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Ticketmaster scalps Radiohead tickets
For one of the first times since completing its acquisition of TicketsNow, Ticketmaster has begun scalping tickets by directing fans of a sold out show to its TicketsNow auctions. Fans of Radiohead, who were looking for tickets on Ticketmaster, are now being directed to TicketsNow, a move that some ticket brokers feared when the acquisition was approved by the federal government in February.
Radiohead purchased ads in print and on radio to promote the sales of their concert tickets on Ticketmaster, but after those tickets are sold out on Ticketmaster, customers using the Ticketmaster website see the screenshot below. The "Find Tickets" link then directs customers to TicketsNow, which is listed as Ticketmaster's "partner site." However, TicketsNow is a secondary ticket seller owned by Ticketmaster.
According to a source close to the situation who requested anonymity, a TicketsNow executive helped assist with the sale of more than $1 million worth of Radiohead tickets on the TicketsNow website, which at a margin of 25 percent allowed TicketsNow to generate a gross of more than $250,000 from the deal.
(The accompanying screenshot is from Ticketmaster on April 15, 2008. Tickets were not available for Radiohead's concert at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on May 9, 2008.)
The move marks the beginning of the new relationship between the two companies. In fact, when customers search for other sold-out events on Ticketmaster, they are usually not directed to TicketsNow. For example, when tickets to other popular shows, such as the hit musical “Wicked,” are sold out, customers are encouraged to use different search methods on Ticketmaster's website. Ticketmaster has redirected fans to TicketsNow for some sold out concert tours, such as the Jonas Brothers.
An attempt to reach a spokesperson from Ticketmaster was unsuccessful. Jennifer Swanson, spokesperson for TicketsNow, was in a meeting and said she would reply to questions later.
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I wil NEVER buy tickets to a gig that I cannot buy from a box office for face value.
Never
Wise up people let them stick thier tickets you know where. If they have to eat the tickets this kind of thing would not happen. How would you like to by a hundred tickets and not sell any. Don,t buy over priced tickets and the resellers will go out of bussiness. Do you have to see a band that bad that you will pay 1000% the price. Just a bunch of sheep...stand up for your rights for once.
welcome to the world of supply and demand
i think tickets should be sold the old fashion way. only sell the tickets at the venue. real fans would camp out over night and feel privileged to get a seat they've earned at a reasonable price. if anyone wants to scalp a ticket they would have to sleep in line like everyone else.
nathan
We are charged rediculous fees because "it is an industry standard" is what I read in an article lately. Only site I know that does not kill the buyer with fees is a Ticket Bag.
After spending the better part of the day (4/12/08) on Ticketmasters site, trying to purchase tickets to the Toronto, CA show, I finally gave up. I have checked back daily, only to see the same results when searching for tickets, which is no tickets available. This article explains exactly what I saw, not after the show sold out (which it isn't) but the first time I attempted to buy tickets, 10 seconds after they went onsale. This is WRONG!!!
Yup, same thing happened to me. I woke up extra early so I could get on Ticketmaster's site to get good tickets. The tickets supposedly went on sale at 10am for the Toronto show. I checked at 10:30 and Ticketmaster told me that the show was sold out and that I could check Ticketsnow for tickets. And how irritated was I when I saw that lawn tickets that were priced at $35.50 were on sale on Ticketsnow for $150 a piece or even more. I found a 200 section ticket on sale for $500 a piece. I dont have the extra cash to afford that and I know a lot of people that are in the same boat that I'm in.
Its such bull in my opinion that Ticketmaster did this. Its bad enough that we all knew the tickets were going to go fast, cause its Radiohead. But for all the tickets to go to all these scalping sites for 4 times the face value and even more, and to then find out that Ticketmaster was behind it all, just pisses me off. Just another big company trying to make money at the expense of a great band.
The same thing happened to me just as you said and it makes perfect sence now. I ended up having to but tickets from a guy in New Port Beach on eBay for $110 over the price of the ticket.
Would you expect anything less? This is the company that charges $2.50 as a "convenience fee" to print your tickets after ordering online. So by saving their paper, ink and postage, they thank you with a fee.
ticketmaster was a racket to begin with, and somehow managed to turn a 25 dollar ticket price into a 45 computer print-out. never did understand this. it doesn't seem unethical to me that a website might redirect you to another one of their sites that can better serve your needs...
Isn't this the same thing that stubhub does?
It seems the more the artists fight the music industry,
the more damage the music industry does as a whole.
Chip
Starbucks scalps coffee, Safeway scalps groceries, Ebay and SH scalp tickets just like TN & EI do. Isn't this kinda the pot calling the kettle black?
Thank you. Everyone scalps.
Every retailer RESELLS something. You just don't realize that you are paying more than "face-value" for items from stores such as Wal-Mart. This is because Wal-Mart does not tell say "We paid $20 for this, but we're charing you $50." Ticket resellers do because the value of the ticket is printed on the ticket.
This is how our world operates. Get over it.
"This is how the world operates so get over it"?? A ticket monopoly is created by the music industry leaving zero competition. That monopoly then takes tickets that have been designated by artists to be sold for a set amount and resells them at 50% to 100%more than the original price!! And this is like Walmart and Starbucks? As much as I dislike both these corporations the comparison is idiotic. Neither of these companies has a complete monopoly on the products they sell. Ticketmaster scalping its tickets is more like a world where Walmart is the only outlet for TVs and cloths and then takes these items off the shelf and sells them at double the price out the back door.
So "just get over it"? Apparently this apathetic moron probably heard that so many times from all the powerful people and corporations that he let f-ck him up the behind that he now just accepts his fate. Not me. Boycott the f-ckers, sneak into concerts, download like crazy and help bring this corrupt music industry to its knees.
what is "TN' and "EI"
TN = TicketNetwork
EI = Event Inventory
hell I missed out on getting Vancouver tickets on ticketmaster. The cheapest was still a $40 mark up on the $55 tickets and it said I could only order them on express shipping at 40 bucks. I ended up buying them on ebay at about the same price with a cheaper shipping fee. So hell, all those ticketmaster fees don't look so bad.