Ticketmaster is finding itself embroiled in controversy North of the Border.
The world’s dominant ticketing company is reportedly being criticized by some Canadian officials and concert fans as the country looks toward cracking down on ticket scalping. The critics are focusing primarily on upcoming Elton John shows in the country.
At issue are tickets that fans were allegedly finding on TicketsNow at a premium when they had initially gone to Ticketmaster looking for tickets. Ticketmaster was criticized earlier in the year for a similar situation with Radiohead tickets where fans were directed to the TicketsNow website from the Ticketmaster website when the show sold out.
“I find it troubling that Ticketmaster owns their own subsidiary that’s doing it,” Saskatchewan Justice Minister Don Morgan told the Regina Leader-Post newspaper. His office is beginning to look into altering ticket reselling legislation, which currently prohibits resale, to better protect fans. The legislation is rarely, if ever enforced. “You can’t help but wonder, did they get access to that, did they have a preferential way of acquiring those tickets?”
He added, “What we’re troubled by is what appears to be preferential treatment to bulk ticket resellers that appear to have some kind of access that the rest of the public doesn’t have.”
The criticism prompted Ticketmaster to respond by vowing to step up lobbying efforts to have ticket resale laws clarified in the country. “You can’t regulate away the laws of supply and demand and, unfortunately for a lot of shows, particularly now in the internet era, demand just far, far exceeds supply,” Ticketmaster Senor Vice President of Corporate Communications Joe Freeman told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
TicketNews’s attempts to reach Freeman and Ticketmaster spokesperson Albert Lopez were unsuccessful.
During a meeting with ticket brokers in Las Vegas in May, Ticketmaster and TicketsNow officials essentially said the practice would continue but they blamed representatives of the artists for placing tickets on TicketsNow that fans could not gain through Ticketmaster.
As a result, Ticketmaster has been asked to remove the TicketsNow links from some of its sites in Canada. Kevin Donnelly, manager of the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, reportedly made the request, but he could not be reached for comment.
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Today Ticketmaster started selling Bryan Adams tickets over the telephone 40 minutes before they had advertised they were going on sale. I attempted to buy Front of the Line tickets yesterday but was told that the better seats were going on sale today at 11:00 a.m. (not 10am) I calrified the time with her. I even went on the website after I put the phone down and sure enough it said 11am. So this morning I checked the website again around 9:30 – still said 11am. Around a few minutes to 11 I telephoned ticketmaster and attempted to get tickets( I figured I’d be on hold for about three minutes and by then it would be 11am) and I was told there were none left. I waited for a live sales person and she told me they were sold out. At this time the computer was still listing the sales time as 11:00 a.m. After about 20 minutes the time on the computer for ticket sales temporarily read 10:20. the next time I checked it all mention of a start time had disappeared. I spoke to several representatives at Ticketmaster and they said they had the right to change times when they wanted. Then they told me they were instructed to sell them early by the organizers. When I phoned and spoke with the tour organizers they said they had nothing to do with the times the tickets go on sale – they just give them to Ticketmaster to sell. I then went on the website this evening and even though these tickets were originally all one price – $95.00 – Tickets Now (a division of ticketmaster) are selling them for $300 – $450 each! How can the government let this happen? Also, I checked on E-Bay and they are permitting sales of tickets for extremely inflated prices, even though they earlier put out a statement saying this would not be allowed in Ontario since it was one of the three provinces that had regulation in force.
P.
What are you p***?! at, with 2 shows tickets have never been so cheap. Who gets scalped when you can buy 2 tickets within the first 15 rows on the floor below face value. Had the brokers and resellers not bought these seats, it is guaranteed you would be paying more for the same tickets through the box office.
Maybe you should learn some facts before spewing garbage.
Once again, people are confusing their sense of entitlement with the workings of the free market. I’ll make it clear for those people…no one is entitled to tickets to your favorite concert and/or sporting event. If you live in Saskatchewan, for example, you do not have some God-given right to go see Elton John. When the show sells out, no one is obligated to ensure you get a ticket at face value. And, most importantly, when you start searching on the secondary market, remember that you have a choice. You do not have to pay the prices if you don’t want to. Remember, you are NOT entitled to the tickets. They are NOT essential for your survival. So if the tickets are more than you are willing to spend, then don’t spend it! And if you want to go to your lawmakers and whine about price guaging, how about getting them to look into the price of GAS up there, as that is something you actually DO need to spend your money on.
I am so p_ _ _ _ _ off I can hardly write a blog about the above… Really something must be done to protect the public who wish to spend their money wisely not get scalped.
I have attended many concerts and never in a life would think of paying such high prices
as is being seen all over the web…..Not right at all. wow
Oh, by the way, the reason that Saskatoon Elton John’s ticket has skyrocketing prices is because people in Saskatoon got rich in the past couple of years selling Oil Sands to the world !!! What goes around comes around.
I’m also pissed off about the unbelievable high gas prices, prices of bread, plane tickets, and rent in recent months as well.
I have been driving, eating, and sleeping under a roof all my life, and never imagine paying such high prices for everything lately. Something must be done so that we don’t get scalped by other big corporations either.
I’ve said it once before as well so +1 on the comment above. Free market is about supply and demand. No one points a gun to your head and tells you to pay more than you’d want. The choice is yours.
have you looked at the resale price? the expensive seats in moncton were $163 an are being illegally resold on websites for $600 and up. so maybe you should learn some facts.
the point is, the unauthorized resale of a product is illegal and it is just being overlooked in these situations.
how about new law so you have to show origional proof of purchase from an authorized seller when you present your ticket at the venue.
Please check your facts. You say “the point is, the unauthorized resale of a product is illegal and it is just being overlooked in these situations.” Ticket resale laws are state-specific. There are 6 states that have have anti-scalping laws. Some of these states are on their way to becoming a free market. All other states have a free market or minor restrictions.
Why is it that Ticketmaster can sell their tickets on Auction, this is a conflict of interest. The Goverment should stop this and take away there auction licence. They are no differant from Scalpers.
ONCE AGAIN…..IT IS LEGAL FOR US TO RESELL TICKETS IN SASKATCHEWAN…….NOBODY COMPLAINS ABOUT 5 DOLLAR BEERS….YES IN SASKATCHEWAN!!!! WHY IS ELTON SO SPECIAL??? HERE IS THE DEAL….IF YOU WANT TICKETS PAY US……DO YOU GO TO THE GAS STATION AND DICKER???
HOW ABOUT WE TAKE YOUR JOB AWAY……YOU DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT…..LOL
I AGREE . I QUALIFY FOR AMEX PRE-SALE TICKETS AND THE GOOD SEATS ARE ALREADY GONE. TOTALLY UNFAIR.