Comments on: To legislators, on the TM/Live Nation merger

By: debcha

debcha — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:58:13 +0000

I’m a little more optimistic, actually, not least because it seems like the perfect case for the Obama administration’s new Assistant Attorney General for antitrust, Christine Varney (who has yet to be confirmed), to start off her term by sending a strong message of federal oversight. Since two decades of the kind of behaviour you describe has left Ticketmaster universally reviled, it’s hard to imagine anyone mounting a strong defense of the merger.

By: drvorhees

drvorhees — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:29:33 +0000

This exact same thing happened in 1991-92 when ticketmaster – at the time a young upstart company – bought out ticketron. Ticket fees went almost immediately from $2-3 a ticket to $7-9 a ticket in NYC and LA.

This is what Pearl Jam fought when they tried to tour on their third record and were highly mocked in the press.

I also recall the president of ticketmaster, in responding to a criticism of their service charges and being a monopoly by The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir (the highest grossing active touring at the time), with something to the effect of “we’re glad that bob weir is expressing his opinions on how we should conduct business. we plan to submit some setlist suggestions to the grateful dead.”

or something to that effect.

the hubris was amazing, yet clearly they got what they wanted.

Though I hope it will be different this time, I doubt it.

By: debcha

debcha — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:07:15 +0000

Brown Paper Tickets rule (I love the way they give you both the face value and the total cost, even before you choose the number of seats).

I showed this post to my brother, and he pointed out that, despite valiantly trying to gouge the consumer, both companies are doing really badly – go to Google and type in TKTM or LYV. Ticketmaster, in particular, has lost 80% of its value in the last year. So it’s not like it’s even a successful strategy.

By: Justin Snow

Justin Snow — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:54:24 +0000

Terrifying. Something must be done!

By: Aaroncharmanders

Aaroncharmanders — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:43:51 +0000

Ticketmaster is the biggest scam going right now. They gouge with service fees and then they scalp their own tickets. They're horrendous. Live Nation is equally horrendous. Together they're devastatingly horrendous. Viva la Brown Paper Tickets!