clarkson will reprise their
successful 2 Worlds 2 Voices tour this fall with concerts in Canada and
the U.S.
The unique tour, combining both superstar bands and both acts on one
stage for a combined non-stop set, sold
out 15 markets from mid-January to mid-February. They have now booked
24 additional shows beginning September 25 in Winnipeg, MB and ending
November 22 in Baltimore, MD. Read
More
 By Alfred Branch Jr.
Emphasizing that they are committed to helping brokers sell more
tickets, the CEOs of Ticketmaster and TicketsNow Tuesday said that the future of
their business will rest on the growing strength of their relationship
with brokers.
The two CEOs, Sean Moriarty of Ticketmaster and Cheryl Rosner of
TicketsNow, however, could not offer any guarantees that tickets would not
continue to appear on the secondary TicketsNow website before they were
offered to the public, an issue that some brokers believe undermines their
relationship with the two companies.
Read
More
 By Jane Cohen & Bob Grossweiner
To meet overwhelming demand for tickets to Tina Turner's 2008 North American Tour, announced
just last week, new concerts have been added in Hartford, CT and
Minneapolis, MN; second shows were immediately added in Kansas City, MO;
Boston, MA; and Toronto, ON; and a third concert has been added in
Chicago, IL. Tickets for the first Kansas City show went clean in two
minutes.
Tickets go on sale Monday, May 19 for additional shows in Kansas City,
MO at Sprint Center (Oct. 8); Minneapolis, MN at Target Center (Oct. 9);
and Hartford, CT at XL Center (Dec. 6). Read
More
 By Alfred Branch Jr.
With questions swirling around concerning the landscape of the
secondary ticket market under the umbrella of Ticketmaster and its new division TicketsNow, more than 100 brokers met with
representatives of the two companies today, May 13, at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas to clear the air.
Just after noon Pacific Standard time brokers mingled in the lobby
outside of the hotel's ballroom where the event was taking place.
Following lunch, TicketsNow President and CEO Cheryl Rosner and
Ticketmaster President and CEO Sean Moriarty were scheduled to address the
crowd, but Moriarty had not yet arrived and only Rosner was spotted
conversing with brokers. TicketNews made a request to attend the event but
was denied because it was closed to EventInventory (EI) members only. EI
is TicketsNow's broker software and ticket inventory division.
Read
More
 By Jean Henegan
A new piece of New Jersey legislation seeks to limit the selling power
of ticket brokers throughout the state. Under the constraints of the
proposed legislation, internet ticket resale sites would be allowed more
freedoms when it comes to reselling tickets than their human
counterparts.
While the bill would not outlaw or make it illegal for brokers to
resell tickets to various entertainment events, it would place brokers at
a disadvantage when it comes to setting the price for reselling tickets.
Under the proposed bill, no ticket broker would be able to resell tickets
at more than 50 percent above acquisition. However, a provision within the
bill makes this stipulation moot should a non-ticket broker attempt to
resell a ticket on the internet. Read
More
 By Carol-Ann Rudy
Along with the storms that moved up the Appalachians to the east coast
came a dampening of the climate on Broadway. The box office this past week
was $18,736,548, compared to $19,146,988 in the previous reporting period,
and both weeks were poorer than the same week a year ago at $20,063,202.
However, both Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the American Airlines
Theatre and Boeing-Boeing at the Longacre were up 15 percent in
capacity. The biggest drop in attendance was Spamalot, by 16 percent, followed by Avenue Q, down almost 11 percent.
Last week was also the week of the 58th annual Outer Critics Circle
Awards, which were announced by stage and screen star Sandy Duncan and
Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba. South Pacific earned the most awards of the evening,
with four wins for Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Director
of a Musical, Outstanding Actor in a Musical, and Outstanding Featured
Actor in a Musical. Read
More
 By Alfred Branch Jr.
In what could be considered a boon for both companies, and further
indication of the validity and growing influence of the secondary ticket
market, StubHub and viagogo will be the official secondary
ticketing companies for Madonna's
upcoming Sticky & Sweet world tour.
The tour, which is in support of Madonna's new hit album "Hard Candy,"
will likely be one of the top concert draws of the year, and in fact the
tour is already the 10th most popular overall ticket event, according to
TicketNews's
exclusive weekly ranking. StubHub is the official "fan-to-fan" ticket
exchange, while UK-based viagogo is the official premium seat and
secondary ticketer for the British and European markets, except in Germany
and Italy. The tour is the first one under the singer's landmark
10-year, $120 million deal with Live Nation. Read
More
 By Jane Cohen & Bob Grossweiner
As the Democratic Party grows ever closer to officially selecting Barack Obama as its presidential candidate, the Illinois
Senator continues to look ahead to the general election in November.
To that end, rock musician and political activist Melissa
Etheridge, Usher and Dave
Matthews are three of 14 celebrities, politicians and community
leaders co-chairing Obama's national Vote for Change effort. The six-month
voter registration drive, which launched May 8, is considered the
blueprint for Obama's general election get-out-the-vote efforts. Read
More
|
Top Events
Week Ending 05/11/2008
|
|
Event |
Score |
|
1 |
|
8.23 |
|
2 |
|
5.03 |
|
3 |
|
4.99 |
|
4 |
|
2.85 |
|
5 |
|
2.40 |
|
6 |
|
1.85 |
|
7 |
|
1.60 |
|
8 |
|
1.29 |
|
9 |
|
1.24 |
|
10 |
|
1.15 |
|
11 |
|
1.14 |
|
12 |
|
1.08 |
|
13 |
|
1.02 |
|
14 |
|
1.00 |
|
15 |
|
0.95 |
|
16 |
|
0.93 |
|
17 |
|
0.80 |
|
18 |
|
0.80 |
|
19 |
|
0.78 |
|
20 |
|
0.77 |
Top Sellers
Week Ending 05/11/2008
|
|
Ticket Seller |
Score |
|
|
1 |
|
48.69 |
|
2 |
|
7.31 |
|
3 |
|
7.01 |
|
4 |
|
6.20 |
|
5 |
|
4.91 |
|
6 |
|
2.23 |
|
7 |
|
1.77 |
|
8 |
|
1.33 |
|
9 |
|
1.32 |
|
10 |
|
1.22 |
|
11 |
|
1.08 |
|
12 |
|
1.05 |
|
13 |
|
1.01 |
|
14 |
|
0.86 |
|
15 |
|
0.68 |
|
16 |
|
0.67 |
|
17 |
|
0.61 |
|
18 |
|
0.59 |
|
19 |
|
0.51 |
|
20 |
|
0.50 |
|
