As the proposed merger between Ticketmaster Entertainment and Live Nation supposedly inches closer, a group of state attorneys general, led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, is considering launching an investigation into the matter.
In a statement released yesterday, February 5, Blumenthal first said he was investigating Ticketmaster for its handling of recent ticket onsales for Bruce Springsteen’s upcoming tour.
Fans who logged into Ticketmaster’s Web site earlier this week to buy Springsteen tickets found out the show had quickly sold out, but they were then rerouted to the company’s secondary ticket seller TicketsNow where tickets are priced considerably higher. The incident so upset Springsteen and others that he fired off an angry missive on his Web site demanding Ticketmaster stop doing that, which was then met by an unprecedented apology from Ticketmaster Entertainment CEO Irving Azoff.
“Glory days for Ticketmaster — and its reported stranglehold on tickets — cannot be used to manipulate the market and cut out consumers,” said Blumenthal in a statement. “I am deeply disturbed that Ticketmaster may be exploiting its market dominance — funneling consumers to its subsidiary in order to inflate profits.
“My office is investigating complaints from rejected consumers who believe Ticketmaster gave them the illegal run around when they wanted to see Bruce sing ‘Born to Run,'”he added.
Neither Ticketmaster nor Live Nation are commenting publicly about the possible merger, but it could reportedly happen as early as next week.
Live Nation spent more than a year divesting itself from Ticketmaster – Live Nation was Ticketmaster’s biggest client – in order to create its own ticketing operation, so the proposed deal would appear to come at a curious time. However, Live Nation stumbled out of the gate last month, suffering computer glitches with onsales for Phish tickets.
Some have speculated in Pollstar and other publications that the proposed merger was partially for Live Nation to beat AEG Live, which was also reportedly in merger talks with Ticketmaster.
“This Springsteen sale raises disturbing questions about Ticketmaster’s relationship with TicketsNow — and whether tickets that should have been available were improperly diverted,” Blumenthal said.
“This experience heightens my concerns about antitrust and consumer protections raised by Ticketmaster’s possible merger with Live Nation. I will be discussing with other attorneys general possible investigation of such a merger,” he added.
Elaborating about the proposed merger, Blumenthal told the Bloomberg news service that the two companies may need to determine whether the deal could withstand scrutiny.
“There are various issues that have to be assessed. The size of the resulting entity and its potential market dominance could be anti-competitive so far as it creates an entity that has excessive market share,” Blumenthal told Bloomberg.
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Those are called affiliates
Affiliates? No they are called “desgiused affilaites” that are actually owned by TicketsNow. I guess the AGs / FTC will be the judge of that. It’s a shame (and greedy) that TicketsNow needs to deceive the public with off domain names to monopolize the market. There monopoly will come to an end sooner rather than later. Btw, the public will also make a choice (bad press does sink ships).
This is hardly a smoking gun. This is a common practice in almost every e-commerce business. TicketNetwork has 2000 sites, most affiliates, some owned by them. Stubhub has affiliates. Razorgator has affiliates and feeder sites. And Ticketsnow has affiliates too. But if you know the industry you already know this…and if you didn’t know before you read this….now you know.
The FTC already made judgment on Ticketmaster/TicketsNow. It ruled in favor of it. As for the “disguised affiliates,” there is nothing wrong with other than people boo-hooing at how big TicketsNow is. Ticket Network has the exact same kind of operation as TicketsNow, minus the ability to direct traffic from Ticketmaster. No one is complaining that Ticket Network has just as many ‘disguised affiliates’ as TicketsNow, are they? As for the public, it’s wishful thinking of you think bad press could sink Ticketmaster. They have agreements with hundreds, if not thousands, of venues and artists and teams across the country and will continue to control ticketing through those agreements, even if they are forced to give up TicketsNow.
Yes, it is true promoters are directly putting tickets on TIcketNow. Keith Uban’s people in some market I know of are taking 150 of the best seats and putting them o Tickets Now prior to the on-sale
The governement did not know that Ticketmaster would route orders to TicketsNow as they did with the Bruce Springsteen concert, which is why their merger will fall through with LiveNation. If it’s approved, I bet TicketsNow will need to be sold. Anyway, TicketsNow is starting to be a damaged brand / name because of these tatics. I bet their sales are starting to dip after the recent negative press (which they deserve). Their are several reports of infighting going on with their employess, which is why their senior management is either quitting or getting fired; and their top affiliates keep leaving. Why are their affilaits leaving them is the question??
this holding back of tickets has been going on with all big shows for a long time. just go to ticketmasters “ticket exchange” site and check whats available for the dead at MSG on april 12th. i tried to post seats in the 400 level and was not allowed. i called ticket exchange and was told only certain tickets can be posted. so they are not only allowing certain shows, but particular tickets to those shows
more importantly the tickets for this show at MSG i was told were put on the exchange by the promoter!!! this is what the TM rep told me!!! i find this hard to believe. the very best seats in the venue are listed for this show on ticket exchange. they clearly were grabbed up by ticketmaster and posted there for a hefty profit.
im glad all the middle age springsteen crybabies got screwed. these are just the folks that will put a end to ticketmasters nonsense for the rest of us powerless folks
ticketsnow.com use to be a ticketbroker
from the woodstock/crystal lake area.
they became super huge through advertising
(pizza boxes, cta buses & trains, cabs, etc..)
TM said in so many words…why should we fight each other?
why not become one? it’s a win/win situation!!
other brokers were approached by TM, but they told them to get bent.
it’s time to diffuse this atomic bomb, and dispose of it properly.
Was there offer 265,000,000? I dont think so
Ticketmaster, TicketsNow and Event Inventory needs to be split up, too. I suggest we all write / call the AGs and explain that they are already a monopoly. Also, TicketsNow has hidden domains that they advertise on the search engines such as ValuePriceTickets.com, SportsTickets.com & FrontRowTickets.com. Let the AGs know it is time to act and act now.
Not sure what everyone else sees, and assume the ads rotate … but, it was ironic that when I read through this story the two google ads that came up in the text of the story were for “TicketsNow – Offical Site” and “Ticketmaster”. This is going to be a monopoly situation all over again. Fans and brokers get screwed; TM/LN make all the money and control the inventory.