TicketsNow, which was recently called out by the National Association of Ticket Brokers (NATB) to explain its business relationship with new owner Ticketmaster, removed then later re-added the NATB logo to the front page of its website.
The moves played out over the past couple of days, and followed news of the strongly worded letter that the NATB sent to TicketsNow and Ticketmaster that voiced concerns from some NATB members over the way the two companies appeared to be handling secondary ticket sales. The letter, which can be read in its entirety here, asked the two companies to answer 10 questions on a myriad of topics including their stands on pending ticket legislation; why tickets to some shows seemed to appear on TicketsNow that were not initially available to the public; and for the two to describe how they would protect the confidentiality of brokers and their inventory.
Ticketmaster completed its $265 million acquisition of TicketsNow in late February, despite complaints logged by some brokers to the U.S. Department of Justice that the deal should not receive federal approval on anti-trust grounds.
Attempts to reach spokespeople for Ticketmaster and TicketsNow were unsuccessful. NATB President Tom Patania and legal counsel Gary Adler also did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Whatever the intentions were behind the removal and re-adding of the NATB logo are unclear, but the episode could point to a developing rift between the trade organization and the two companies, and comes just two months after the NATB announced that Ticketmaster President and CEO Sean Moriarty is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the NATB’s annual conference in July.
