Ticketmaster charges: A concert killer
Do you think Ticketmaster’s fees are too high? Do you think the fees are reasonable? Should the government pass legislation capping the fees? Post your thoughts here.
This question has probably been asked and answered, but thought I’d check anyway…Anyone know if Ticketmaster are in breach of anti-competative EU competition laws? (coming from an EU perspective obv). I was thinking mainly about Article 81, unfair restriction on trade and Article 82, abuse of a dominant market position.
Ticketmaster prices are a bad joke. putting the price out of the reach of most ticket buyers. They can go to hell…
We purchased two tickets for Usher at the Fillmore in Detroit for $85 each. A week later ticketmaster emailed us to inform us that the promoter and artist felt that was to much to pay in the current economic climate so they have cut the prices to $49.50 and have already credited my charge card.
Latest Ticketmaster ripoff!!! Paperless tickets. A friend of mine got myself and another friend tickets to AC DC in Vancouver, B.C. He was not given an option of delivery, and was told after they were purchased that they were now Paperless tickets. We had learned later that he has to be present with his visa and Id in hand before the tickets were to be released at the venue. Problem is that we live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and he is not going to the concert. We have called and emailed customer service and they refuse to help us. They will not refund the money, or let us resell the tickets. We thought that we could rebuy them in our name. We asked if he could go to our local Ticketmaster to verify with his credit card & ID. Nothing! We are left with 2 AC DC tickets that we can’t use, and stuck with Airfare to the tune of $1600.
Needless to say, they have lost a good customer.
A monopoly can’t ever survie for long in a free market. In fact, the only true monopolies are government monopolies! If there is a seemingly monopoly in the private sector, look for a governmnet regulation, or some law that is actually protecting the company from competion. So everyone here should be careful about what they wish for before involving government.
Just recently saw Springsteen. With Ticketmaster’s fees, it was outrageous. I wanted to send an email to his website, telling him what a phony his “working man” image is but they won’t even allow that.
Attend local music shows, the performers will actually talk to you during breaks and sign autographs. They appreciate the fans. Not these overrated, money grubbing, so called “rock stars”
Almost $20 in convenience fees? Are you freaking kidding me? This is insane. What is wrong with Ticketmaster?
I tried to buy a $31.50 ticket only to be slammed with $20 in convenience charges! That is ridiculous.
Ticketmaster is a monopoly that has been ripping off people around the world for years.
I’m a free-market capitalist, but these guys are out of control. They have a monopoly of the sort that Microsoft, Walmart, and “big oil” can only dream about.
If the government goes after any company, it should be the evil jerks at Ticketmaster.
There should be something done about Ticketmaster and its fees. I know some of you criticize us (ticketmaster ticket buyers) and call us crybabies, whiners, etc, that’s fine and that’s your point of view. But I don’t think it’s fair at all!! that Ticketbastard charges some crazy inflated fees in order to go see your favorite artist/team, what have you. I’m paying two tickets at $60 each but the fees are just ridiculous. Supposedly the total should be around $130 ($140 tops) but amazingly it goes all the way to $160 and more because of the convenience charge, delivery price, processing fee, taxes, facility charge. Amazing 
i just got judas preist tickets. could not afford the 125$ tix, paid 75$ + 20$ each for the ticketmaster service fee. could some one please tell me why a 41 cent stamp, a couple cent envolope cost 20$?
there is nothing convenient about this charge.
i used to go to at least 4 or 5 shows a summer, now i am only going to 2 cause each show cost allmost 100$
and next year probobly will not go to any cause the prices are out of control.
thats why the concert industry is failing. and it seems the ticketmaster charge keeps going up too.
20$ for what? are they connected to the oil companies, gouging people till they are broke?
Something should be done about Ticketmasters for sure. After trying in vain for 2 months to get tickets for Hannah Montana in FtWorth for my granddaughter, My daughter while in Arizona was able to purchase some at the last minute online thru Ticketmaster, only to find out after completing the non refundable tickets that she herself was the only one allowed to pick them up at the box office.Even thou their site states to edit your order contact them immediatly, upon contacting them they pointed the finger at AEG, the promoter, stating it was AEG that would not allow anyone except the purchaser to pick up the tickets. AEG will not respond to our emails. Ticketmaster in essence said oh well to bad if the purchaser cant get to Ft Worth from Arizona in the next 4 hours, she;s just out 160.00. What kind of scam is this. By the way, the cost of the tickets is well over the original face value and then this on top of it.
We had four shows at Red Rocks by the Dave Matthews Bands a couple years ago. The forth show was a benefit for the victums of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The city of Denver waived all fees at Red Rocks, concessionaires waived their fees, the band donated their entire fee to Katrina, and all maintenance of the facility was waived for the show. The only entity that did not waive their fee was Ticketmaster!
This is the greatest abomination of justice I have ever heard. Whatever can be done to stop this business from existing should be executed. We all need to stand up and make this an issue for the upcoming elections.
As if the “convenience” charge wasn’t bad enough, this fee is tied to the cost of the ticket. As the price of the ticket goes up, so does the TM charge. Apparently it costs more for them to ship and handle and expensive ticket! I used to go to several concerts a year, but I rarely do these days.
Refunds and even credits were belligerently refused by TM for a cancelled CSN concert on 9/11. They even had the audacity to charge for the rescheduled show. Barry Diller’s continued behavior is unacceptable.
I’m more interested in how tickets can be found on Stub Hub BEFORE they have been offered for sale on Ticketmaster? I recently wanted tickets to Van Halen. There was no presale offered, yet the night before the tickets were available, I decided to search Stub Hub for other dates. I saw the date that I wanted was listed, so I clicked on it not expecting to really find anything for sale already. I was amazed at how many seats were already being offered for sale, from good seats all the way back to the nosebleeds I ended up buying from Ticketmaster for $100 each. That was not the first time I had seen something like that; U2 tickets that I couldn’t get even though I was on the Ticketmaster site clicking “reload” from 9:50 to 10AM were on Stub Hub by the hundreds when I checked there at about 10:10. Unfortunately, all of the major concerts are performed by such sell-outs that the performers could care less about the fans. As long as we continue to pay for their shows, they will continue to screw us.
I do my best to avoid Ticketmaster whenever I can.
The Feds should stay out of this and let the market decide.
Vote with your feet.
If the percentage of unsold seats keeps increasing, Ticketmaster will have no choice but to reduce their charges.
Concerts are available on DVD. A much cheaper alternative what with HD big screen TVs and theater quality surround sound.
Ticketmaster really needs to be monitored. At the very least, there should be limitations on how quickly tickets can be resold. Try telling your kids they can’t see Hannah Montana because the majority of the tickets are sold to resellers. Performers should be more concerned with the inability of their REAL fans to buy tickets to their performances….only the rich can see live performances. I got online to purchase Jonas Brother tickets 10 minutes before they went on sale. I was never able to get tickets. When I called I waited 15 minutes for ticketmaster to pick-up, then they claimed they couldn’t hear me (I could hear them fine). Oh, and by the way, by the time I gave up 30 minutes later, there were tickets posted on ebay. Isn’t there a law against that?
Even if we accept their service fees for what is often very poor service, how can they legally charge a service fee when the event is cancelled?
For example, there is currently a stagehands’ strike in New York City, most shows have been cancelled and ticket holders get their money back for the price of their tickets EXCEPT Ticketmaster’s service charges.
Why should the customer- who is forced to use Ticketmaster- bear the cost of a cancelled show? Isn’t this Ticketmaster’s cost of doing business?
Ticketmaster is a brilliant business model, screw the consumer at every level!! I just tried to get tickets, knowing that you must be logged on and ready to go right at 10:00 am or whatever time they go on sale, but I got “locked out”. They would not let me even try to buy a ticket because I pressed the “find tickets now” button to much. Sooooooo frustrating, and on top of that you have to pay incredibly high fees. NOT worth it. Ticket brokers here I come!!!!
there are alternatives to ticketmaster. ticketweb.com and frontgatetickets.com. they still charge fees, but they’re miniscule compared to TM. and the tickets are usually for smaller venues. otherwise, as the article says, try the box office!
WTF are you crybabies whining about? if you voted republican you have no one to blame but yourselves!! Reagan’s Justice dept ALLOWED TM to buy up the competition, I forget thier name, and of course they became the EVIL monopoly they are today!! use the box office for godsakes….
Congratulations America!! Someone is buying these overpriced tickets, and if you want to see a show these are basically the only game in town. Good luck to them, as long as people (including myself, being a serious music and sports fan) are willing to put up with it you don’t have any other choice.
Here is a perfect example of ticketmaster’s unrealistic charges: In San Diego, there is currently a promotion offering tickets to a Maroon 5 concert for $10.00 per ticket. After you include the $8.10 “convenience fee”, $3.40 for “order processing”, $2.50 for “ticketfast printing”…that $10.00 ticket now costs a whopping $24.00!!!! How is this possible?
Recent “FREE” tickets for a comedy show still resulted in $4.50 in fees per ticket!
And about that extra $2.50 ticketfast fee? Why am I being charged to use my own paper and ink?
What is wrong with this picture?
And don’t get me started on the inability to actually get tickets when you want them…or to get ‘good’ seats…
Whenever possible, I try and get my tickets directly from venue because these additional costs are taking the enjoyment out of entertainment.
By the way…whatever happened to competition? Real ticket vendors like BASS tickets and Tickets.com? I am not talking about the other unscrupulous ticket vendors who cheat fans out of tickets and then gouge them with exorbitant ticket prices!
Convenience charge, my left foot! Where’s the convenience? The only convenience I see is to them. Not to mention they charge you to print your own tickets. If an event is only available through TicketMaster, I won’t buy tickets. The box office is a great idea. I’m glad I’m not the only one incensed by this.
They got there “due” last night at Hanna Montana. They were asking $800 for some seats, and my daughter got in for $50,at the window, on the floor. Line was not too long either. Ticket master? don’t support them, buy them at the window.
We were just plain dumb when purchasing tickets to The Color Purple in San Francisco…from the internet…paid $118 per ticket plus connection fees $23.60 plus $17.50 Fed-x to realize we paid more than double for $50 face value tickets…never again…we went through RazorGator only to discover it all goes to Ticketmaster. We are dumb 60+ youngsters who should have known better!
I had a friend back out of a stadium concert in San Antonio, and I got in trouble for trying to sell her ticket in front of the stadium…because they said I was scalping!!! I told them I just didn’t want it to go to waste, but they didn’t care. I even tried to give it to a charity that was onsite so THEY could sell it and donate the proceeds to the charity…but again, I wasn’t allowed to!
But Ticketmaster is allowed to do whatever the heck they want. They are criminal. Concerts are just not affordable anymore.
Instead, find a local club, and support local music. I refuse to do the impersonal stadium $200 concert anymore. If you’re in Texas…check out Gruene Hall…Two Ton Tuesdays during the summer are a whopping $3-4! What a bargain and no Ticketmaster.
Ticket Master is terrible. The problem is that they can not possibly grow their market, as they already have a virtual monopoly, so they resort to inflating charges to raise their numbers.
I think the government should get involved here, as it is a monopoly which hurts the consumer.
The Fans of these events are not idiots for buying tickets. They have a right to spend their time/money on whatever they want. They also deserve a fair price and I don’t believe anyone is getting that with Ticketmaster. I’ve been attending concerts since 1983 and I still enjoy going to “selected” events.I used to attend 15-20 concerts per year until around 1992 when I personally thought the prices were unfair for the product I was receiving.So now I limit myself to a few concerts/sporting events per year. Van Halen tickets in Seattle for $148 PLUS Ticketmaster fee’s?? whatever, I’d love to go but they can screw off for that price.The problem is that most events keep selling out so prices keep going up.Supply and demand America.
Hannah Montana parents: Welcome to the world of Ticketmaster and legalized scalpers. Geeze, you people act like you’ve never heard of anything like this before. Wake Up !!
I quit buying from TicketMaster years ago .I’d personally rather miss an event than be ripped off.When I hear of “scalpers” charging hundreds of dollars to young teenaged kids to see a concert,I become perplexed everytime I see the commercial that starts out,”People are smart……Yeah,right
The only bigger rip-offs are the ticket scalpers and the matk-ups charged by companies such as Stub Hub. Another thing I dislike about
Ticket master is that you can’t designate that you don’t want the tickets at the end of the row they are selling and would like to go to the next row. How about Dutch Auctions to sell tickets. The artists and venues might make more, which is OK with me?
Finally, after all of these years this issue has been brought up. Ticketmaster is the king of rip off. $8.95 convenience charge, what convenience charge? I’m the one that is doing you a favor by buying these tickets.
I’v stopped buying tickets through Ticketmaster and try to buy them directly through the box office where there isn’t ususally an added charge. If I can’t buy them through the box office then I just don’t go to concerts, shows, and else. I just refuse to make Ticketmaster filthy rich for nothing.
I purchased tickets for Hannah Montana for my 8 yr old niece. I live in Denver and they are in MO. Problem Ticket Master now says I have to fly to Omaha and pick up the tickets only to hand them over to my Niece and Sister and then fly back to Denver. I am not going to the show! I purchased these tickets for an early Christmas gift and I can’t get a refund, I can’t sell them on Ticket Exchange with Ticket Master. This is stealing from the consumer. When I called to complain they said it’s the Promotor. I asked for Phone numbers. NO LUCK! Called Venue: they said Ticketmaster was the issue with the problem. OMG! ” Pass The Buck! on who to blame!”
It makes me sick! I was just trying to buy my Niece and Great Christmas and they have ruined it. I understand the problem with the scalpers but we are not all crooks, so now I am stuck with tickets that can’t be used because they will not allow my sister to pick these tickets and go to the concert with her daughter…because I bought the tickets. I feel very heart broken for all of us.
I’ve less of a problem with Ticketmaster than I do with StubHub and its ilk. TM is ‘only’ making 40% on a ticket, whereas stubhub sellers make upwards of 500%. thats criminal plain & simple.
Not only is Ticketmaster the biggest rip off service available, they are heartless rip off people who think they deserve to rip people off for a service that anyone with a computer knows….cost pennies to facilitate.
I bought 2 Kelly Clarkston tickets for 59.00. The Ticketmaster chargeswere 22.65. TWENTY TWO DOLLARS AND SIXTY-FIVE CENTS on 59.00 of tickets. The show is cancelled and all I get back is 59.00. They keep the rip off charge and they tell me they provided a service. RIP OFF ARROGANT JERKS and they need to be taken down. We deserve a choice….we deserve to be charged a fair price. It is a monopoly that even Pearl Jam could not challange. Stop this rip off.
Mark Iggy
I have seen people complaining about Ticket Master and baseball teams like the Cubs and Rangers. Ticket Master does not handle these teams. These tickets are sold by Tickets.com which is owned by Major League Baseball.
Existing anti-trust legislation should have resolved this issue long ago. Ticketmaster has been a legitimized scalper for years. Additionally, the venues should be pricing tickets in a way that is more in line with demand so that Ticketmaster and other scalpers don’t have such an economic niche to exploit.
“They spend countless hours improving their service so that you lazy people can sit at home on your sofa and still be able to buy a ticket.”
Wow, like there’s so much work and technology involved in selling tickets. Their service hasn’t improved since I first dealt with them in the 80’s when they were charging an extra $5 on an $18 concert ticket. If people weren’t willing to pay “just a little more” from brokers then all seats for shows could be affordable again. Unfortunately, the law of supply and demand won’t allow that to happen.
I just don’t buy tickets. It’s not worth it to have beer spilled on you, fights breaking out around you, your feet stepped on repeatedly and all the other joys that go along with a trip to a concert. I also thought the point of e-tickets was to reduce fees. I find it funny they actually charge to have an e-ticket.
Sounds like Ticketmaster wants to gain a greater monopoly on not only the sale of tickets but also the secondary market of reselling tickets at inflated prices. It’s scarey how one company can have all the power and control over the entire ticket industry (both original retail sell and secondary market sells).
For most of HANNAH MONTANA concerts the best tickets were sold on “Ticketmasters offical premium seat auctions” in excess of $200- $2000 per ticket without being offered to the general public or any ticket broker. This information can be seen on the “Ticketmaster premium seat auction or Ticket Exchange section of their website.
I feel that Ticketmaster is using this law suit against RMG as a PR move to mislead the general public in thinking that this company is the bad guy when actually Ticketmaster is doing nothing more than scalping the tickets themself through their own website.
Satanmaster, as we call it, has exclusive contracts with most of the large and medium venues, many of which are owned by Clear Channel, another corporation reaming us (and controlling who we actually get to see, giving preference to artists they own a stake in). Only by boycotting shows can our impact be felt.
I have to laugh at all the disappointed “Hanna Montana parents” just discovering this fact of life. Step One: Raise your kids to like good music!
Ticketmaster is on the verge of taking control of every toilet manufactured since 1608. As a gesture of good will, both urination and defecation will be free, but the bowl, seat and lid fees will be through the roof. Ticketmaster spokesman Don Mynack said that the company wasn’t driven solely by the desire for tremendous profits. “Oh, the profits will be there, but what Ticketmaster really wants to do is rub everybody’s face in it. Of course, this is just a figure of speech since the ‘it’ will be in everybody’s pants.”
If fees are capped by the government, then how are ticket selling companies supposed to make money? Ticketmaster doesnt make any money from the actual ticket prices, so how is the company to profit? If you dont like the fees, then go to the box office- that has always been an option. Government legislation on this is wrong- what other companies do the legislators want to control?
To be honest, I don’t waste my time with Ticketmaster as I don’t see them providing any value to the consumer.
We’re in the age where only the corporations can afford to purchase tickets for any events.
The average person should borrow a concert DVD, make an illegal copy of it and enjoy the concert over and over again. No crowds, better sound and picture and you can bring your own popcorn. In the end, it’s Average Guy 1, Ticketmaster 0.
Good ridance to these crooks.
Can some one please explain why all the tickets are sold out in 5 min even though im on very early and have to type in those strange letters i thought this was supposed to be so you can automate the deal.
also.. i thought scaping tkts was illegal.. why is it that there are so many places selling tkts on the net.. buffett sells out in 15min and they are all on theses site.. for 200$.. this is nuts.. i used to be able to get tickets but no longer.. no even in line.. so now i just dont go to any concerts.. or buy albums.. if the artist arent worried about this maybe they should be
it would seem to me that ticketmaster must be acting in harmony with event promoters or there is no way they would be the sole source for available tickets (outside of season holders. But on the backside… if people stop paying astronomical prices… refuse to be held hostage to ticket resalers and event artist specify that no groups of tickets larger than about 10 can be sold to one person/retailer without special circumstances.
Ticketmaster truly is a joke and just as mentioned there’s no real way around it when 99% of the time they’re the only means of buying the ticket. The idea of boycotting them is good and all but I still want to see those acts. I’m not going to miss the great bands of my time just because of these charges. They know this so they win till someone steps in.
The service fees, although unreasonable, I can almost deal with. It is the premium seat auctions and premium seat sales that are the killer. And Ticket Master is just as guilty. They are holding the premium seat auctions and sales just like the brokers, I call it legal scalping. Back in the day you could get busted for that. Also the different tiers of tickets prices are highway robbery as well. When I started attending concerts in 1985, a 12.00 ticket was the price for anywhere in the area, you just got there a little early. I’m talking front and center baby. Alot of younger people don’t remember that thing called General Admission. The industry got out of hand somwhere? If the music industry is cracking down on Internet downloads stealing from them, then they should crack down on the brokers and Ticket Master getting 1600.00 for a ticket while the band or artist still gets their percentage of face value. Between that and the service fees, the fans and bands are losing out.
If you don’t want to pay for the seats you get then don’t go! I’m just tired of all the whining out there. The main problem, other than a supply/demand issue, is that ther is no one to compete with Ticketmaster, or go after their negotiated contracts with the 9000+ venues they have a vested interest in i.e. own the rights to be the sole ticket provider. Hey! here’s an idea…buy the video for $25 and you can enjoy the show for as long as you own the DVD. As for me, I’m all for bringing back the $12.00 lawn ticket prices 
Its about time customers stepped up and said NO MORE to this form of price gouging! I would like to know why I have to pay a fee to print a ticket from my own printer, explain what is a facilities fee and why a conveniece fee AND a processing fee is charged. Ticketmaster should be investigated for unfair trade practices and monopolizing the industry. Concert venue should also walk away from dealing with ticketmaster. Performers should also refuse to do business with these modern-day ticket scalpers!
Yeah, yeah, “what the market will bear” and all that other monopolistic crud is just smoke. We, the customer, have no say in the matter of pricing except to pay. And Anonymous, October 13, needs a reality check; TM’s ticketing technology (computers) doesn’t drive 40% markup fees, greed does. I will continue to avoid paying TM’s prices and instead let the family enjoy more affordable fare. The money we save on TM fees let’s us see 40% more reasonably priced entertainment.
I’m only one person, but this one person refuses to buy tix from Ticketmaster, at all. They’ve already included their mark-up in the regular ticket price, and then they go and gouge the public by tacking on all these anciliary fees. I don’t like their practices, I refuse to purchase tix from them, and they simply do not get my biz!
D.D. Zeviar
Camas, WA
Ticketmaster is a MONOPOLY. Why hasn’t the government taken action to stop this company from taking advantage of the public? Because they have lobbyists in Washington, that’s why. I HATE TICKETMASTER! And I hate that there is no alternative way to buy tickets. In this day in age where you can buy everything on line and print tickets at home, what the heck are we paying a $9 convenience charge for? It’s not convenient at all, it’s a SCAM!
I’ve been a concert lover for over 30 years but have quit going due to the excessive fees….got charged a $4 shipping fee that I choose online to pick up at the events pick-up window!!!!!
They are clearly a monopoly but and something should be done but our government is a monopoly too so they’ll join in on the scalping if they take charge!!
I think a out right boycott of a concert would open alot of eyes in this industry!!!
Not paying your fees here
I’ve always thought that ticketmaster was gouging their customers. It’s illegal to do this. Monopolies are illegal as well. How they’ve kept this up for so long I’ll never know. I also don’t understand that if I buy a ticket from ticket master for $35 and pay $14 in fees, why am I only allowed to resell it at face value? It’s illegal in PA to resell your tickets above face value. If ticketmaster can do it, then why can’t I?
whyat are we paying all the extra fees for?? Everything is done on the computer and with computer programs. There aren’t any people to pay!! Somebody is getting richer and I’m getting poorer!! Ain’t that America?
These responses show how sick and tired US consumers are of Ticketmaster’s predatory practices.
It’s no secret TM has had a monopoly for years, and increasingly gouges consumers who are forced to deal with them. How can Congress not act on this?
Why not send this whole feedback string to Mass. Senator Michael Morrissey, co-chairman of the Legislature’s Consumer Affairs and Professional Licensure Committee, as fuel for the fire? Down with TM!
Ticketmaster is a rip off they make money on the ticket sales then charge more for fee’s they should charge their clients those fee’s you know the record companies who have ripped us off for years as well. Stopping them must be done no caps though just a simple ticket fee not a service charge as well. Most can not afford to pay 75 dollars on average for bad seats then to add 15 to 30 dollars as well and do not even mention the delivery charge.
TicketMaster is exactly the reason I do NOT go to concerts anymore. Its ridiculous what they charge… How much can it cost to book tickets and mail them????? Geezzzzzzz
New Legislation: Require 1 or 2 days of tickets being sold at the box office only with 4 ticket maximum purchase. Let the locals get their chances first…yes, we might have stay in line again (and the scalpers will be there too) but we will avoid many ticket brokers and the average joe from California who buys Cleveland tix online and immediately post them on ebay or craigslist.
I’ve been boycotting TM for years. If i can’t get a ticket on a hookup, i don’t go. I’d rather sit home than give TM my money. It’s a shakedown.
I believe a certain band (Pearl Jam) back in the 90’s tried to do something about these “rip-off” fees but Ticket Master had and still has a strangle hold on the ticket selling business. Pearl Jam stopped doing live shows for awhile because they believed the fans were getting ripped off. The sad thing is that the only people hurt by this were their fans and I’m sure P. Jam lost a ton of $$. But, 15yrs later here’s Ticket Master still making a killing off a piece of paper and we keep on paying because there isn’t a competitor out there to keep them honest.
I once bought 6 tickets to a Texas Rangers Baseball game. The seats were located in the outfield upper deck. They were the cheapest seats available at $5 a piece. By the time Ticketmaster was thru, my $30 face value tickets cost me $64.
Ticketmaster is much like Fidel Castro. You don’t like them, they won’t go away and you have to deal with them. That being said, I treat them like the relic they are (like an old 8 track tape)–I go to the venue and buy tickets. I refuse to pay their excessive and monopolistic fees. Good news is that like communism, they’ll eventually implode and we’ll have a free market of buying tickets to events straight from the venues over the web….FREEDOM!!!!!
I just bought two tickets to a concert in San Francisco . . . Tickets were $25 each and the total paid to Ticketmaster was $75. So I basically purchased two tickets for the price of three. Thanks Ticketmaster.
There’s a reason that everyone I know calls them “Ticket B@st@rd” and that’s because they rip you off with ridiculous fees as mentioned by many of the folks above.
Ticketmaster is the least of the problems. My problem is with the ticket brokers who somehow manage to get a hold of most of the tickets sold in order to extort alot more money from concert goers. It’s just another form of scalping tickets, which is illegal in many parts of the country.
Two things:
It is the free market at work, but if we leave the free market totally unchecked then we’ll have ten year olds working industrial machines. As a concert-goer and ticketmaster customer for the last fifteen years (I am currently 27) I know how excessive the fees can be. I would like to see the government cap the markup to a percentage of the ticket price. I remember several instances of non-profits putting on shows or radio station promotions with tickets under $10. Then the fees kick in and you’ve got a $25 ticket. Even though the cost of delivery is the same, the price shouldn’t double. It’s just unreasonable.
As for Brokers and the whole ticket industry–it’s a huge problem. But, with Ebay and the Internet, it is a free market unleashed. I am sorry for the folks who didn’t get Hannah Montana tickets, but you want the real secret?
Most ticket brokers are unable to unload their tickets for the insane prices asked in the months before the show. Those prices get haggled back to Earth on the streets outside the venue on the evening of the show.
Sure it’s a pain in the butt, but if you walk in with the attitude that you don’t NEED to see the show (or game) then you win.
I have gotten into NCAA basketball games, A live Jerry Seinfeld Performance, a “Sold Out” performance at the Ryman in Nashville and into Wrigley Field many times for far below face value because those scalpers often get greedy and think that an event is more desireable than it really is.
I couldn’t disagree with Lennie from Bkyn more if I wanted to, and as a New Yorker (I am as well), he should be aware that NYC has the HIGHEST fees for performances. To say that you should just simply “complain and stay home” is missing the point – people do NOT want to just stay home!
I go to at least one concert a month and thankfully rarely attend an event in an arena, but even when I am paying 20 bucks for a ticket, the price of admission far exceeds 30, and this is before train/cab/subway etc.
Art and performance should not be something for the rich and privileged who can look at a 40% markup and say “Ahhhh, no big deal.”
Yes, inflation is happening at a rapid pace, but the fact that Ticketmaster is a monopoly is the topic that should be addressed. With ticketing agencies signing exclusive deals with buildings or promoters, there is no competition between companies to reduce service charges for events, leaving Ticketmaster able to charge whatever they want because, “If you cannot afford it, doesn’t matter how much it is, you complain and stay home.”
Sometimes I’d rather stay home and miss a favorite band instead of sacrificing an absurd amount of money for the “convenience” of Ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster is not a monopoly! Tickets.com sells most of the baseball tickets in the US and many venues are starting to use smaller ticketing agencies. The Pearl Jam incident in 1994? Did you know that the ticket company they hired for their next tour charged 5 cents less per ticket for their service charge! That whole deal was a big marketing stunt in my opinion . Why complain about a $10 service charge when you are buying a #200 ticket? Why doesn’t anyone complain about the ticket brokers jacking up prices on some of the tickets by 2000%? Lastly, it is the venue and the performer that control the tickets that are released for Ticketmaster to sell. The best seats are always put on hold by the venue and the performer – Ticketmaster has no control over this at all! (How do I know this? – I worked for Ticketmaster for 8 years in the ’90’s)
Ticketmaster is why I haven’t been to a concert in years. When U2 came through town and I wanted to take my girlfriend (she’s a huge fan), the price for two was as much as my monthly mortgage payment. No, seriously.
I’ll just settle for buying a live show on DVD and watching that instead. At least I’ll be able to go to the bathroom whenever I want.
The audacity of Ticketmaster extends beyond imposing “convenience” (how the hell is that convenient?) charges to sending marketing emails. Their privacy policy states that if you purchase a ticket from Ticketmaster, you are also agreeing to receive marketing emails from them. What the hell is that? Respectable websites give the user an option upfront whether he/she would like to subscribe to marketing emails!
Yes, I do hope the Federal Govt acts against Ticketmaster or an Internet giant like Google steps in with an alternative!
Boooo Ticketmaster!!
Ticketbastard has been ripping off good people for years. I camped out for tickets to a concert when I was in college way before the internet was invented, and had a blast doing it. What needs to happen is simply this, boxoffice sales of tickets for 24 hours. Ticketbastard then gets the chance to broker out the tickets to those who are simply to coddled to set up for a night and enjoy some interaction with other people. The other thing that needs to happen is to limit sales to twenty seats per person. This would stop brokers from buying a concert that is hot up and then scalping them off on the internet. In most places, scalping is illegal and punisable by some huge fines. However, if people are willing to pay the premium for these tickets, they should also be willing to wait a day to get them. Then, if they get charged 40% more for the tickets in the rafters, they can shut up about paying extra for them. Maybe I am old, but the days when a concert was a blast have long since passed me by, but then again I can remember when you could see a sellout crowd in a 90,000 seat show, have seats within 20 rows of the stage and pay only $20 for them. By the way the concert was for Pink Floyd in 1985.
WAY too many fees from Ticketmaster! You can pay less to wait till the day of the show and pay scalpers out front and get better seats!
Watch “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” the scene where two kids are trying to buy Van Halen tickets from a scalper in the mall and he is charging $12.00 for each ticket and they freak out about the cost, lol Those were the days!!
I welcome any and all legislation that gets rid of Ticketmaster. Tickets I bought from them that were $35 ended up being $50 tickets after they were done with me! Outrageous! I absolutely refuse to buy from them and give them my hard earned money for no reason ever again. It does not cost Ticketmaster $15 of my money to process and sell me a ticket! They don’t even pay their people that per hour! If bands can’t get it right and offer their own tickets for their own shows, then perhaps they shouldn’t tour. I won’t see them if Ticketmaster if my only option.
Monopolies are not part of a competitive, free market economy. But the spineless U.S. government, slave to corporate money, does not stand up for consumers. Everyone suffers except for Ticketmaster. It’s another kink in the demise of the music industry. Go indies!
I agree some of the charges ticketmaster charges are ridiculous, and I wouldn’t throw out the idea that they have an undisclosed deal with ticketing brokers as well. They are on the defense about how brokers work, however I really believe they trade first opportunities to brokers in exchange for a percentage of what they sell the ticket for. I also think it’s disgusting that many of these bands charge so much money for their shows. They are pretty much catering to the rich these days, but what about the fans that can’t afford to spend $100.00 a ticket to see a show? Examples, The Police, U2, Van Halen, Coldplay, etc. Although I ditched out nearly $90.00 a seat for Coldplay, I can appreciate bands like Pearl Jam who “keep it real” with $45.00 tickets, 3 hour nightly shows, $20.00 t-shirts, and $20.00 fan club fees. They were the first to take it to Ticketmaster in the 1990’s and I remember many people saying, “stop crying”, but look who is crying now. Us!!!
They are ripping ticket buyers off plain and simple. The inflation arguement simply falls flat here. I make six figures a year and I still will not buy tickets if I have to get them from ticketmaster. A charge to email you per ticket???!!! Get real. I work in technology and I say BS! It is profit plain and simple. People keep buying so they keep raising the price. They may get your money, but they are no longer getting mine.
My wife and I enjoy live music … alot. We have found interesting ways to avoid paying Ticketmaster service fees. I will drive 1 and a half hours to Toronto from Niagara Falls to purchase the tickets we want at a savings of on average, $14 a ticket. For 4 tickets, thats almost $60, or a tank of gas for me, and it doesn’t take a full tank to drive that far. We have also waited for the event to start so the scalpers will sell tickets at a discount price, usually less than face value. For example, we went to Toronto to get Sum 41 tickets. We paid $106 total for 4 tickets. It would of cost about $175 through Ticketmaster. While we were there, the Toronto Maple Leafs were playing Pittsburg, so we tried to get tickets through the arena, but, it was sold out. So we talked to scalpers, who were at the time asking big dollars per ticket. We ended up getting $87 tickets for $40 each by sacrificing 12 minutes of the first period. I have to admit, we are somewhat lucky, but we work hard for our money and we dont want to just give it to Ticketmaster for what they call a convieniece fee. Its not convienient for us to pay thier fees.
Lenny from Brooklyn,
Are you for real? It’s not just about ticket prices. It’s about the government corruption that is driving up the ticket prices.
It used to be in most cities that scalping was illegal and an individual could only resell a ticket for 10 or so percent over the price stated on the ticket.
These laws were eliminated for the sole purpose of allowing outfits like TM to exist.
So, Lenny, pay those high prices if you want. Just accept that it’s not free enterprise and fair competition at work here. It’s just good old fashion greed and corruption targeted at folks like l’il ol’ you.
TM has a virtual monopoly on on-line event ticket sales. It is a “licence to print money”! In almost everything else we do commercially competition rules – why not here? The problem has been recognized – who is going to solve it?
JohnQ mentioned below the option of using Attendence Licenses, and the idea is so good I will repeat it.
It is an idea that doesn’t require any third party vendor to administer. It just requires an initial setup and I would wager that there are several techies out there that would do it for free just to get back at Ticket Master. (Of course, I oversimplify the whole process of admission licenses but it still need not be that hard. Think Acham’s Razor.)
But, alas, getting officials to go with such a system is not that easy. The same crooked government officials that brought us Ticket Master and revoked virtually every scalping law on the book would never allow a simple solution from which their cronies did not profit.
And if they did implement a system such as this, it would be through a solution provided by guess who? Ticket Master.
TM would announce a grand breakthough in ticket purchasing and advertise it heavily as being easy, convenient, and people-friendly! And you can bet this new found convenience will come with huge convenience fees.
The only thing I can see to do is to hammer every elected local official as to why they permit this highway robbery and then vote against them regardless of their answer until TM is no more.
But who am I kidding? It’s gone on this long and there ain’t no getting the beast back into the bottle.
Boycott big venues is the only answer and rediscover the small ones. If your favorite artists are megastars and can’t do small venues, then write and ask them to support their fanbase by insisting on no TM. Pearl Jam didn’t succeed but they gave it a good try. What if Madonna, the Rolling Stones, and others said, “No More TM”. It could make a difference (if not for the fact that groups like the Stones had not sold out 20 years ago. Mick – we love you but get off your high horse. You’re rich enough.).
But, again, I kid myself. Boycotts don’t work because the numbers are not in the protesters’ favor.
So, do like I do: forget the big artists and big venues and go find a little place where someone like Don Hicks and His Hot Licks may be playing, pay an honest admission, have a beer, and have a good time.
Big venues are for suckers.
I just want to say that Ticket-Bastard is the biggest rip off in corporate America second only to Halliburton! Why am I paying $11 PER ticket in charges? I will not be seeing Van Halen this year because I CANNOT pay an additional $100 in B.S. fees tacked on by Ticket-Bastard. And why is it they charge a “Service Fee†per ticket? I could understand if you were charged per transaction, but per ticket is totally B.S.!
When was the last time you complained about the markup on a can of Coke? Companies like Ticket Master charge fees to pay for the technology and labor to sell you tickets. They certainly don’t make much money from what you see as the face value because the shows receive almost 100% of the profits.
Boycotting shows is the least effective way of achieving your goals of saving money. What it will do is put local presenters and agencies that sell tickets out of business and reduce the ability of your community to attract the shows you want to see. Find out who the local presenters are in your community that caters to your specific tastes. Become a subscriber. Most of the time you get the seats you want and save money in handling fees and the actual ticket price. And you will support the arts for decades to come.
Regarding shows not staying with children: the arts have an incredible impact on young people and more than likely they will remember their first theatrical experience well into their adult years.
In reply to:
Posted By Anonymous : October 13, 2007 6:41 am “all your comments are wrong”
hahahaha work for ticketmaster much? i don’t think anyone is wrong but you. its a screw every time and you probably get a bonus from it. online ticketing – wow, such high technology for 2007. web dev and printing? what do you think they are curing cancer and flying spaceshuttles? exclusive contracts is a problem in the entertainment business, its not limited to here. and by the way, House of Blues sucks for the same reasons!
I recently got tickets for Mets playoffs – through Ticketmaster advance sales. Now that the Mets didn’t make the playoffs, I should get a total refund, right? No – ticketmaster keeps their fees!! So I just forked over $10 per ticket for nothing. What a bunch of thieves.
man please, tm ripping a brother off, like the man do, and that is hard on the cheddar, if you feel me. peace out.
There is really only one answer to scalpers (aka ticket brokers): tickets should be auctioned by the performer/promoter/venue. A fair price would be set in the marketplace. That simple.
I hope this consumer revolt and outrage against Tktmtr and similar co.’s will lead to thier demise!!
The “artists”\perfomers should also be held accountable by the public.
The overwhelming majority recognizes these companies, including the owners, lack moral and ethical values.
It’s time for the media to now expose it further!!!
People on here continue to say “dont buy the tickets and prices will drop”. The point here isnt that the ticket prices are too high (although they are!!), but rather that TicketMaster has a monopoly and charges its fees on top of the ticket prices. Boycotting purchases might cause the venues/artists to lower ticket prices to fill the seats, but, TicketMaster will still be raking us all over the coals. I have been to many sporting events which offered “special” event nights for a special price. The unspoken fine print is that you have to purchase the tickets through TicketMaster, and thus the price advertised is not the REAL price and essentially equates to what would normally be declared as false advertising because you MUST purchase via TicketMaster and pay the add-on fees.
Although I feel the fees are excessive, I agree with the person who said the problem is “us”.
If people would refuse to pay the excessive fees by not attending the various events, the groups holding the events would not be making as much money…and may actually have to look into why.
Ticketmaster is FINALLY going to get what’s coming to them: to be driven out of business forever! I hate them and always have! Everyone does!
Their fees are ridiculous! I can see paying a fee for buying tickets but if you are buying four at the same time there should only be a one time fee per order and not ticket! And the same goes with shipping rates.
I don’t get their “convenience” charge, it is not that convenient for me when there is only ONE place to purchase tickets. Most of the tickets I purchase are done on line, I do all the “leg work” and charge the fee for it……
If they want to charge a fee per ticket, it should be a flat amount, not one that increases as the price of the ticket goes up.
I tried to avoid paying all these fees by going to the box office window at a local venue. They added a $5.00 per ticket “convenience charge” to the cost of each ticket. There was no way to purchase a ticket at the face price, even directly from the venue. What a rip-off.
I would like to see some of the shows that come through town and some of the sporting events as well. I’m just not going to fork out the ridiculous prices. Those of you willing to pay the high prices are just contributing to the problem. Is missing a concert, ball game, etc. really gonna make an impact on your life? If so, that’s pretty sad. I don’t condone the gouging that’s going on but aren’t there more important things in life?
Perhaps “Hanna Montana” (via her dad) should take a stand and cancel her shows. Yeah, right!
Sure, it will be heartbreaking to tell your kids they can’t go to a crappy show. Spend the money on something else that will last longer…at least they aren’t starving.
Regardless, I don’t use TM because I don’t go to arena shows (and buy through the venue on-site if they’re involved), but rather smaller clubs. Why would you want to go and be surrounded by a million people, and barely see the performer?
If everyone made a decision on their own to boycott TM for even 6 months, it might make a difference.
I also love the Dateline idea for brokers. The Neil Young story is insane.
If the public allows Ticket Master to continue to gouge us, they will do so. I am tired of paying extremely high “service” fees for tickets that I later find out were not the best available when I purchase them Not only are the stealing the public blind but they are lying about the availibility of seats
Boycott some concerts and events that Ticket Master is the sole ticket seller and you’ll see how quickly the venues pull the plug on Ticket Master.
It’s a simple solution. Don’t buy tickets for any concert that uses Ticketmaster. How long would it take for things to change? A month or two at the most.
Either regulate it, or put in place the opportunity for true competition. We’re going to have to dismantle ticketmasters agreements with venues in order to do that.
Ticketmaster=Satan
Greed, greed and more greed. Evil people do what they’re allowed to do, and Ticketmonster is no longer allowed to profit one penny from me.
TICKETMASTER IS SUCH A RIPOFF THAT’S WHY WE SHOULD HAVE OTHER COMPANIES SELL TICKETS BECAUSE I THINK THAT THIS COMPANY IS A MONOPOLY THAT IS WHY THEY GET SO MUCH MONEY SOBODY NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING
LEVI V
OXFORD,PA
Its not just Tickmaster. The Ordway theater in St. Paul tried to charge me 37% more than the face value of the tickets, and this is through their box office web site. I did not buy the tickets. I felt deceived. Next time I hear someone moaning about how hard up the arts are, I will think about the time I was I was discouraged from doing so.
A few weeks ago my husband wanted to purchase tickets for a concert at the Nokia Theatre in midtown Manhattan. From the Nokia website, he was directed to Ticketmaster. He saw an $11.00 convenience charge listed but thought it was for the order and not a per ticket charge. Once the process was completed, he realized he paid an additional $11 per ticket plus a processing fee, plus a fee to print the tickets online. Since he purchased 5 tickets, the convenience charge alone came to $55. Within minutes of placing the order, I called Ticketmaster to question the charge and to cancel, which they wouldn’t do. Furthermore, they weren’t forthcoming about what the convenience charge was for and finally, after much pressing on my part, I was told that the charge was imposed by the venue and not by Ticketmaster. I called the Nokia theatre and was informed that these tickets were available at the box office for face value and that the additional charges are added by Ticketmaster and not them. I called Amex and disputed the charge, which they have taken off my bill pending a further investigation of the matter. I am curious to know how Ticketmaster will respond.
I just went to a concert, and couldn’t believe how outrageous the ticket prices were. Our local radio show couldn’t believe that a show of this caliper wassn’t sold out, but with the extremely high prices, who can afford them? I shopped on-line until I found the absolute best prices. There ARE other options besides “Ticketbastards”
the reason these fees are outrageous is that bands can’t make royalties off their recordings anymore due to internet sharing…why else are we seeing the return of Van Halen, The Police and Led Zepplin…it’s not because they miss the road folks, it’s because they need to support their lavish lifestyles!
I know now why I wait until the last possible minute before I buy tickets for events. I really wanted to get Hannah Montana tickets for my daughter, but saw the price and it was outrageous… If we the consumer do not purchase these tickets at these inflated prices than company’s like Ticketmaster can’t make a profit. It is our fault for letting this happen. I think we all should take a stand and boycott these main venues, so that they will do something about it. I also think that the government should pass a legislation to stop the monopoly…
I have hated Ticketmaster for years this is very true. However, thanks to the internet, everybody thinks they’re a ticket broker now. Instead of just buying the tickets they need for a show, they buy a few extra and then sell them on the internet for a nice little profit. Its a shame that these days you have to take out a second mortgage for entertainment, whether it be sports or a show or whatever. For example,how high are we going to let movie tickets get before we say hey, I don’t think an actor needs to make 20 million a movie. But as others have previously written as long as we allow ourselves to be part of the problem nothing will change.
someone here wrote: “all your comments are wrong. Ticketmaster is the world leader in ticketing technology. They spend countless hours improving their service so that you lazy people can sit at home on your sofa and still be able to buy a ticket. if you don’t want easy and safe purchasing options -don’t buy a ticket”
This is FALSE. The Ticketmaster website is one of the worst websites EVER. If you try to get a ticket to a show like Dave Matthews or the Boss right when it goes on sale, the site can never handle the amount of traffic there.
Also, the gov’t needs to look into the practice of Ticketmaster. In addition to the ridiculous charges and fees they place on these tickets for doing no leg work at all, they must have systems set up with other “ticket brokers” like stub hub and others. Somehow all of these “ticket brokers” errrrrrrrr ticket scalpers are able to get gobs of tickets before they even go on sale. Something is seriously wrong here.
I am a big supporter of the free market system and that government really doesn’t belong in business. However with that said, the government does have a role in ensuring competition. Clearly Ticketmaster is demonstrating monopolistic practices and the consumer is suffering. They have been getting away with these practices for some time now. It is time that the government step in and put an end to these outragious fees. Either that, or the government can force competition in the market place and do away with these exclusive deals. Ticketmaster is practicing what amounts to legal scalping. It’s a disgrace.
TM fees are out of control. I recently passed on purchasing 4 tickets to a NJ venue when the fees per ticket were over 20.00 each. That’s $80.00 plus just for purchasing on line. Why isn’t TM considered a monopoly and subject to regulation? Hats off to Pearl Jam for bringing this rip off to light. Ticket Master should be broken like AT&T to baby rip offs with no golden parachutes for the big execs.
I recently went to an event at Disneyland and bought my standard tickets in advance through ticketmaster thinking I would get the best deal. However, after adding up all the fees involved in the transaction it turns out it would have been cheaper going to the event VIP. With every new window that popped up while going through the process online, an additional fee would be tagged onto my order (facility charge; convienience charge, delivery charge, order processing fee…). Next time I buy a ticket for an event, I will certainly look for another way to purchase them.
Maybe it will take a mass of people without a name. No Pearl Jam, no Jimmy Buffet. I tip my hat to them for trying, but its the public that can make the change. Ticketmaster thinks they have some right to charge some high fee for us to go see an art that should be kept at a low cost. Music appeals to so many various levels of people; rich or poor. It should be able to be heard at any level. So I do agree that TicketMaster is way too high and they she consider eliminating the fee. If they dont, I do feel it will hurt them sooner or later. Ciao
OK, Ticketmaster does have costs. Handling and database management and all. BUT, buy 4 tickets–pay 4 service charges. Its the same order! No more handling. No more cost selling 4 as to selling 1. How about a good start on change and make charges by order not ticket!
You are paying a premium already for the ticket. Why should a ticket saleman make 30% to 40%? What would you think if Vanguard or Fidelity charged that much to service your account. Their job is alot more involved then selling a ticket. Hi-way robbery is what it is.
Ticketmaster does not keep all those fees it charges. It pays venues and promoters “kick-backs” on the fees it collects. These service fee “rebates” are how they are able to obtain exclusive ticketing arrangements with large venues and promotion companies.
I WON’T BUY THRU TICKET MASTER ANYMORE. THE CHARGES ARE RIDUCLOUS & EVEN WITH THE PRICE OF GAS, I’LL GO OUT OF MY WAY TO THE ACTUALLY CONCERT HALL’S BOX OFFICE & BUY THE TICKETS. PLUS, ONE TIME WHILE BUYING FOR A SHOW AT THE GAMMAGE AUD. IN TEMPE AZ, THEY ASSURED ME I WAS IN THE LOWER BALCONY (THERE’S 2)& THE NIGHT OF THE EVENT, I WAS IN THE UPPER BALCONY. I FILED A COMPLAINT WITH GAMMAGE & THEY TOLD ME TO CALL THEM DIRECTLY FOR TICKETS FOR NOW ON. TICKET MASTER DOES NOT KNOW THE LAY-OUT OF SOME AUDITORIUMS. THANKS.
I went to order tickets last week at Ticketmaster and I was astonish at their ticket prices! i absolutely refused to purchased my tickets from them.
These Predatory Ticket scalpers should be required to pay 95 % of whatever they receive as payment to the entertainers ! Then we’ll see just how prices actually go.
It’s about time somebody caps the prices these clowns charge. I used to be able to afford to go to concerts and sporting events. Now, not only do I have to sacrifice a few days’ meals, but Ticketmaster adds a cut for their CEO’s mansion. Enough!
It’s all supply and demand. Stop going to the concerts and prices will come down. I try and avoid Ticketmaster, but they are in bed with Stubhub and all the other resellers. People complain about sporting events, but concerts are costing even more. At some point you have to say “No” and don’t go to the concert. Your kids will get over it. There have been plenty of bands that have come and gone I have not seen. I just crank up my CD and pretend I am there.
Attention: Ticketmaster is a monopoly. Pure and simple; however, they are only a frontline monopoly. They are the first to make a percentage (40%); from that point on, it’s the scalpers both low tech (Craigslist) and high tech (StubHub) that are the root of all evil. Sorry Mike Healy – Neil Young is more popular than Hannah Montana – Neil sold a number of his seats through a (”pre-order”) website. However, just as you did, I logged on to the “pre-order” site at 10:00 AM exactly and found “no seats available”. I then called and spoke with someone who said that I should just keep trying – that the seats were likely not yet sold out, it was just that the system was bogged down with so many people trying at the same time (maybe it was Hannah Montana?!) [News Flash – technology improvement needed !!) – after about 20 minutes of hitting the “submit” button, lo and behold, I got through and was able to buy two seats in row L of Constitution Hall – I felt like I won the lottery.
Be that as it may, the whole system is insane – however, when I consider that I’m paying $160/ticket to see the greatest singer/songwriter of all time (sorry Bob Dylan and Hannah Montana), I consider it a good buy since my friend pays as much to see the Wizards play the LA Clippers. the first step toward sanity; however, is to reign in the Ticketmaster monopoly !
I haven’t used ticketmaster in years & refuse to ever use them again. Why would you when there are so many more options of where to purchase them??
I hate having to buy tickets from Ticketmaster because of the outrageous fees. (My personal favorite is the extra fee to print the tickets at home rather than have them sent.)
Last time I did this, the charge was $156 for 3 tickets that each cost $35. That’s $17 in fees for each ticket!
In the future, I will be buying my tickets at the box office.
I am done with ticket master. It is very simple. If the only way to get tickets through ticket bastard then I am done. The way to bring down the fees and the cost of tickets is to stand up and stop feeding the fire.
Here’s a situation a friend of mine went through recently. He purchased four tickets to a small show. Face value, $20/ticket + $10/ticket “convince” charge from TM. A month goes by and he drives 3 hours to go to the show. When he gets there, a sign is posted on the door “Concert Canceled”. Bad enough that nobody broadcast that the show was canceled but when he got is refund from TM, they didn’t refund the “convenience” charge! So, he had to call up and complain for an hour before someone agreed to give him his money back. So, according to ticketmaster, they were entitled to charge him $40 for nothing. Just the “convenience” of him driving 3 hours to a show that had been canceled without any notice. How is this his responsibility? He fulfilled his part of the bargain. He paid for his tickets and showed up at the appropriate place at the appropriate time. Yet, he was expected to incur the expense of everyone else’s mistakes. Boo TicketDisaster. That’s why I don’t go to concerts anymore.
It occurs to me that a venue looking to boost attendance count and maybe make a name for itself as consumer-friendly could entice people to come by offering their own, pared-down ticket website designed for local buyers. After all, if I live in Chicago chances are I’m not too terribly interested in a Stones concert in LA. Ticketmaster is a good example of the old adage that bigger isn’t always better.
Price is ok. If you like performer, and can afford, you buy and go. If you can not afford it, doesn’t matter how much is it, you complain and stay home. Yesterday was yesterday, and today is today. Tomorrow prices will be even higher. And no matter what you say, it will cost more with the years. Not even tickets, everything. And this it truth which people don’t want to face it.
Sure TM fees are way excessive but as long as people buy the tickets anyway, the customers share responsibility. I don’t promise my kids to go see this or that show until I have the tickets in hand and if the price to get the tickets isn’t right, I let someone else build up their credit card debt for them. Your kid will not miss HM that much that you should feel it’s ok to blow an entire month’s paycheck for it. Heck, chances are they won’t remember HM by the time they’re adults. Worse yet is what you teach them by affording them with outrageously expensive tickets you can’t afford. Talk about raising the entitlement society of the future.
That being said, the exclusive deals are a monopoly that shouldn’t be tolerated. What if I don’t want the “convenience”? Market forces cannot apply when you have only one supplier for a product. I agree the government should step in to ensure that competition is allowed for purchasing tickets. It’s a commodity like any other so why is this antitrust business allowed to continue?
Also something should be done to prevent the sell out the minute it goes up for sale and resale situations. Make the tickets require a recipient name and check IDs at the concert. Or have a waiting list lottery with limit 1 entry per name or address (no P.O box,etc). Each winning entry gets 2-4 tickets based on show and demand. Bottom line, a lot more could be done to make ticket distribution more fair. But those making the decisions are on the take too so chances of that happening are rock bottom until people start voting with their wallets and on November elections.
This has been a problem since TicketMaster was able to buy their only rival Ticketron in the late 80s. The government needs to step in and void all exclusive contracts that TM has with the venues. They are a monopoly in online tickets by any definition. Eliminate the exclusive deals, and competition could exist. Not holding my breath though.
The Hannah Montana concert is an excellent example of the bad business practices Ticketmaster and other ticket brokers are using these days. It is obscene to be charging the prices they have posted for this concert that is appealing only to younger children. Additionally, the “restrictions” placed on purchasing the tickets on-line – first 30 minutes limited to sales within a specific geographic area or needing a special Myley Cyrus fan club code were merely a cover-up for the fact that no tickets were available at face value. No concert is worth the exhorbitant prices that are being charged and despite being disappointed, we will be “saying no” to our child on this one. I hope other parents will stand firm and refuse to cave in to price gouging
There is a reason the company is nicknamed “TicketBastard”. You have now read why. Also, the ironic thing is that if you want to re-sell that ticket for whatever reason, they are now in the game for secondary sales (TicketExchange), and will gladly take another 30% of the sale. Hence, Tbastard can take as much as 70% of your money (40% on primary sale, and 30% on secondary sale). How’s that grab you all? UNREAL !! Some regulation should be in place on this Tbastard!
Yes, Ticketmaster and others are taking advantage of the situation. But the problem is us. As concert consumers, we are willing to pay anything to see our favorite band when they come through our city. The economy is good and our priorities may be out of whack but the free market is working here. If we weren’t willing to pay so much, Ticketmaster would have to lower its fees.
I hate them with passion. I have been boycotting TICKETMASTER already for years. Monopoly (i.e. “exclusive rights”) is bad business for the consumer. The only way to fix this is to boycott evrything TICKETMASTER is involved with.
I agree with the Pearl Jam statement. Ticketmaster knows that we have no other outlet to purchase tickets if the promoter/band decides to utilize Ticketmaster for ticket sales. They have us right where they want us if we like to go to concerts!
with the financial muscle of major bands, unified musicians could easily form concert promotions and events. also, holding concerts at college facilities would send dollars to non profits and away from greedy promoters.
There is a new ticketing agency in Europe (www.ticket-text.com) that delivers tickets as text messages and doesn’t charge any postage and packaging fees and only charges a low fixed price booking fee.
Every time I buy tickets through Ticketmaster, I feel I’m buying tickets from Tony Soprano and Company.
all your comments are wrong. Ticketmaster is the world leader in ticketing technology. They spend countless hours improving their service so that you lazy people can sit at home on your sofa and still be able to buy a ticket. if you don’t want easy and safe purchasing options -don’t buy a ticket
Some years ago Jimmy Buffet had a difference of opion with Ticket Master over ticket prices, his solution…..cancel the show and make them refund the money. A few days later he announced a new date and played for free, just to rub it in. Gotta love people like Buffet who will stand up and say “How do you like me now Ticket Master?”.
I think this very sad .
I feel for people who what to take there kid or kids to this concert .this is crazy because an average person can afford these tickets now !
Parent try to give there kids something special and they can’t because some one with more money is trying to suck the middle class dry again !
Very sad .
I have long abandoned the concert scene because of the avarice of the brokers and the apathy of the performers on how much this behavior reflects on them.
This is easy, stop buying the tickets. When the stadiums, concert halls, etc. are empty then maybe the prices will go down. How stupid are we if we keep shelling out the money.
I think all the fees are a little more than they need to be, but really just wish I could even buy a ticket on Ticketmaster without having to have my mouse poised for the second tickets go on sale. We went to Billy Joel this past year and ended up paying $145 for $65 face value tickets – because of all the other companies that buy up blocks of tickets and resell them at higher prices after Ticketmaster is all sold out!
And I thought scalping or reselling a ticket was illegal. Silly me.
Can someone explain the difference between Ticketmaster and the thug standing outside the arena!!!!
There is understandable profit and then there is greed. Ticketmaster has pushed past greed and brought their business policies into a whole new strata.
But it’s the people willing to pay the price that has brought this scourge upon the rest of us. I can only blame Ticketmaster for greed the blame for stupidity lies with the masses.
I went to see Josh Groban in Anaheim, CA on 8-25. When the tickets went for sale the big ticket brokers had scooped the good seats and all that was left were the nose bleed seats. It would not suprise me to know that Ticketmaster has a kick-back agreement wiht the brokers and a seperate way for the brokers to scoop the good seats and shut the general public out. That is on top of the fees they charge.
Ticketmaster is very excessive. However, there are other stores that sell tickets that are not. Stubhub is a great website for sports tickets. You can get tickets cheap there.
I think the government should stay out of it, I think we the people of the U.S. need to start speaking up on what is right and what is wrong. This is wrong. Most people can’t afford or should not be charging tickets that are highly priced for events. Let’s give everyone a fair chance to see different events.
I agree the fees are too high, but don’t kid yourself that it is Ticketmaster raking in all the money.. convenience charges are set by the VENUE and/or the PROMOTER. It’s because they get a cut of the convenience charge, handling, ticketfast. the cut for the promoter/venue is anywhere from 33% to 50%. How do I know this? I work for one of these promoter/venues, that have a building contract with Ticketmaster.
Staff at Google, please help! Google could easily develop a ticket mraketing site that could outcompete TicketMaster. And at a fair price!!! Go GOOOOOGLE.
Years ago we told everyone this was wrong.Now it has gotten this bad.Everyone needs to let the hords get stuck with the tickets and go broke.That would be the first step .Then do it again and again.Before long they would pay you to take the tickets.
The exhorbitant prices and fees are one thing, but I’d like to see a Dateline Special Investigation on how these concerts sell out immediately at the public sale time. Several people have mentioned this phenomenon already – you go online exactly at 10AM and immediately, there are no tickets left. I can almost understand and see this happening for a band like U2, because they have such a wide appeal. But this has happened to me for moderately popular bands. Last Saturday at 10AM, tickets went on sale for a two night Neil Young concert in DC. I was online at 10AM. Both nights were already sold out. Neil Young is a popular guy, but doesn’t have the appeal of U2 or apparently – sorry, Neil – Hannah Montana. Are they really selling out this quick? Is there a way someone can independently investigate this? Someone on here mentioned that there is a program whereby scalpers can simultaneously purchase hundreds of tickets. Is this true? I happened to notice that not long after the initial ticket sale to the Neil Young concert, there were multiple postings on Craigslist for the DC shows. An interesting thing about scalpers on Craigslist is that they will put down the price of the ticket as $1 on their ad. I’m assuming they do this because they can’t post their true asking price, so they try to get you to contact them, and then they give you their marked up price. I’d like to see an investigation into the inner workings and behind the scenes deals that characterize today’s ticket industry. It’s not just concerts – the Washington Capitals now only allow fans to purchase single game tickets through ticketmaster. If anyone has been to a hockey game in DC, you would know that they rarely sell out and that during most regular season games, there are entire sections empty. Yet, when I order tickets through Ticketmaster, I am told that there are no seats available in quite a few of the “cheaper” price ranges. Not wanting to pay the $100+ for seats down near the ice, I opt for the moderately priced $35 (before the aforementioned fees which includes a $4 fee for printing out my own ticket – what?). Somehow when I get to the game, there are sections above me (in a lower price range) with virtually no one sitting in them. How does this happen? A lot has been said about the exhorbitant prices and fees here, and to be sure, that bothers me too. But what bothers me most, as a consumer, is that I don’t feel as if I am being given perfect information and when consumers don’t have perfect information, the market breaks down. There is something unsettling about how the tickets are distributed. And contrary to what some people think, it is not as much about the price. Prices and fees are high, but people still buy them, and concerts still sell out. If anything, prices haven’t risen high enough. The reason I believe the current ticket market is unfair is the tacit understanding that Ticketmaster appears to have with scalpers. It appears as if scalpers are able to purchase an inordinate amount of tickets to all Ticketmaster events – concerts or sporting events – before the general public can get their hands on them. The scalpers don’t mind paying the fees because they know that they will have no trouble selling all of their tickets at an even higher price. Even if they don’t sell all of their tickets, the fact that they may be able to sell a $63 ticket for $2000 (ala Hannah Montana) makes it all worthwhile. And this may also explain the phenomena that some of you have probably experienced where you get to a ’sold out’ show after paying for a hiked up ticket and there are empty seats everywhere – more than could be explained by people who got sick and couldn’t go. This complicit relationship that Ticketmaster has entered into with scalpers is tantamount to collusion and should be investigated if not by government then by an independent agency that can bring this issue to light and uncover the truth.
Why does this deserve attention? Rick Smith mentioned earlier in this post that ‘We don’t need governmental legislation to protect people who can’t control their spending habits.’ That may well be true in some, but not all, instances. The recent sub-prime mortgage crisis is a case in point. I’m assuming that Rick was really insinuating something different – that spending a lot of money on a concert is wrong or irresponsible whereas spending it on something else would be right. Rick also starts his post by saying ‘Who cares. Supply and demand. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and making you go. If people stop going, prices will fall.’ Regrettably, Rick has a fundamental misunderstanding of the principles of Supply and Demand as do many other people who have called for a boycott. The only way people will stop going is if the prices continue to rise. As I said earlier, if anything, prices haven’t risen high enough, because even with Ticketmaster’s fees and scalper’s price hikes, shows sell out. If prices continue to rise past market equilibrium, then people will stop going and the market will re-adjust itself. Calling for a unified boycott would be virtually impossible while you still have people willing to pay $2000 to see Hannah Montana. So what then is troublesome about Ticketmaster? To me, it goes back to those concerts that always seem to sell out at one second past 10AM on the first day of sale. If it true that scalpers are able to corner this market and scoop up all the tickets before the general public, and if Ticketmaster is aware of this practice, I would argue that they are directly facilitating the existence of a black market ticket trade. This is not ‘capitalism at work.’ This is consumers without perfect information being manipulated by a Fortune 500 company working in tacit agreement with an illegal and corrupt broker – the scalper – to hike prices. Stone Phillips, where are you?
I have never seen third party resellers any other place in the world. This is nothing but legalized scalping. What I do not understand is why general public cannot buy the tickets at the window when the tickets go on sale? How can ticketmaster get to those tickets earlier than normal people?
It’s a utter & complete disgrace that I can’t afford to take my children to see Hanna Montana in Worcester Ma on Sat 12/22. Why……..because ticket brokers like ticketmaster, stubhub are allowed to re-sell at 500% mark-up! Something has to be done. It is called scalping tickets. I mean….can’t they at least leave children events alone!!
One time I went to a Golden State game and bought clubhouse tix from a scalper. Paid the premium and the tix were good. That wasn’t the issue. The interesting thing was that the same guy was in the clubhouse having a drink at half time. The teams/organizations want a piece of the profitable scalping action. There are too many big egos to pass up the opportunity to bring in more cash from scalping. It isn’t a big jump to think that the box office has a team of scalpers and the tix are on the fix.
- David
I go to concerts for free. I work the concession stand or the usher stations(you still get to hear and/or see the event, you make money. The concession lines die down when the show begins ). What is the since of shelling out megabucks to sit in a seat sandwiched between people while trying to watch a concert only to have the person with 5 kids make 3 trips to the bathroom,2 trips to the concession stand-Nothing like having a bunch of butts in your face after you shelled out 100.00 per ticket, Not to mention the screaming fans,can’t hear sometimes) It’s free or work and pay me at the concert. Sorry Ticketmaster-sometimes people do beat you are your own game. P.S. I have seen some many events from Madonna/the superbowl/ and walked out with cash. Get creative! Don’t pay these punks-make them pay you!!!
For my daughter’s birthday I bought two of the furthest seats away from the stage to Hannah Montana in Seattle. I paid Ticketmaster $360.00.
The face value is $55.00 each. It reminds me of why I do not go to concerts. John from Dallas stated it very well. I remember.
WEll I will be the last to defend Ticketmaster- they are a greedy monoploy- however- SOME of the service charges are legit. They do have to pay people to do the IT work, set up the shows in the computer systems in order to sell them both on line and in the box offices. They need to pay people, they need to pay the credit card companies their fees that they get charged ( whicih is passed on to the customer) the mailing, envelopes, printing of the tickets- the paper (or ticket stock as its called) is very expensive and not regular paper to help prevent fake tickets at the venue, and their everyday operating charges.
However- there needs to be another look as to how much of that really needs to be passed on to the customer.
I don’t go to 3/4 of the shows I use to because ticket prices and fees are out of control.
Also there are some show that are only available the first day of an onsale from TM- you can’t go to the box office and get them till the second day. That really sucks. Plus there are a lot fewer TM venders to go to due to the record industry putting itself and stores out of business, where you could go and buy a ticket in person.
Simply put Ticketmaster is scum. Can’t believe any venue would use a comapny that is so despised by their very customers.
Rock fans have been screaming about this for years- Van Halen tickets are out of reach for a lot of fans, but the brokers all have the good seats and plenty of them.
Now that there are crying children and paniced parents- NOW this issue gets some attention. TM is a monopoly- period. The brokers aren’t stopped on any level. Why not go after the brokers?
I am commenting on the Hannah Montana ticket situation. After hearing about the upcoming concert my 9 year old daughter talked of nothing else. I told her she would need to help earn to pay for the $65 ticket. We had a garage sale and spent 2 days selling a lot of old toys and my ecstatic daughter told everyone we were going to this concert. We made enough money to pay for both of our tickets and had an extra $40 for a souvenir. I went on line the first day to find the show sold out. I called Ticketmaster and was told that more seats would be released. I have spent numerous hours on line and on the phone trying to locate tickets but the only tickets available are costing hundreds of dollars and are out of our reach. Shame on these people for stealing the joy from all these excited kids who now can’t afford to go. I am just sickened by this whole sham!!!
Ticket master provides a service It devloped a system and it works service fees are a part of doing business.
The true problem is with Ticket brokers and scalpers true fans a stuck paying inflated prices, venue owners don’t balk because they always sell out.
Most brokers eat unsold tickes rather than sell them at a discount hours before the show or sporting event. so buyer don’t wait till the last secondto buy from them.
New software allows brokers and scalpers to cut in front of the line at sale time and since some brokers buy and sale tickets in other states on websites like Ebay and Craigslist the problem is multiped and we all suffer.
Now do we stifle the free interprise market and regulate the markup on tickets or outlaw the resale of event tickets all together, there is very little chance of outlawing scalping of event tickets they have a strong lobby and event owners will see there revenue fall,
so I propose a minamum of 10% markup on all after market sales of event tickets. All in favor say I
Tickets in today’s world are outmoded and unnecessary. Solve the problem simply by eliminating tickets, at least to the major big-money big-ticket shows, and sell ATTENDANCE LICENSES that are NON-TRANSFERABLE except back to the original venue for resale only through the venue. When you arrive at the venue you use an electronic token, cell-phone, Credit Card, etc that was used to purchase the license. Ticketmaster is wiped out of the deal immediately. Exclusive ticket sales contracts are anti-competitive and the legislators need to block this practice as they did to the Oil industry (Standard Oil) and to the phone company (original Ma Bell ATT). Pass legislation to set the control of ticket prices by the promoter only, any post-promoter sales must be for face value only. Change the technology and give tickets back to the venues.
Back in the good ‘ole days concert tickets used to be $12 a ticket. That’s when you actually stood in line to buy a ticket. How sad that we can’t even afford to take our children to a live performance of their favorite, decent and clean artists. Shame on you TicketMasters for gouging the consumer.
Yes, ticketmaster’s charges are unaffordable. At this point, however, the bigger question is whyYes, ticketmaster’s charges are unaffordable. At this point, however, the bigger question is why tickets sell out so quickly. For example, how is it possible for tickets to a band/group/person can go on sale at 10 am on a given day and sell out at 10:05? Granted, it is possible when the band/group/person is overwhelmingly popular, but why is this the norm for the majority of performances? On top of this, if you take the time to search ticket sellers online, you will find other ticket resellers have hundreds of tickets onsale minutes after ticket master has supposedly offered ticket sales to the publi. Therefore, explain to me how other companies can acquire tickets that the public cannot and then these companies can go ahead and resell them for at least double the price.
Ticket Brocker……is a fancy name for a ticket scalper, and ticketmaster DOES charge to much for all tickets.
I don’t even bother with concerts anymore.
I stopped going to concerts at larger venues some years ago because of expensive tickets (and not just the TicketMaster fees!) and bad seating unless you were willing to pay through the nose.
I now enjoy local acts at bars, cafes and small venues. Its affordable, fun, and usually just as good!
I fail to see any controversy. TicketMaster offers a service for a price, and consumers are free to accept or reject the offer.
My wife and I are Jimmy Buffet fans. Three years ago, we bought tickets @ $39 each, the next year, $100, then, this year, despite trying to buy ‘em early, they were exorbitantly priced, some as high as $1700. No more. JB’s concerts are parties more than concerts anyway, which is okay, but there are too many 13 and 14 year-olds in attendance, usually stinking drunk. Of course, I’m not being fair, am I–they don’t even know who JB is, just gimme another beer…
Ticketmaster, SPORTS TEAMS and the skeesers who suck up all the tickets before you can get them at a resonable price and charge enormous prices for their tickets forget whose the “BOSS”!
THE PEOPLE THAT’S WHO THE BOSS REALLY IS.
Show them who really runs the show because when you stop going to concerts, sports events and the theater, they will beg you to come back, when people start losing their jobs because of their greed.
Write your legislators … show them whose in charge!
You “THE PEOPLE” OWN THEM
That was a great idea by the brokers. I bet they earned alot. Just maybe how much they earn from the stock market. Many people were yearning to see hannah montana live. So their the brokers grabbed an opportunity. And bought all the tickets so they can sell it in a higher value.
The reason Ticketmaster fees and scalped tickets are so high is because **someone** out there is willing to pay the high prices.
It’s simple economics — if you don’t like the fees, don’t go. Do we **really** need to see that special someone perform?
Boycott this crap and the fees and prices will come down. It’s that simple.
It’s not only the issue with Ticket Master at work here. My daughter and my son are Hannah Montana fans, they love the show and wanted to go to the concert. I don’t have some much of a problem with the fees and would have paid them, however, there were not tickets available since bots bought them immediately. So what happens is that the seats can potentially be empty for the event since these weren’t actually people and they may or may not sell in some venues for these exuberant prices. The artists loses, the venue loses, there are not as many people buying t-shirts, CD’s, food, drinks etc. Even though the artist may believe they are getting paid regardless – they are clearly losing out to these people who are making an even bigger profit off of them for selling $63.00 tickets for $2,000.00 per seat and they get no piece of that. The people making the most money at this point off an artist’s show is someone who knows how to program – they don’t have to do anything but re-sell the ticket.
Americans act like such whiny victims. STOP GOING TO CONCERTS if it’s too expensive! Anybody who pays too much for tickets and then whines about it deserves to get shafted. Nobody is forcing you to spend your money. Show some self-control and common sense. Prices are high because people are willing to pay them! If you stop paying them, stop going to these events, the Ticketmasters of the world will be forced to bring prices down. Otherwise, the Ticketmasters are going to keep pushing the limit until they find the ceiling. That’s what businesses do! Businesses will do and say anything to separate you from your money, and they won’t feel guilty about it. Wise up.
If I needed to buy tickets through Ticketmaster I would miss the event. I just refuse to bow to those fees and have bought very few tickets over the years. If I could buy tickets the way they were bought before Ticketmaster was around..I would resume going to live venues. Ticketmaster killed my concert attending long ago.
When it is a show for children or teens, it is so disappointing that you have to tell your child that you cannot afford to buy them. They don’t quite understand and it breaks their hearts. I hate ticketmaster more than portable potties that have been used for a few weeks. ticketmaster need to pay a severe fine, reimburst all the money they stole from honest people, sent their execs to prison and put them out of business.
Ticketmaster is a monopoly. They need to be shut down. I hold my nose any time I have to deal with them. The laws of supply and demand only work when there is real competition.
Isn’t some of this ticket gouging ILLEGAL? If not, it should be.
Best way to deal with all of this is to not contribute to the illegality….DON’T GO! Hannah Montana concerts should all be cancelled.
Power in numbers. Maybe we can stop the greedy ticket brokers by banding together and stop buying from them! The only thing they understand is profit, so let’s take that away from them. They don’t care about the fans, all they want is money. Keep the money away from them and maybe they’ll take notice.
Yes it sucks that you have to pay 75.00 for a 40 dollar ticket — but no one makes you go.
And apparently most folks aren’t complaining because most of these concerts are sold out … so complaining about TicketMaster is like complaining about Gas prices — what good does it do.
I hate this crap. The U.S. Justice Dept. clamps down on Microsoft but Ticketmaster goes untouched? Where is the justice in that? A monopoly is a monopoly whether it be PC software or event tickets.
My daughter was crushed when I had to tell her I could not afford the ticket to see Miley.
Shame on you Ticketmaster management. I will support any legislation to drive you out of business forever.
I agree with the idea of a boycott if the consumer thinks something costs too much. I disagree with the idea of government regulating Ticketmaster fees. Let the market handle such matters.
Would it be redundent to state “Boycott the shows”? The artist will still get their cut for an empty sold out show.
The answer is not in passing more laws. The answer is simply a matter of supply and demand. Don’t like it? Don’t buy it. Or don’t buy straight from ticketmaster.
This is a free country. We are free to do what we want. That includes selling things for whatever price, and buying things at whatever price. If more of us band together and refuse to pay outragious prices, they will eventually have to come back down. Quit your whining.
Some of these comments seem to be from people who need to go back and review “supply and demand” and the negative impact to a market’s aggregate output in a monopoly market. Anyway, I agree with everyone that says SELL the Tickets at physical locations. My uncle said half the fun of getting tickets to see a concert was camping outside Tower Records to get tickets. Maybe the future is in the past?…I’m in. I got my Walgreens folding chair, sleeping bag, cellphone, and the phone number to Domino’s delivery. Now, I just need a concert…Who is with me???!!!!
Ticketmaster is just one more example of corporate America’s hostile stance toward the buying public. I stopped going to concerts/events YEARS ago because of Ticketmaster. They’re pigs.
You would think the “convience” charge would be per order and not per ticket. Ticketbastard needs to go down.
TicketMaster sucks. Whenever I want to go to a concert, I determine what ticket price I would be willing to pay, add on the convenience charges assessed by the crooks at TicketMaster, and spend THAT amount on something else. Until the crooks are removed from the loop, there is just no fun in going to a concert.
Parents should NOT buy tickets from scalpers. Instead, Hanna Montanna should air the concert on pay-per-view, and let the scalpers lose their shirts….
I see a lot of people on this board saying “I paid(insert exorbinant monetary amount)and got cheated” and then complaing that they were foolish enough to pay the charge!?! Here’s a clue people. Do not pay. Life is very simple. Touch fire, get burnt. Stop buying tickets from ticketmaster and stop getting screwed or stop complaining about what you did to yourself.
In a free market economy, the price of anything is set by the willingness to pay that price by the purchaser. If you people would stop paying ticketmaster the overpriced tickets they would quickly drop thier rates. Do yourself and everyone else a favor and take a hiatus from ticketed events for a year. I guarentee prices will magically drop, for theatre, musical performances, concerts, sporting events, movies, you name it. I don’t go to events like these for that reason.
We do not need Mama Federal Government to wipe our tushies every time we do something inane to ourselves.
Thank god this is finally getting some attention. Ticketmaster is out of control. Corporate greed at it’s finest.
In a free market economy the price of things is set by the willingness of the purchaser. If these idiotic people would stop paying these extraordinary prices, the ticket sellers would stop charging them. As long as people are willing to pay through the nose, sellers will charge through the nose.
Americans….Wake Up!!! The rich are getting richer. You tell me a company can make 8+ billion and all they do is take a regular price ticket and jack up the price……The performer is not getting the money although they are making good money…..The middle/poor class gets ripped…Some tickets cost $2,000….Where’s the government regarding this. This is robbery ripoff pure and simple….this is not free enterprise. In fact, if this keeps up, it will destroy live entertainment as we know it due to broker greed!!!!!
as long as people will pay the price, clever “business” will ask for more, so why are you surprised? Fair? Come on….It’s now a status symbol to go to a concert or sports event (at any cost). Big car, bigger house, biggest entertainment. I’m so sick of it. Is this bubble going to burst soon?
I have been a New England Patriots fan for the past 11 years, and have never been able to secure tickets at a reasonable price. Most companies like Ticketmaster.com and Stubhub.com want at least $200 to $300 for nosebleed seats (300 level seats), for which the face value is only $75. How can a family of 4, or even 2 go to these games without giving up a weeks paycheck. I really think that it is not just the Ticketmaster and Stubhubs of the world, but the various venues are also involved in it. I am shocked that when anyone tries to re-sell their ticket for more than $2 of the face value, they can be arrested and sent to jail. But when Ticketmaster like companies sell their tickets for more than hundreds of more dollars, no one is going after them. What hypocrisy is that in this day and age? Even if the government got involved in it, I don’t think the ticketing lobby, would ever allow this to happen. The lobbyists have the congressmen and the senators dancing for them anyways. Why would they try to do anything?
Why would anyone want to buy tickets to “Hannah Montana” anyway? That’s not even her name, she can’t sing, and she can’t act. If it weren’t for her daddy, Billy Ray Cyrus, she would be a normal person like the rest of us. By the way, he can’t act either. And in my opinion, can’t sing. Life’s just not fair! It really does come down to the fact that your breaks in life come from “who your daddy is and who you sleep with.”
The government should pass legislation making it illegal to sell an event ticket for more than face value. If the vendor is to receive payment for services, why not have it come from the performer or the arena involved – NOT the poor fan. Scalping, either by Ticketmaster or the guy on the street, needs to be outlawed.
This is capitalism people — one of the foundations of our country. Like anything else, action gets things done — not talk, or complaints. Impact the pockets of the businesses and you’ll see a change. In other words, stop paying the high costs, attendance will drop and so will prices.
WHY SHOULD TICKET MASTER BE ALLOWED TO BREAK MONOPOLY LAWS. WHO THE HELL ARE THEY!
I REFUSE TO PURCHASE A TICKET FROM THEM. IF ALL CONCERT PURCHASERS BOYCOTTED. THINGS WOULD CHANGE TODAY
Another problem besides the fees are the way ticketmaster releases tickets. I tried to get Stevie Wonder tickets today. After logging on right as sales started the first three sections were not available. Then several hours later they were. Someone needs to go after ticket brokers and their collusion with Ticketmaster.
It is a legal disgrace. How can this be happening? Break up the Ticket Master Monopoly! We need some competition and may I say some legislation…
People need to stop going to overpriced concerts and then the price gouging would stop. Have parents ever told their child no?
Ticketmaster fees are ridiculous! However, I do not think that government involvement is warranted. If people collectively refused to pay such prices things would change very quick. Unfortunately there will always be those that are willing to pay in order to feel privileged and that has a snowball effect. Vote with your dollars and quit paying their fees!
Not only are Ticket Master prices unjustified, they also control what tickets are available to sell. My husband and I simultaneously went on computers to purchase tickets for a concert at the beginning time of purchase. There were only seats available in the last rows of sections. How could no tickets be available in closer rows in the first few minutes of sales? That was the last time I have attempted to purchase any tickets sold through ticket master. I didn’t appreciate being ripped off by them.
For you poor naive fans that think musical integrity will win out over Corporate greed,I’ll see you at the Beatles reunion.This is Amerika and the Allmighty Dollar rules. You may thank poor voting habits for the destruction of anything with a Profit Margin.Death to Corporate America!
Use your drivers license number to purchase tickets and no more than 6. Thats one way to fight the stampede if you are not given the chance to purchase them like in the old days as a WINDOW ! !
I’m not going if its over $63
The government should start monitoring and tacking on heavy fines and penalties for this sort of price gouging. Kind of what the music industry is doing to illegal downloaders.
Ticketmaster is a real and actual monopoly, and as such should be prosecuted and dismantled. The whole entertainment ticketing system is deeply corrupt and needs to be fixed…
Concert promoters like Clear Channel contracts a given act for X dollars for an entire tour, period. The band gets a flat fee. Yet tickets vary wildly in price from city to city. An Eagles ticket might sell at $75 in Cleveland and $135 in L.A. The promoters are raking 100% profits, while sticking you with the “facility fee” that used to be part of the cost of putting on a show.
On top of that, TM will charge you (per ticket) $12.95 Convenience Charge, a $3.00 Facilities Fee, and $2.50 for shiipping. So an evening for four has you paying TM over $60 bucks, including the $10 they charge for a single envelope and $0.41 stamp.
You cannot realistically drive to every venue and line up at the box office, as some have suggested. Hot events in major cities sell out online in a matter of minutes – if you were third standing in line, you’d be out of luck, so you are FORCED to cough up TM’s outrageous upcharges for any essentially any event in town. If you can even get through on the phone or online, the seats you are offered often suck, even if tix have been on sale for ten seconds. Isn’t interesting that the 3rd party brokers always seem to find prime seats…
SHUT THE RAT BASTARDS DOWN! AT LEAST CREATE A SITUATION THAT ALLOWS FOR COMPETITION!
Hell, I’ll open a ticketing agency that sells tix for a $3 upcharge and ships for free, and I’ll make a fortune, thank you very much.
I think its rediculous. I was trying to buy “Wicked” tickets the other day and actually had to call Ticketmaster to ask them what the “convenience charge” really was. He didnt have a good explanation. On a $87 ticket, that alone was $8+.. It just gets to be to much. Then to top it all off, you can actually print these tickets from an email and your own home. How can they justify that extra cost when its an email? I think something should be done. I love going to plays and concerts, but hte costs just keep going way to high. Have a basic charge for the tickets and dont add all those extra charges in.
I loathe Ticketmaster, and find the term “convenience fee” insulting. Their exorbitant fees are a rip-off, period. Buying straight from the box office is the best solution, if you can.
Why is it that Ticketmaster has never been charged by the Justice Department for having monopolistic practices!? It’s not just Ticketmaster, but also the brokers that are allowed to purchased hundreds of tickets just to mark them up 10 times their face value. The problem is that the broker laws are determined per state and greatly differ, but either way, they are never enforced. Many normal consumers are called “scalpers” if they have 2 extra tickets to sell and mark them up $20 but the real scalpers are Ticketmater with their “inconvenience charge” and the ticket brokers that are allowed to rip off the general public.
One great example of this are Red Sox tickets in Boston. There is no way a normal family could afford 4 tickets to a normal season game because the tickets are sold out (bought mostly by brokers or people that have enough money to purchase season tickets which can go for $100K+). If the brokers do not get the tickets, those with season tickets that are not going to use them mainly sell them to the brokers for a profit, which the brokers then sell to consumers. If you want to see a Red Sox vs. Yankees game in Boston, your best bet is to drive/fly to New York and watch it there (it’ll be cheaper than paying $150+ per bleacher seat (worst seats)). Another example, I’ve seen brokers sell Madonna tickets in Madison Square garden for $10,000 during her last tour! $10,000!! I can put a down payment on a car with that!
These ticket brokers should be legislated and enforced HEAVILY to ensure normal working folks can enjoy seeing their favorite band/artist/show without having to take out a second mortgage if they want to take their family and see from a decent vantage point. Also, they should not be allowed to align themselves with venues since this open the doors for them to monopolize all the tickets and terms of sale.
A GOOD WAY FOR HANNAH MONTANA TO GET EVEN WITH THE BROKERS IS SHE SHOULD ANNOUNCE A FREE CONCERT SOMEWHERE IN A LARGE PARK FOR ALL THE YOUNG FANS THAT WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING TO HER CONCERT, MOST OF THE FAMILIES WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE HER FOR THAT, AND THEN ALL THE BROKER’S WOULD GET STUCK WITH ALL THOSE TICKETS, IT WOULD TEACH THEM A LESSON FOR BEING GREEDY. I KNOW MY 3 LITTLE GRANDDAUGHTER’S WOULD LOVED TO BE ABLE TO GO TO ONE OF HER CONCERTS BUT WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO AFFORD THE TICKETS.I HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO GET THROUGH TO TICKET MASTER WHEN SOMEONE BIG IS GOING ON SELL.
i agree that artists and promoters should address this not gov’t and people because they won’t there is only slow and painful solution.
Write a letter to your favourite Artist and them you will stop going to their concerts if they don’t stand up to ticketmaster. Without fans the artists are nothing.
Make sure to copy the venues you attend and your favourite newspaper.
I’ve done this 4 times this year. I’d love to make this a big movement!
Seems like it is the venues and not Ticketmaster that are guilty of un-competative practices (read “predatory monopoly”.) Also, how many of the venues are publicly owned (city, county or educational institution) or have a great deal of tax-payer dollars invested in them?
The price of tickets to anything anymore is sickening. Hannah Montana … $2000? You have GOT to be kidding me. If she care anything about her fans, she would cancel the rest of her shows in protest of ticket sales. Unfortuneately, she won’t because money is absolutely more important than her fans.
Hell will freeze over before any normal incomed family of 5 could EVER afford to go to a show anymore.
Ticketmaster is the American version of OPEC. “Raise the prices! They’ll pay it!” We are our own worst enemy
I don’t go to concerts but i still think ticketmaster is wrong for charging high prices. i think it should be considered as a form of price gouging. it is not right that they crush anyone’s dream of meeting someone they idolize just because the prices are too high. they need to be stopped!!!
It was a law that if you charged over the ticket price you had to pay a heafty fine. They called is scapling ! Now when I to went to pay for a Van Halen ticket on the floor that was priced at $125.00 they were all gone one hour after they went on sale but you could bid for a ticket starting at $325.00. They finally went for $1200.00.
Not doing it not ever !
TicketMaster is a total rip-off, but because they control ticket distribution for virtually every event here in southern California I have no choice. There junk fees are ridiculous, insulting and way beyond reasonable. How come most states outlaw scalping but this is allowed?
I’ve pretty much stopped going to big name shows as well due to ticketbastards over charging for “Fees”. I now just attend small venues here in the NYC area. Most all of them use an alternative ticket seller called TicketWeb, which also includes some fees, but they’re much more reasonable. And if you use their “will call” policy there’s no mailing fee or any other fee, just a service charge. But recently I’ve noticed that many of the small venues I was attending are now part of the Ticketbastard “Family”. This came to my attention when I went to purchase tickets for 2 shows, 1 at the Bowery Ballroom and 1 at The Mercury Lounge. I also noticed that ticketbastrds will call options for both venues was conspiculosly grayed out, unavailable for my to choose. When TicketWeb was handling these venues ticket sales I was always able to have my tickets held as will call. Now, not only do I have to pay for Ticketbastards outrageous, unwarranted overpriced fees, but now I also have to pay for them to mail me my tickets at an extra charge. Yeah, Ticketbastard is one of the many evil corporations in the current music industry, but now I’m calling out these venues that cater to them..I now have 2 less places to see live music. thank you for narrowing the field.
we need someone to form a boycotting site. If Hannah Montana plays to an empty stadium and the bokers get stuck with the tickets, they will go out of business
I think it’s sad that we are being ripped off. People can’t see Hannah Montan because of the tickets, and Hannah Montana doesn’t care about us as long as she making money, it doesn’t matter if we are ripped of. It makes me sad.
In Philly, Ticketmaster no longer sells tickets at the Wachovia Center or Wachovia Spectrum. Comcast Cable, who owns the two areas, started comcasttix.com, and they handle the ticket sales for almost all of their events.
Here’s the bull$*^#. They also charge the same fees that Ticketmaster charges. I mean they are not a third-party company that makes their money just selling tickets. They are selling tickets for events in buildings they own where they will also charge you $20 to park and $4 for a 20oz bottle of water.
Boycotting the events that use Ticket Master is the best solution to this problem. Do that for several concerts and the problem will disolve before your very eyes.
TicketMaster needs to be broken up out of their monopoly by the Justice dept. using anti-trust laws.
Derek, VA
ticketmaster’s surcharges are ludicrous at best. I do all the legwork: I find the tix, I enter my credit card info, and for this I am charged over 10% in service fees? What do THEY do? This is all electronic! Exactly what ’service’ is being provided? Kinda goes for ATM’s too, but let’s not get started.
Let’s send them a wakeup call. I think we can miss a few concerts to show our defiance against this blatant ripoff!
I could not care any less what ticketscammer charges for concerts. who in thier right mind would pay hundreds of dollars to all the doped up idiots who try to pass themselves off as entertainers. the money you spend on virtually any musical event just pays for the artist 22″ chrome wheels on the 100 thousand dollar car they drive around in. whats left after that goes to P.R. people and rehab centers. I do not attend any concerts or proffesional sports events because I hope they all go broke and wind up in a homeless shelter, Preferably in san fran sissy
I remember back in the 70’s buying tickets to Elvis etc. at Richmond Va. collseum. They limited sales to a total of 4 tickets, to any one transaction or person. This worked then to stop any on individual i.e. broker from buy up tickets and reselling/scalping. It worked then and would work now. Today the venues selling just don’t care, as long as they get their money. Put the blame where it lies with the vendors, not the brokers.
I am merely echoing others’ thoughts. I have stopped attending live concerts because I will not pay these ridiculous charges. The only artist I will pay to see live is Prince who was the first to actually break outside the rules of music industry and distribute free cds. More artists like Prince, Pearl Jam and Radiohead, need to step up to the plate, show integrity and stop unethical business practices that gouge their fans.
The real problem is in the people who continue to do business with these agencies. I don’t blame anyone for wanting to make as much money as possible, I blame the fans not having the self control to just say no. If you continue to support such comanies then no one should complain when a $50 ticket ends up being $75 or more.
if everyone refused to buy tickets from brokers this problem would go away on it own. i would love to see the brokers get stuck with million of dollars worth of tickets. AND have the stars come out to an empty concert hall
No one is being forced to pay anything.
If it is too expensive…don’t go.
Like many posters, I stopped years ago.
The prices, venues and quality of performances were all going in the wrong direction for me.
I think it is especially sad when a child has been so brain washed that they think it is esential to pay these outragous prices to see their lip syching hero from 200 feet away.
If there is an evil at work here look at Disney and the “tallent” as much as Ticketmaster.
Government should step in and fully regulate the price any American has to pay for an entertainment ticket — capitalism has no place on a stage. The God given right to attend concerts is no less important than the right to free speech. We must come together for the sake of the children who may be deprived the opportunity to flic their bic.
Hey, I know… let’s start a Congressional investigation. I mean, we have government dictating things like how many gallons our toilets flush, and how long our shotgun barrels must be, so what’s wrong with slapping federal controls on ticket brokers? So what if there’s no Constitutional authority? Since when has that ever stopped Congress?
I think it is a disgrace that every day people can’t afford to go to a concert or a ball game anymore. Try to buy a ticket to a Yankees game and the brokers have bought all the $60 tickets and are now selling them for over $300. I had to buy nose bleed seats from ticket master for $35 a piece. Hannah Montanna should cancel her tour and start all over. Why does the government allow this legalized scalping?
It is nothing more than “legalized” scalping. With today’s internet capabilities there is no reason each venue can’t have its own website and ticketing capabilities at face value.
Ticketmaster should yank it’s website and make people who want tickets have to physically go to ticketmaster or HyVee or whereever you can buy tickets…this would allow the legitimate fans a chance.
Go back to the old days when people camped out – no vagants standing in line -but sell tickets from the box office – that will wipe out Ticket Master
Performers and managers aren’t the problem – Ticketmaster isn’t the problem – it is the Brokers who buy a large number of tickets and raise the cost of to make money for themselves. I say boycott Brokers – they are the enemy in this. Especially for us regular folk who work hard and enjoy the occasional concert with our favorite artist/performer.
Ticketmaster is an online monopoly so we have to pay whatever they decide we should pay. Unless of course we want to take time off from work to drive to the venue and stand in line for tickets. Even that is no guarantee that you will get a good seat, because the ticket brokers online will have seen to that. Then they resell the tickets at obscene prices.
Solution?
Petition the venue of your choice to sell their own tickets online. Have them drop Ticketmaster. The tickets will still sell, especially in major cities. Make ticket scalping illegal. Period. Have the IRS audit ticket brokers on a regular basis.
Have RCA, etc. look into the matter. If the record companies, who are likely making a profit off of the concert tours of the bands they represent, should pursue lawsuits against the ticket brokers with the same fervor that they sue teenagers for downloading music.
First, of all, if you are paying the fees, then you are the fool. Just say No.
Secondly, this is irresponsible reporting. This is not just Ticketmaster and they are the front man.
A large % of those fees are not all for Ticketmaster or Tickets.com. My guess is that they get 50% of it. A large percentage of that goes to the artist, venue and promoter on top of the ticket face value. The artists are asking for more money now because we as consumers are drying up their royalties by downloading their music for free. You want to talk about a monopoly, check out Major League baseball owning tickets.com. If you own your ticketing company why are you charging me fees?
I have never bought a ticket through ticketmaster and never will. Prices are outrageous. Only the rich people can afford those prices. The average person who works hard to make ends meet is unable to. Corporations have lost consideration towards the efforts made by fellow americans. Ticketmaster is one more company that only cares for their own benefit and/or ripping people off.
Ticket shananigans have been going on for decades. Even before Ticketmaster I have been first in line at the box office and the best seating sections were not available Ticketmaster is a service where all shows are accessible worldwide. Local fans in large cities never have a chance. Gwen Steffani’s last tour used an inconvenient method but her fans got good seats at the show rates. The promoters and venues don’t care unless they lose money. Not likely for big draws.
All the states need to do is get smart and make a law that resale of tickets can only be for $.50 above the original cost if you had bought it at the door. Then include a fine of $5000.00 for each ticket that they sell for more that the cost plus fifty cents.
The best way to stop this practice is to let the brokers buy up all these tickets and then nobody buy them. The artist still gets paid but the brokers will take a hit. If they are buying up 80% of the tickets lets see them absorb that a few times.
Ticketmaster sucks! They are partnered with most of these so called “Ticket Brokers”. Some concerts “Sell out” in seconds leaving honest people in the dust. I can’t tell you how many concerts I have been unable to see because I just can’t see spending $500-$1000 dollars for a $50 dollar show. What I found even more offensive is that when a concert gets cancelled Ticketmaster will refund you the ticket money but they won’t give you back the Service Charges. Even if it’s the Artist’s fault the show was cancelled. It’s outrageous that the cousumer has to pay for a drug addicted artists cancellation. Shouldn’t the artist pay for those “Unrecoverable” fees? They are a true and tried mob like institution…but aint that America?
Much too high and the thought that substantial numbers of tickets are removed from the market for personal versus public interests and gains should be under congressional scrutiny.
Does the term scalping come to mind?? Ticketmaster should be investigated, they are no more than scalpers.
I haven’t gone to a concert in years, and don’t plan to. The same for any venue that uses TicketBastard or any other type of ticketing system that charges me a “convenience charge”. Besides, I’m not that desperate to see any event that feels it has to charge such exorbitant “fees” just to make the promoters rich. I’m sick of making these leeches rich for doing nothing … be it ticketing or the myriad other attempts to make a buck for doing nothing.
Ticket Master is a complete rip off. It is patently unfair that this company has an “exlusive right” to sell tickets for the venues and then charge you a fee for processing! These high prices make it absolutely unafordable for the average person to go to a concert or sporting event. I am not a fan of regulation, but if companies refuse to regulate themselves then the government must unfortunately step in to stop userism.
I stopped buying tickets through Ticketmaster years ago. The sad thing is most people don’t realize that they have other options and so they continue to let the bastards squeeze their wallets. Be proactive and call a venue to ask what other outlets are out there. There’s nothing convienent about charges if they exceed the cost of gas to get to the venue and buy the ticket directly.
There is no doubt that ticket master and some of the other scalpers are charging excessive fees for last minute patrons. If this is the case, I do not like the cost, but it is my own fault. The problem with this type of company is they also purchase large blocks of tickets when they become available making it virtually impossible to go to a concert or sporting event without add-on costs.
I think that the number of tickets sold to this type of company could be capped or sold two weeks prior to the concert. In this case, no one would have an excuse for not having purchased the tickets earlier.
I think the concert tickets should be sold at the door. The artist could have a person to handle ticket sales and eliminate the scalping and excess charges all together. I dont think it should be the Governments job to decide this, the performers should have this power already.
STOP BUYING TICKETS FROM TICKET MASTER FOR A YEAR AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
But i doubt you can do that, americans dont have the b….. to put someone out of business. Even bad business. I havent bought since 92 becuase of there tactics. I only buy directly from the venue.
Ticket Master and others like them should not be allowed to gobble up all the tickets to be sold for more than double its face value. If the industry, cannot regulate these types of price gouging, the government should step in, as they do the Insurance, Gas & Electricity industries, and limit these types of activities.
RM
Houston,TX
I am totally against Ticketmaster and others who exploit the fan. The worst part is that you can’t even get a ticket that is decent because the ‘brokers’ have bought all the good seats. I have really stopped going to concerts and plays because of the outragous cost of tickets. I am always against government interference in any venture. This is up to the consumer to stop buying the tickets. Then things will change.
This is a problem with a relatively simple solution. Tickets should be sold by name. The name of the ticket holder is printed on the ticket. After a reasonable amount of time is passed between the concert announcement and the actual performance, blocks of unsold tickets could be sold to agents such as ticket master. They would be required to print the names on the tickets as well but they would only be allowed to purchase tickets without a name printed on them after fans had been given an opportunity to purchase at the set price. At the concert a persons picture identification would be compared to their ticket.
I’m a concert promoter and found a solution to get away from TicketMaster. It’s called ClicknPrint Tickets… low fees, rebates and no cost to print your own ticket! No scanning equipment costs, comes with your no cost deal… you pay nothing for software since it’s an internet based company. Get out while you still can and find a new ticket company.
Ticketmaster and scalpers have ruined it for me and my friends. Also the old geezer rock stars who charge way to much for a nose bleed seat. 200 bucks to see a winkled David Lee Roth and Val Alin. I’ll buy the DVD
There’s an easy fix to this idiocy. Just say NO when prices go out of site. We the “common” people are killing ourselves with debt to pay these people to gouge the daylights out of us. Enjoy the wonder of family, friends and the great outdoors. It’s better for you and far less costly!
I think that this high price gouching should have a limit somewhere. such as a ticket that was bought for a concert at CenturyTel Center is Bossier City and 2 tickets were bought at the price of 24.95 and the total through ticket master was 120.90. This included a parking fee and that is for you to park your own car. Now what is up with that. I think this world is so money hungry that they don’t care for the little people that has to work overtime just to buy a ticket to whatever event. If all this goughing is goint to continue, then maybe we should go back to standing in line at least this would be honest in buying a ticket.I would just like to stay that I am one of the ones that was shut out by the money hungry people that bought up the Hannah Montanna tickets and was not able to get my daughter any and this ticks me off.
Wow. I see a lot of complaining about the prices on this forum, and then a grumbling admission that the overpriced tickets were then purchased.
Vote with your feet, people. If you don’t like the fees, stop paying them. We don’t need government to get involved. Nobody’s life will end if you don’t get to take your kids to frickin’ Hannah Montana.
You lose the right to complain if you’re willing to pay these exorbitant fees.
-MK
I am not an advocate of government intervention, especially for problems the American populace has created for themselves. As long as you, the American public are willing to continue paying the prices being asked by ticket services and scalpers, the prices will continue to grow. Why don’t you use the power that each individual has, the power to “just say no”; boycott all venues that allow ticket services to buy up all of the prime property tickets. Once you start hurting their pocket book and they, in turn, start paying less for performances or games and the sports team owners and managers start paying the players and performers less you will see action on behalf on the “paying public”. Use your heads – everytime you ask for government intervention it costs you $$ too; someone has to fund that new committee that will oversee ticket prices.
“There should be a law for this! There should be a law for that!” . . . Enough already!
Any parent that gives in and pays $2,000 a ticket for their child to attend ANY event is a moron, regardless of there financial worth.
Consumer protection is necessary, but not in the case of Moron vs. Moron.
Why are we concerned about Miss Montana ticket scalping when this country is continuously being swallowed up by monopolies, and biotech companies – overlooked by the FDA – that are using American citizens as lab rats.
A woman who downloaded music “illegally” gets a $222,000 dollar fine while the scum who exploit families wanting to buy tickets at face value can rake in millions of dollars. Hey…it’s legal, right? It’s time for some serious changes in the way the entertainment business operates.
My wife and I recently purchased tickets to a concert that were priced at $30, but with the TicketMaster “convenience fee” (what ever the hell that means) the cost increased to $39 a piece! And we’re not talking even about a main stream artist! In the end, the artists are the ones that will lose out since we can not afford to pay greedy bastards the money that should go to hard-up venues, artists, or in our case, a babysitter.
There is no justification other than greed to charge at this rate. Companies like InTicketing (www.inticketing.com) that focus on protecting the public from excessive fees and protect the environment in the process should be getting this business.
It’s time to put TicketMaster on notice. I support legislation to regulate those who can not regulate themselves and their greed on their own!
I think ticket scalping should be illegal! It isn’t fair. There should be a cap on how many tickets can be purchased at one time. Are the venues getting kick-backs from the scalped sales? Are the artists? It’s just plain wrong.
Oh yeah….and guess who TicketMaster spent a boat load of lobbying money on last year…the Federal Trade Commission.
Ticketmaster is just that… the MASTER! ooooo ahhhh! Sucks doesn’t it Ticketmaster.. You can’t sell tickets to Heaven or Hell! But you can go to Hell for free!
A number of groups have tried to sue TicketMaster, but have been unsuccessful. Yes, TicketMaster should be considered a monopoly but the DOJ won’t do anything about it. Why? Guess who’s pocket they’re in.
Unfortunately the venues are also partly to blame as they have all signed exclusive contracts with TicketMaster. So unless you can make it to the box office, which is typically only open during normal business hours, you’re stuck getting your ticket through TM.
The most annoying part about it all is TicketMaster’s attitude. They no one is going to stop them so they do as they please. Call customer service and try and get something resolved…you’re pretty much on your own.
I hate TICKETMASTER, and will not do business with anything related to them. unfortunately venues have signed exclusivity contracts with them. What I would like to know, is why doesn’t Government regulation kick-in. THEY ARE CLEARLY A MONOPOLY that is ruining the marketplace. As a musician I recognize that music sales will continue to decline, many bands today only survive from their live shows. Tickemaster’s greed, and unrealistic fees is about to ruin that too! Ticketmaster continuously laughs at the expense of the consumer. Shame on you all who help them make a profit, regardless of how much you love a band. Way to go Pearl Jam!!!
I have never understood why there is a service fee and a convienience fee, and a processing fee!
3 fees on one ticket?
They are theives. legal scalpers who have us with no choice.
A baseball game in the bleachers can becose a $100 event for 4 of us, when the published price is $12 per ticket.
If I can not buy a ticket at the venue I do not go. As long as people are willing to pay unfair prices companies like Ticketmaster will exist. The Hannah Montana affair is awful. She is not at fault but a boycott is the only solution.
The days of the consumer getting hosed are slowly coming to an end.
Big business has crushed ALL legitiment competition. The consumer can easily fix that by NOT going to events where tickets have been resold to companies.Complimentary tickets exempt.
There is a reason monopolies are outlawed in this country – companies like Ticketmaster that extort the general public. The question is, why is ticket master allowed to operate in such a fashion? I am all for people being paid for the work they do but this is ridiculous. I attend very few concerts now due to the excessive fees. I don’t mind contributing to my favorite artists, but I have no interest in “supporting” companies like Ticketmaster.
The story stikes an inflammatory chord but here are some facts that are almost never discussed.
1) Ticketmaster is NOT a monopoly. There are several dozen ticketing companies out there. They’re just the biggest & have the most contracts. Also, you can buy at the venue if you have the time & want to drive 50 miles.
2. In most cases less than half their fees go to TM. The rest gets paid to the venue, promoter & artist. That’s right…. Pearl Jam gets their cut too.
But the contracts say Ticketmaster has do take all the public heat and handle all the customer service while not disclosing the arrangememts. Pretty standard.
Oh yeah and the biggest promoters get half of your processing fee & print at home fee, too.
3. Why does your concert sell out so quickly? Because the venue and promoter control all inventory and lock an increasing percentage up in holds for fan clubs, politicians, season ticketholders and the artist’s entourage. Some shows have over 50% of their seats held.
Concert prices are nuts & fees are crazy but the blame doesn’t fall to Ticketmaster alone. Blame your artist guarantee, promoters like LiveNation & House of Blues (oh wait LN bought HOB) and yourself for paying stoopid prices.
Everyone (including other bands) should have listened to Pearl Jam back in 1994. Because look where we are today.
I purchased 4 tickets to a concert at the Merriweather Pavillion in Maryland this past June and the cost of each ticket was $35.00. The cost of getting the tickets from ticket master was $12.00 extra per ticket. Needless to say I was upset but stuck paying that charge.
While we were at the concert the venue ran across the big screen that they are going anti-Ticket Master for future concerts which they will not charge that fee if you buy your tickets through the venue website or box office. Congrats to someone standing up to Ticket Master.
The cost of doing business has never been cheaper: server fees, online automation, digital printing, etc. – it’s a fact, yet we continue to see their rates creep upward every year. Why?
Boycott concerts altogether. Save your money and buy the concert DVD.
The ticket business, just like oil, diamonds, music and other areas of the economy have been taken over by what can only be described as a cartel. The ultra rich work like a mafia. They monopolize whatever they can, then jack the price to way higher than it would normally be. It is sickening what some people get away with in the name of free enterprise.
I personally have quit attending most live events because of the exorbitant fees charged by Ticketmaster and the proliferation of “premium ticket brokers” that are ruining the business in Texas. it is tough enough to get to a good seat in any event. Some one should legislate some limits on what these people can charge as a “service fee”. they dont provide any service except to hand you your ticket
Absolutely ridiculous. I buy a $75 ticket to a sporting event (already out of my typical price range) and automatically see a $12 Ticket master “Convenience” charge,” and $4.00 to PRINT MY OWN TICKET?!?!?! Wait, I’m PRINTING MY OWN TICKET and Ticket master is charging me a convenience charge AND a printing my own ticket charge??? Remember, I am using MY ink/paper/computer/printer + there hasn’t been a human being in the process to pay an hourly wage/staffing charge. Why do I pay over 20% over face value for my ticket? Where are Ticketmaster’s cost for this to justify this kind of mark-up? Oh, but I can also pay $19.50 for 2 day business delivery which my local post office says cost $4.60. WHAT JUSTIFIES THE REMAINING $14.90??? Here I would pay 42% > Face value if I want to INconvenience an associate to physically place my ticekts in an envelope and put a stamp on it to send out. Did this cost Ticket master $31.50 to send my ticket by taxing an associate for ~4 minutes of labor + paper & a stamp?
Ticketmaster is LITERALLY robbing customers and because arenas have exclusive rights w/them, we have no choice if we want to see an event. While I can’t stand U2, I DO appreciate the stance they took for the general public several years ago by trying to avoid them. There’s simply no one looking out for the average everyday consumer & much like the Oil Industry they have total freedom to exploit fans of events. I wish I could buy EVERY TICKET directly from an arena and sell them for $5 over the face value to the public just to cover the REAL costs and steal business away from “Rip-offmaster.”
Artists and promotors need to solve this, not us. They should simply only use venues that will not sell tickets via ticketmaster or exclude ticketmaster in their agreement. If they care about their fans.
Shows in an area are for people in that area. Some scalper with a bot in california shouldn’t be able to buy the tickets then scalp them at 4x the cost.
That’s why I go to small venues that have a box office.
On the upside you can get into shows by waiting until the opening act is playing. Scalpers start to get nervous at that point and will sell the tickets at a loss out front just to get off of them.
If U2, Radiohead or Pearl Jam said “no ticketmaster”, you think the venue would say no? Money talks, the BS walks.
-Neil
Who cares. Supply and demand. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and making you go.
If people stop going, prices will fall.
We don’t need governmental legislation to protect people who can’t control their spending habits.
They do an excellent job and very dependable. You get what you pay for.
What about the annual increases in postal fees, heating, electric and gas. Let’s start bitching and being proactive on bringing back down or stabalizing the basics that are burdening our citizens of US.
Correct me if I am wrong but, when you are the only one who can sell a particular product; you are a monopoly… yes?
Didn’t we outlaw monopolies are very long time ago??? Seems to me the lawyers have found another way to circumvent the needs and rules of our society.
BOYCOTT THE ARTISTS, VENUES AND VENDORS.
When they are no longer profiting, they’ll become more reasonable.
Very simple solution.
Boycott any facility using a company that charges anything more than a nominal fee to purchase tickets online.
The cost of concert tickets is just rediculous these days.
I saw an event in Syracuse NY for $10. When the same exact thing came to NYC the ticket price had mysteriously risen to $40.
The fact of the matter is, if you are stupid enough to pay the randsom demanded for ticket these days. You get what you get.
If you want prices to go down, stop attending until the prices become much more reasonable.
I don’t somebody making a living at their craft. I do however very much mind somebody living the high life at my expense.
When they’re reasonable, I’ll be reasonable. Until then, you can get somebody else to buy that ticket.
…
Not only is TicketMaster a rip-off, but I love it when you go to the actual box office to buy tickets and they tack on a “service charge.” For what? Using my own gas and two legs for them to hand me a ticket through a hole in the glass? They didn’t even have to spend the 43 cents for a stamp! THAT there should be a law against. I can see charging a nominal fee for mailing, but if you pick up or print out the tix yourself, there should be nada exra bucks involved. I guess the box offices have figured out that if TicketMaster can scam people, so can they to a lesser degree.
The public does not have access to the same tickets that Ticketmaster and brokers do. So we must wait until these for profit brokers to put the tickets on the market and add their fees. All tickets should be availible to any and everyone from the minute they go on sale until there are sold out. Then the tickets can go on the secondary market and be auctioned off thru brokers and auction houses.
Ticketmaster executives are a bunch of greedy bastards. Many years ago I stopped going to big name show at big name venues because of them. Even though I can afford it, it is the principle of the the excessive fee, and no other options for the consumer, which prevents me from participating. I hope things change in the future.
I stopped going to concerts years ago because of the TICKETMASTER monopoly and excessive fees. And it’s next to impossible to get tickets from them anyway because of all the scalpers and people who have no interest in going, just in buying the tickets to make a quick buck reselling them on eBay.
Ticketmaster is a monopoly. We need to write to our representatives and they need to bring in the Anti-trust rules and put them in their place..Come to think of it Class Action is another course of action. Isn’t there some attorney out there that is interested in raking in some coin? I’m not paying the fee anymore. Don’t we pay enough taxes to fund the arenas and coliseums so they can sell their own tickets. If the entertainers started losing audiences, they would put the pressure on. But do they really care anyway?
Sold Out, No good seats left even at 10 am sale time, pre-sale to the public..blah blah blah.
I refuse to go concerts PERIOD! I would like Musicians to get back to playing music, which after all is the reason we listen right? Lay off the Big Money in eye Candy Stages, Pyrotechnics, Flashing Lights, Moving Stage Floors and on and on. The cost of the ticket is OUTRAGEOUS let alone the Monopoly of fee’s charged by Ticketmaster and the like. The problem is the majority of people however much they whine will just throw up their hands and sigh and then fork over the dough. The majority are NOT willing to do what it takes to make changes we simply just give in.
Concerts are the most overpriced entertainment values today. Remember seeing anyone you wanted for a $20 cheap seat less than 15 years ago? Now it’s well over $100. I live in Denver and the Broncos tickets are just short of a scam.
First of all you can’t get them after an hour, and for the last two years I haven’t even come close. The service fee is $15+ on a $40 ticket!! Soon afterwards you can snatch them on ebay for $200+.
The sadest part is the city of Denver requires the Broncos to sell 2000 seats a year at half price and they really do go to the locals. The problem is that all tickets used to go on sale at the same time, now the half price tickets go on sale an hour or two later than regular price.
So if you really want tickets to a certain game you have to purchase full price and then try to get half pricers later which are just 2000 random tickets so no idea what games or price level or anything.
I think Ticketmaster should be required to put the entire purchase price up before you even search for the tickets. For example, you wouldn’t even search for certain tickets if you knew they were $60 instead of $40 which is significant if you are buying 4-8 tickets. That’s why I say Go Rockies!! Atleast they don’t deal with Ticketmaster.
Don’t worry I’m doing more than complaining TM hasn’t gotten any money from me in years.
I think with the concert issue downloading music and the internet has taken away revenue from album sales and they have to make it up somewhere, but dang, $100+ for 2 or 3 hours of entertainment.???!!! I did some calculations with my online gaming and I’m paying aroud 30 cents and hour and that includes my internet connection. So you can suck it TM!!!
75% of the tickets should still be sold thru the venue itself, either on line on in person, the old fashioned way…if you want to bring business back to the inner city (in most cases) then we wait in line for the ticket window to open, not sitting on the web for 10:AM…it starts with the venues and promoters. Ticketmaster is simply a by-product.
The ticket brokers are most of the problem, $100 for Eagles tickets are one thing, but $500 from a ticket broker is highway robbery.
Sounds like a sneaky way of scalping to me. Maybe there needs to be some healthy competition or regulation intervention.
I don’t want anything to do with Ticketmasters or even the Sprint center. The fun has been taken out.There’s nothing wrong with making a profit, but 5 to 10 times the face value is holdup. I think we should boycott the Sprint Center and I bet that gets someone’s attention. Lets try it.
I guess it’s ok for Ticketmaster to have a monopoly on tickets and get away with it. Congress has to be the one that can change it. If not, then don’t go like I’m doing. Eventually it will show up on TV somewhere and much cheaper. By the way don’t go to a Bruce Springstein concert until he starts singing the songs that made him famouse. Can’t stand any of his other songs.
With their exclusivity rights to most venues in this country, Ticketmaster is the closest thing I can think of to a pure monopoly. How the anti-trust people didn’t see it that way when Eddie Vedder went after them is beyond me…oh wait they used those fees to pay off the lobyists and officials.
My two $95 tickets to Bruce at the Meadowlands cost me $219 in total. “Fair return” does not mean egregious markups for “costs of business”. Price gouging comes to mind, and last I checked, that’s not legal. This Republican would welcome someone slapping Ticketmaster down, but in the meantime, the entertainment industry should speak up louder — or be accused of complicity.
If you could get a good seat for a concert from TM’s web site at the time (I mean the moment) they go on sale, then the fees would be worth it. But the scalpers manage to get through the gates or the insiders get all the good seats before making them available to the public. I tried getting tickets for Dave Matthews at Fenway last year and at the strike of 10 AM when they opened, I was told all the available seats were gone. Baloney
Not only should their fees be capped, but the amount of time before a concert that tickets go on should also be limited. For instance, I hate paying for tickets in May for a September concert. Highway robbery!!!
Yes, I hate ticketmaster. It’s pretty much a monopoly. Likely the person who wrote this just bought tickets to something. Every year articles complain about this which fans have been complaining about for years and years, but let’s face it, nothing is ever going to get done. Pay it or don’t go, that’s pretty much the only choice we have or will ever have. Government is never going to do anything about this, so quit dreaming. Welcome to capitalism.
I’ve stopped attending these venues a long time ago. The ticket prices alone were expensive enough, but then to tag on this “charge” for something that you should be able to call the venue for directly. Our country has become the poster child for laziness and thoughtless purchases.
I praise the entertainers that have boycotted these “enterprises”. (ie. Pearl Jam)
I truly believe that our government should pass legislation limiting the fees charged to consumers … these fees are unfair and Ticketmaster should not be allowed to monopolize the ticket sales industry as they have.
I just took my family of 5 to Walking with Dinosaurs last Friday. We had to pay additional $26.25 on top of $135 for 5, that’s over 19%! Ridiculous rip-off. All I see is greed!
The Grateful Dead did it the best. They had their own ticket mail order system. We never paid a fee other than the price of the ticket. Bands can learn from a band like the Grateful Dead….the same band that allowed people to tape their shows. Go to Bluegrass festivals where you can buy a ticket at the gate. SCREW ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster; the company that puts the screws to the common man who works hard for his money and wants a little entertainment from time to time. Ticketmaster is no different than the oil companies. Economic conditions do not affect that company because no matter what the common man has no choice than to submit to Ticketmaster. That’s a good scam. I wonder if they’ve figured out how to scam the elderly out of their pensions yet.
I have decided that I will no longer go to any concert due to the way Ticketmaster makes tickets available to the public. If Ticketmaster can’t sell the tickets then they will have to change the way they do business.
RAISE THEM AS HIGH AS THE MARKET WILL BEAR,, I DON’T GO TO CONCERTS, SO I DON’T CARE HOW MUCH THEY CHARGE.. TICKETMASTER CAN CHARGE THEMSELVES RIGHT OUT OF BUSINESS AS FAR AS I’M CONCERNED..
I understand there’s a “cost of doing business” thing, but they could probably pay their bills and take home a profit on 40% or so gross, rather than the 200-300% (plus?) that they are probably making!
Supply and demand my A**, it’s GREED!!
There has to be some kind of law where Tickemaster can not charge such high fees. If there is I surely hope Ticketmaster get hit with a huge fine!
Can anyone say investigation? Anti-trust, price fixing, and anything else a class action attorney can pull out of their butt. These guys have held a strangle hold for too long on concerts. I have stopped going all together and I love live shows. Stop the madness!
The only way to send a message about the high price set by the artists, the venue and tickmaster is not to go to the event, here lies the problem, you have people saying they will pay any price to see there favorite artist and then complain about or as some put it brag about the price, tickmaster is only doing what every other business would do….look at gas stations, they will post a price and if people pay it they leave it up there, if they don’t then they lower the price. It takes the public to make a stand but that won’t happen, and to bring the goverment in on this is not the answer, that will cause more headaches…
Something should be done. I think this might fall not under supply and demand but anti trust since there are NO alternative to purchase the tickets without being charged double for the same service. If the convenience charges include staffing call centers are the call center agents not competent enough to process the request?
I just paid $39.70 for a “$25.00″ ticket for a concert in Houston. I was stupid enough to buy 3 tickets. So, I paid $44.10 in “fees” to Ticketcrapper. That could have bought me 1 whole t-shirt! (now that those start at $35 bucks now and used to be $10 or $15) I also remember back in my time we used to be able to go to a grocery store and purchase tickets there, before there was a Ticketcrapper. And the tickets then were only maybe $2 higher than the actual advertised price. The fact is that I live 85 miles away from the nearest venue (Houston Tx)and am already having to cough up a kidney to afford gas to make the round trip, and it really ticks me off when I find out how much more I have to “give away” just to be able to attend an event. How much more money can they possibly need? I print my own tickets, I never call customer service, I never purchase tickets at a window with a live human, so why should I have to pay for all that? I should be paying whoever it is that maintains their website and that is all.
That is very outrageous to charge 40 percent over face value. But hey if you have a problem with it, just go to the box office . i CAN UNDERSTAD why there are scalpers and fake ticket makers now…
ticketmaster is the worst ever. i also bought tickets for springsteen in pgh. i dont understand why they need to con people out of their hard earned money . i seriously doubt that the performing artista see any of that money .
Ticketmaster is legalized scalping. If I stood at a concert and charged a higher price to someone who wants buy tickets to a concert (I did the work of standing in line to buy the tickets at face value), I would be charged with scalping. So why isn’t ticketmaster charged with scalping?
I think those who are the entertainer should just print there own tickets and sell them themselves. If someone wants to go and see them I’m sure they will sellout no problem.
I think the fees are ridiculous. Like many businesses, they create these “fees” to make more money. Sure, everyone needs to get their cut, but its getting out of hand. This is why people are turning to the www to download movies, concerts, music, etc…Its just way to expensive to take your family or just you and a friend to do anything.
I say don’t buy the tickets through ticketmaster. They do have a lot of venues and if you want to go to one of there concerts or games bad enough, pay the price and quit complaning. No one really needs to go to a concert that bad. Save your money for something you feel you get your monies worth from.
I think those of you who are saying just don’t go to a concert are being naive. Now an organized total nationwide boycott might have an impact, but the major issue gets down to competition. If venues make an exclusive deal with Ticketmaster, they Ticketmaster has a monopoly, just like your electric company does. And your electric company’s rates are regulated by the government to provide reasonable rates and a fair profit to the electric company.
I also think the brokers should be outlawed nationwide. It’s legalized scalping.
I think it’s absolutely ridiculous!! I actually was going to order tickets today on ticketmaster.com. My little brother wanted tickets to see Silverstein. It was general admission $16 a ticket. They wanted to charge an additional $4.75 “convenience” fee! What is convenient about paying an extra 5 bucks for a $16 ticket?? That’s outrageous!! I also ran into the same problem when I bought circus tickets for my 4 yr old son and I! It’s sad because they’re making it real hard for people to be able to go to events with their children! I spent $62 for 2 general admission tickets! I can’t imagine if I had 2 or maybe 3 children!
If you want to stop the high prices, stop going to concerts for a while. The Acts get big bucks for a concert, now ticket master gets their big bucks. Same for sporting events – want to bring prices down, stop going for a while, I guarantee that prices will drop as well as the inflated wages that pro sports get today. It can all be controlled by you, stop going and the prices will drop!!!!
Who do you think pays for those phone lines,venues, ticket stock, equipment, ect? Everything is going up now days. Its called inflation! Ticketmaster has been threatend to be sued so many times, and nothing has happend yet. If you go to the box office, some box offices still have service charges to. Granted they may not be as much as ticketmaster, but by the time you go there all the good seats are taken. I say quit complaining. If you don’t like the service charges…don’t go to the show!
I recently went to a SF Giants game and paid $10 per ticket for bleacher seats + $7.50 in fees per ticket. That is ridiculous, but if you want to get your tickets then and there, you pay what you hafta pay.
Ticketmaster may have control over the bigger venues, but I have found that the smaller venues, which are also Ticketmaster outlets, sell tickets on their own without any additional fees, face value is all you will pay, except that on the day of the show you may pay a few dollars more since you did not purchase in advance.
It doesn’t pay to stand in line for tickets anymore with the internet. Ticketmaster is an evil monopoly and I wont go to a venue where they are the sole ticket seller. Those fees are crazy!
Try living in Minnesota, where our thoughtless lawmakers encourage scalping also. Now, people have programs that buy several hundred tickets online in one minute. Hannah Montana sold out in one minute! Now you can buy that $30 ticket for $450 on ebay.
Yes ticket bastard charges are way excessive! They make Fed taxes seem cheap. Myself and others who want to see live music but are forced to pay these high fees are thinking twice. We love the music but don’t like being raped by this monopoly. Break them up! Any company other company that charged this high % would not be in business too long. Airlines are about the only other business that charges close to this in taxes and that is usually only for international flights. Boycott Ticketbastard and lets put them out of business.
Ticketmaster is an unfair monopoly, they also make money thru fraud. If a concert is cancelled, they will not refund any fees. Last year, I lost over $30 in fees due to Aerosmith cancelling concerts. Ticketmaster claimed the fees were for services, but they gave me no service, and only aggravation. A lawyer should consider a class action suit, just on the Aerosmith dates being cancelled, Ticketmaster made at least $1,000,000 in fraudulently obtained fees. They recently purchased Ticketweb, and the fees which were $2.50 a ticket have since been tripled. I recently paid $7.00 a ticket in service fees thru Ticketweb. Ticketmaster charges at least 25% of the face value of a ticket, and I have passed on a number of shows due to these unfair fees this monopoly charges. It’s time prices were capped, and ticketmaster needs some real competition. You cannot even save by going to venues with Ticketmaster, as they will still in most cases charge you the fees.
Every American knows whether their a Democrat or a Republican that when government gets involved in anything a total mess ensues. I really don’t think that is the answer. As some of you have said, supply and demand. Cut of the demand and the supply dwindles. STOP going to concerts. STOP going to professional sporting events where grossly overpaid athletes play a backyard childs game. Eventually you’ll here nothing but the sounds of crickets at Ticketmaster’s headquarters.
I understand your anger and frustration, but you have to understand the ticket selling business has a host of costs most people wouldn’t think of. Internet ticket sales are extremely IT intensive. Programmers, Webmasters, systems analyst, network technicians and Internet security personnel all working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year is a very expensive endeavor.
Then you have application servers, web servers, firewalls, and as much bandwidth as can be found.
On top of all that, you have “ticket brokers†hitting your web server during an on-sale with dozens of computers trying to place hundreds of orders each clogging your web servers and bandwidth. It takes teams of high dollar high tech personnel trying to keep it going.
Another thing about those fees I saw someone complaining about having to pay for an e-ticket. Saying that they used their paper and ink and didn’t see why they should pay a fee for that. Here is why you have to pay a fee. Those tickets need to been scanned to verify that only one of them is allowed into the facility. There is a dedicated server for this at each of the facilities and each of those handheld scanners costs, on average, about $1800. Next time you’re at a show look at how many handhelds there are and multiply by $2000 and see how much has been invested.
These fees allow companies like Ticketmaster to stay up to date with the latest and greatest servers and technical employees. And yes I used to be affiliated with Ticketmaster, but no longer.
I just tried to buy a single $26 dollar ticket for a show in Columbus, OH via Ticketmaster. There is a $7 convenience charge, a $4.10 order processing fee, and a $2.50 fee for me to print at home. The total is $39.60 for a $26 ticket. That is over 50% markup!!
The truth is that Ticketmaster provides a real service to ticket buyers who no longer need to go down to a store and stand in line. You can order tickets in the comfort of your home and have them emailed to you. Worth the charges to me. The real problem is that parasites buy up all the tickets and sell them for far more than what Ticketmaster charges are. Those are the people we need to boycot.
It’s ridiculous when Miley Cirus/ Hanna Montana tickets are so outrageous that you can’t afford to take the kids. Hello!!! She’s an entertainer for kids. I marked my calendar with the pre-public sale for members of her fan club (my 11 yr. daughter is a member) and it didn’t matter that I was online promptly at the sale time of 10:00 AM. There were no tickets available. So, I then marked my calendar for the public sale date, same results. After several hours of searching I did find 2 tickets which cost me almost $400. This is absolutely outrageous. Yes, I can afford the $400. but what about all the little girls whose parents can’t. Because of the price, I will just walk my daughter to the door with her friend that she is taking and be there at the end to get them. It would have been nice to experience this with her. Most definately there should be some sort of governing body that limits the amount of tickets any one entity can buy and limits the amount of mark up. Or better yet, have 75% of the tickets sold by the venue only and to individuals only. Not company’s that are cheating kids out of being kids.
When I was 16 (and I am 43 now) I discovered that music does not have to be played out in an arena for it to be an experience, in fact watching bands in clubs have given me some really enriching experiences. All I can say is go online and look for little sough after bands and check them out….Fiery Furnaces, Jens Lekman, New Pornographers, Band of Horses, The Rosebuds, the Knife…will not break the bank. You can afford $15 for a show and the beer won’t cost you $8/cup.
I stopped going to concerts altogether when TicketMaster first appeared on the scene. Just one more hand in the till of the music business taking my money and not a DIME going to the artist.
I believe the government should step in. Ticketmaster clearly has a monopoly on the ticket industry as evidenced by Pearl Jam’s attempts to unsuccessfully circumvent the system a decade + ago which is completely against the free trade our country supposedly represents.
And one more thing…after the 30% charge you pay, they still print the tickets with ink that wears out after a few years. I have tickets from 10-15 years ago that have bleached out. So much for justifying that the 30% charge at least gives you a decent souvenir!
Can someone tell me what the difference is between Ticketmaster selling tickets for a 38% – 50% premium and buying from a scalper on the street?
I spent 2.5 hours on the phone trying to get the fees reversed after they never got the tickets to me in time – they refused – and were arrogant. Thank goodness for stub-hub and teams sponsoring their own open sales systems to compete.
I think what Ticketmaster is doing is criminal. They actually have an auction on their site for some shows where people can bid on tickets. Talk about a conflict of interest. Ticketmaster is auctioning off premium seats that were probably never made public. I also question if they provide large quantities of premium seats to ticket brokers for a hefty price. It is all very shady and unfair. If this isn’t a monopoly, what is? Where will the line be drawn? Maybe when people pay $200 for a $95 ticket.
As a 33 year old who has enjoyed a couple dozen concerts a year for many years, I hate Ticketmaster more than any other company I have ever encountered. The fact that 30% of your ticket cost goes to a company that has nothing to do with the artist, does no promotion for the show, and provides no service other than issuing and shipping tickets should be a crime. 5-10% on top of the ticket cost should cover your costs + a nice profit. 30% makes you feel like you got held up in an alley or visited a federal prison. I buy tickets through alternative means whenever possible.
A processing fee I have no problem with. But the “convenience” fee on top of that? I don’t think they’re kidding anyone. It’s ticket scalping under another name.
The best way to squash this greedy giant is to boycott their business. It might not make a different right away, but it will. It is just ridiculous.
think downloading music has something to do with it? the artist is now making money off shows, not albums sold….technology is working against us…when is the last time you heard a new album went gold? Thanks……
Screw Ticket master! I quit going to concerts years ago because of TixMaster. Talk about a monopoly. Where is the gov on this?
It’s a monopoly that overcharges for “services” that should be regulated by the government. Rarely now do I go to concerts that sell tickets only through Ticketmaster. A complete rip off…and with performers asking astronomical prices for tickets in the first place, you have to take out a second mortgage to see a “top” act. No more. I will see performers at local venues where you pay at the door or through their own selling site. Ticketmaster is next to criminal in the way they do business. And it’s very specious of them to say it’s the “cost of doing business.” Pfui.
We no longer go to concerts or sporting events. Tired of paying the extra fees. Now with the cost of gas, parking and other expenses it’s just not a budget friendly form of entertainment. Watching cable tv is enough $$$$.
I too boycott events that have no ticketing alternative to the evil ticketmaster. But the fault is with the venues. This is outsourcing pure and simple. Complaints should be directed at the venues with c.c. going to the management of the acts you are not going to see. And yes the monopoly should be broken up and brokers should not be allowed to purchase all the tickets until the fans have had a fighting chance. For now, boycott. And complain to artists and venues.
Yes I agree, Ticketmaster is way too high. I absolutely refuse to go to any concerts that jack up the fees. It’s a shame because the artists are suffering for somebody elses greed. Also EBAY and paypal charge tons as well, I won’t sell on there anymore, its a plain ripoff. By the times they jack on the fees the only person that makes the money is EBAY,b> and paypal.
I purchased a $25.00 ticket for a standing room only concert through Ticketmaster which ended up costing me $40.00. If Radiohead can sell their music online and bypass all the extra crap, why can’t something similar be done to bypass Ticketmaster and make them irrelevant for the greedy jerks they are.
Ticketmaster is a monopoly. The charges for my Van Halen concert were painful. Does nayone beleive a monopoly should charge 40% above face value of the tickets plus Fed Ex shipping. Ticketmaster needs to be regulated.
I avoid buying tickets via Ticketmaster whenever possible. I choose to buy direct from the venue box office. Fortunately, Ticketmaster does not run every box office around in my city. Avoid them when you can and go out of your way to do it…or pay the “convenience fee”.
On numerous occasions, I have attempted to purchase tickets through Ticketmaster for concert events via the internet at the very moment the tickets go on sale. Invariably, the concert is already sold out or the best seats are not available. Clearly, the premium vendors get access to tickets before the public. In effect, this practice results in inflated, unreasonable, unfair, premium prices for the general public. This is creative price gouging!
Purchased tickets from Ticketmaster to see The Color Purple when we arrived in Chicago, Cost more than the flight from Houston to Chicage to see the play due to the “Handling Fee” charged by Ticketmaster, plus the seats were really bad. As a senior citizen you can bet I will not do that again. Easier to purchase at the theatre.
I will never be able to take my wife to see a real rock concert simply because I refuse to pay the rediculous prices. Years ago, you could go to a retail location and usually get good seats if you were there first day of sale and early…now you can’t get a good seat because it appears they are all taken up by the radio stations, promoters, and ticket agencies.
Let’s not confuse face value with fees, supply and demand does not dictate the ticket price. The problem is the number and amount of fees per ticket, you need to start somewhere so introduce a cap to the agencies, limit and have them reasonably justify their fees.
They won’t sell you a ticket unless you approvve their right to sell your information to 3rd parties…that seems criminal (and monopolistic) in its own right Way too much leverage on buyers who don’t really have other choices for some events.
The monopoly that Ticketmaster has needs to be busted up. Not only do they charge outrageous “convenience” fees, but they promote scalping on their own website via “TicketExchange”. I am curious as to why TicketMaster has no interest in pursuing these scumbag scalpers that use software to hack the system and bypass the system that is in place to prevent bulk order purchases?? I would love to see Ticketmaster make a statement on this.
My biggest problem is that I think saying tickets are priced from $45-60 is a fraud when you end up paying $55-75 for them once all the fees are included. They should only be able to advertise the all in price. Imagine if gasoline could advertise a pump price that did not add in taxes.
I guess since Ticketmaster has a monopoly on selling tickets they can charge what they want. I personally think this stinks since no other business catagory is allowed to monopolize the market.
There are some concerts I’ve want to see, but I’ll be DA..ED if I’ll pay the HUGE ticketmaster fees, so I just don’t go.
The monopoly of Ticketmaster is no different than the communications and energy monopolies that has been brought to court and abolished. There are laws against this – why haven’t they been enforced? Not only are the fees exessive, but on many occasions the tickets are sold out to the public before they are ever available. Countless timess I have gone online at 12:00 a.m. to purchase tickets (only available through Ticketmaster) for a concert on the day they go on sale and they are sold out. I’d like to know who the Ticketmaster employees are who buy them up and scalp them. Scalping is also illegal. There are crimes being comitted here. Where are the authorities? I enjoy concerts and shows. I have no choice. Boyctting just won’t ever happen. We enjoy our concerts and Broadway plays – we are stuck unless there is legal action.
It is quite simple, businesses will pass along credit card fees and any other fees unless consumers demand a change. There is a solution, find out about the next generation payment platform at http://www.revolutionmoney.com. Insist that Ticketmaster accept the RevolutionCard as a form of payment thereby essentially eliminating interchange fees.
We shouldn’t be treating concerts like we have a right to go at a reasonable price. It’s not like its food. It’s a concert. If the tickets are too expensive then don’t go. If the service fees are too high, then don’t buy the tickets. It’s simple economics really. If you’re willing to pay the price and the venues keep getting sold out…then the price will stay high. It’s the same with the music itself.
I stopped going to concerts/events a few years ago after paying what I considered excessive charges for what turned out to be crappy seats. I’ve since gone through Craigslist for bargains and every so often I get lucky.
I agree about Ticketmaster ripping people off. I have learned to find tickets other ways or don’t go at all.
This is simple supply and demand. If they aren’t selling out tickets at those prices, they’ll lower the price to ensure that they do. People are always willing to buy a good at a certain price, and although those who are willing to pay less may not buy the higher priced tickets, those to whom it’s worth it will buy those tickets.
And actually, in response to Sam, it’s not the super rich that make the price so high. It’s whoever is willing to pay that price. If I’m dirt poor, but love a band to the effect that I’m willing to pay $500 to go see a show, I’m going to drive up the price. Everyone needs to take a basic economics class to understand this.
Ticketmaster’s fees are prohibitively excessive. I will skip an event rather than paying them. That said, government price control is not the answer. Competition is.
True Ticketmaster story:
About 5 years ago, I wanted to go to the McDonald’s All American HS basketball game at Cameron on Duke campus. I called the Cameron box office and was told they didn’t have any tickets, I had to use TicketMaster. Though it was more convenient for me to swing by the box office, I was charged a “convenience” fee. After doing so, I realized I had just purchased tickets for CHARITY even played by HIGH SCHOOL students. Cameron holds about 8K, times $7.95, plus a variable per order fee. Approx $100K in revenue for TM from a high school charity event. I don’t know what their net margins are but are probably at least 25%, meaning $25K in profit. What a disgrace. I asked TM if they kept that money but couldn’t get an answer. I got in touch with the guy who coordinates the game and he couldn’t tell me either. It’s pretty obvious that is a “yes.”
This is a complete injustice for customers. We has customers should have a choice, a competitor. When we don’t we end up in situations like this. Over paying for things we want. If nothing else, the artist should stand up for their fans and lobby against ticket masters. It is as much their fault as it is anyone elses’. There should be more artist like Pearl Jam that would stand up for thier fans. If they don’t, who will. The politicians? Please!
Plain and simple, Ticketmaster is a monopoly. High prices, poor service, making themselves rich at everyone else’s expense (consumer, artist, venue) does not include services fees
If all retailers had to list out the specifics on the costs involved in what you are about to purchase we’d be having this same conversation about every retail business in the US. Most retailers actually mark up their products 100% over what they paid the wholesaler for the product. But no one is complaining over what you just paid for a t-shirt at the Gap.
The ticket industry is the only retail business I can think of that is required by law to break out the fees related to their services so that the consumer knows exactly what they are paying for. Instead of calling for fee caps, why not insist that all industries list out the whole sale price, the fees and additional markups so you know exactly what you’re paying for.
Do any of you have a better idea as to how Ticketmaster could sell tickets if they didn’t charge a service fee to cover their costs? 38% markup is truly nothing compared to what most businesses charge us, we just don’t know it.
I drive to the venue when I purchase tickets to allow Ticketmaster to get the smallest possible fee.
My wife and I used to go to events all the time before sticketmaster became a monopoly. Although we can afford the fees we no longer patronize due to priniciple alone. Agree with the comments posted previously. The fees are nothing short of highway robbery. Not only should the fees be capped but the allotment numbers for sale through sticketmaster and other re-sellers need to be regulated also. Take them out of the equation and return the control to the fans via box office sales.
I applaud Jessica for her article. Ticketmaster’s service charges are beyond ridiculous – esp. having to pay to use your OWN printer and ink to obtain your ticket.
As someone who’s out seeing shows weekly, I have started avoiding favorite bands simply because I am sick of Ticketmaster gouging me. I hope this article gives these greedy businessmen something to think about. Some of us thrive on live music just want to experience our favorite art without having to save a year to do so.
Yes, I think the fees are too high. Because of this, I have stopped buying and tickets through them. I buy only from the venues themselves. If I can’t do that, I don’t go.
I guess I am the minority here as I have bought many tickets on ticketmaster and have always found their prices to be much less than the venue that is having the event. Yes you pay for a service fee, but in my opinion it is worth it to not have to stand in a long line for the tickets. Example, UFC tickets were brought through ticketmaster and they were very good seats at $200 a pop. I saw on other sites tickets in the same area selling for twice the amount of not more than than. So, I am willing to pay the service fee for the convenience.
Re Matt’s post below. I had exactly the same issue with tickets for the Floyd Mayweather fight on December 8th. Tickets went on sale at 10am. Sole out instantly, the phone line was jammed and at 5 mins past 10 the tout website had hundred of tickets available at 6 times face value. I went so far as contacting ticketmaster to voice my displeasure and got a standard, that’s supply and demand for you, type answer.
I can’t add to any of the thoughts expressed by concert goers however as long as they keep buying tickets through Ticketmaster it will be business as usual. In a capitalist economy the best way to express your opinion is to shop elsewhere. Once Ticketmaster starts to lose business (or rather revenue) they will re-consider their fees. Until then its GOUGE GOUGE GOUGE.
There are laws about ticket scalping, lets enforce them. Allow Ticket Master a maximum fee of 5%, and anyone buying bulk quantities and then trying to sell them for huge profit should go to jail. It’s a matter of giving everyone a fair chance to attend the concert and enjoy the performance.
Ticketmaster like the others rips people off because Congress and the states LET THEM. I don’t buy tickets to anything where I have to go through a ticket agency…it isn’t that important to my life. I’m not very old but I paid $8.75 for Led Zepplin, Creedence and Rolling Stones… back when there were two or more bands fronting for them…Led Zepplin and Creedence played because they loved…both band played for over 4 hours at their concerts…that was money worthwhile… today none of the bands are worth it except maybe Pink Floyd.
At issue is the venue choosing a distributor that alleviates them from having to deal with ticket distribution. Just like with Big Oil, the consumer pays the price in the end and all because we enjoy the freedom of capitalism.
This may be the funniest thing I’ve read in months. First off, this is not news, it’s been going on for years. The concept of Ticketmaster charging us convenience fees for making their life easier is the best scam going.
Secondly, guess what, just not going isn’t really an option for many actual fans. Some of us like going to concerts/sporting events, so we’re basically screwed. Should the government cap prices? No. But we need competition and right now there is almost none.
I blame it squarely on Ticketmaster, not the artists. Many artists have attempted to lower their prices, but ticketmaster is the one screwing us over. I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if my tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra had said “$58″ outright, instead of saying “$48″ then tacking on the service fee at the counter. If there must be a fee – let it be ONE, FLAT percentage fee, regardless of the artist/venue/ticket price, and be done with it. They nickel/dime you to death, and the more popular the artist, the more they screw you.
The fees they charge are the reason I will only go to a concert if it’s someone I really like. Otherwise, the charges definitely keep me away. I guess they’re making enough off of the folks that do purchase to not have to lower thier costs to add seats. The consumer is the loser, but the artists suffer as well. Take a fledgling or new artist who has a fragile fan base, would their fans be willing to pay a 40% premium for their show? Not likely, and that person or group may fade away, all thanks to Ticketmaster.
I can top the Bruce Springsteen tickets – I bought two tickets to Nickelback in Dallas – it cost me $350.00 – when we
got to the stadium I found out the tickets sold for $99.00 – which means I spent $150.00 too damn much!!
I dont mind paying to see the entertainers I like — but thats the last concert I will attend!! I am not paying some company some high price for tickets for NOTHING!!!
Oh yeah – and a beer cost $12.00
Pretty damn expensive night!!
Whatever price you see for a ticket on advertisement, is not the real price, what’s the point of using that number on the promo? Advertisers should be pissed too..
I stopped using Ticketmaster. If the event is in my home town I drive to the ticket window and buy them in person. Sadly, some venues will only do Ticketmaster and not accept orders directly over the phone…I avoid those places.
Cheerleaders for capitalism tout that competition for business arrives at the best deal for consumers and business. … What competition? If it’s going to be a monopoly, why not make it a government monopoly – at these then we can vote for the people who rip us off.
Forget pursuing Microsoft for antitrust — go after Ticketmaster. I’m tired of paying outrageous fees.
Personally, I prefer the market force change rather than legislating new law. Put another way: Don’t go to the show if Ticketmaster is the ONLY way to buy tickets. But we all know we won’t do that, hence the fees. The bigger problem, as someone else mentions, is that anyone in any part of the country can buy tickets to any venue in the country. This makes it nearly impossible for local residents to take their family to a show. Even face value is high. Once some guy 5 states away gets them and posts them on eBay, the price has gone up 3x-10x. One solution might be to restrict sales to only residents of the state that the venue is based for the first 6, or 24, hours of ticket sales.
This is why I stopped going to concerts. The exorbitant ticket prices (plus surcharges, “convenience fees”, etc.) has drastically lowered my patience threshold for drunk/obnoxious fans and/or poor seating. If I’m expected to pay through the nose, then I deserve a perfect concert experience. I realized that it’s far less hassle to purchase a concert DVD and enjoy the show multiple times without the headache and for a fraction of the costs. The money I save goes to seeing shows from lesser-known acts.
I hate Ticketmaster…they suck….something should be done about them…they are ruining the concert expierience for the sake of pure American greed and glutney…..
Ticketmaster is right. They have a right to charge what they want and Congressional Idiots should stop pandering to the contrary.
However, since this is a free market, if I can’t get the ticket directly from the theater or arena, I don’t go. So, those of you who run these venues: if you are completely full already, you haven’t missed me. But, if you’re not and I have to buy through TM, that may explain some of your empty seats.
I used to go to concerts often, but haven’t been to a concert in over 2 years if the tickets are only available through Ticketmaster. I refuse to pay their ‘reasonable rate of return’ and will find some other venue, concert, ballgame, etc to go to get a better value for my money.
I’ve been boycotting Ticketmaster for 6 years after they sold me $400 in tickets for a show that didn’t even exist! I couldn’t reach a single live person at Ticketmaster after hours of being on hold over several weeks. I finally had to have the charges reversed via my credit card company. It’s not easy to avoid Ticketmaster since they’ve got the solid corner on the market, but with the outrageous co-charges, it’s totally worth it!
I don’t think a cap on the cost will work. It should be open to competition. There should be a law which does not allow exclusivity.
If the public boycotts any one event then the message will be very clear. Just canceling one show per year will get the message across.
Ticketmaster is a major ripoff. I bought a ticket to see John Fogerty a couple of years ago for $35, by the time the fees were added it was $50. What a joke. With this being the age of the internet why don’t these venues eliminate Ticketmaster and sell the tickets solely through their own website??? Or, the promoter could do it like the British do when a major act comes to London. A full page add is taken out in the paper, you send in a money order for the number of tickets that you want (limited #), then the tickets are drawn by lottery. If you are chosen you get the tickets, if not, you get your money order back, plus this pretty much eliminates the
scalpers getting all of the good seats!!!
The prices of the tickets are ridiculous themselves (most of the time), but on the top of it you have a ‘convenience fee’, a ’service fee’, and other fees. This is just a rip off. It doesn’t even let you choose the seats for the price. And you have to be a fast typer and a fast thinker, otherwise the time is up (they give you a couple of minutes to complete your purchase) and you have to start all over again.
what can we do to fight back? isn’t the answer obvious? stop buying tickets from Tickemaster. yeah, you may miss some shows, but it’ll remind them who’s boss – us, w/ our money in our pockets.
I stopped going to concerts in big venues years ago when Ticketmaster became the only place to buy them. It is too bad that the artists suffer, but I am not going to pay their useless fees. I’d rather just not go. It should be illigal to jack up the prices if the comsumer has no other choice.
I don’t like the high fees that Ticketmaster charges either, but what we are really paying for is the convenience. To not have to leave the comfort of my own home to purchase tickets in person at the venue (I can sit at the computer in my pj’s!), to not have to stand in line (maybe overnight), to not have to call on the phone over and over again trying to get through…this is why we put up with the high fees. It’s fast, easy and convenient. If you’re willing, you must put a fair amount of effort into finding cheaper tickets. Sometimes I am…sometimes I’m not…so sometimes I just bite the bullet, pay the fees and enjoy the show!
Ticketbastard does suck, but what are we to do? Who else sells tickets to the shows? Sometimes even through band websites and at the venues you have to go through Ticketbastard.
Ticketbastard is becoming a total monopoly.
I agree that ticketmaster’s fees are crazy, but it beats paying 3x face value for the same tickets someone 3,000 miles away purchased and threw on a ticket auction website. Tickets should be limited to a radius, and scalpers should be enforced against. In order to buy baseball tickets at the stadium this year I had to walk through 7-8 scalpers on one block before I could walk 1 block to the stadium from my apartment.
RIDICULOUS!! Absolutely r i d i c u l o u s fees! I understand it is more convenient to purchase tickets online rather than driving all the way to the venue and stading in line. But come on! The charges are absurd! Someone please, investigate!
The number one reason why service charges are so high is because in fact, most of the money paid to service fees actually goes to the artist and the promoter through what is known as a “service fee rebateâ€. When a person pays the service charge, they are in fact paying a higher price for the ticket than is suggested by the face value. The reason is this: by keeping the ticket price relatively low and charging a high service fee, it makes the artist and promoter look good, at the expense of the ticketing company. “Looking good” is much more important to the artist and the promoter for marketing purposes, as opposed to the ticketing companies, who don’t market directly to the patrons, rather they market the “service fee rebate” to the artists and promoters in order to attract their business. This is very common in the ticketing business. Most artists and promoters demand this rebate, and if the ticketing company refuses, the artist and/or promoter will take their business elsewhere.
It is flat-out a deliberate method for artists and promoters to hide the true price of a ticket. The “service fee rebate” accounts for as much as 90% of the service fee you pay. For example, a ticket to a concert may have a face value of $40 with a $15 service fee. Of that service fee, $13.50 goes to the artist and the promoter and $1.50 goes to the ticketing agency, making the real cost of the ticket $53.50. The rest of the service fee goes to the ticketing agency to cover such costs as the software development costs (software engineers are not by any means cheap labor), the customer service costs, fulfillment and shipping, and very little pure profit built in.
In the end, it is the greed of the artists and the promoters that drives the high cost of service fees. Ticketmaster, as a company, is an exception, but not by any means a good exception. They make up for the service fee rebate by simply charging an even higher service fee, which is only made possible by their large foothold on the market. This is actually the real reason Pearl Jam refused to work with Ticketmaster. If Ticketmaster was going to charge a higher service fee, the band wanted to receive a greater percentage. That is also the reason such companies as Tickets.com and Musictoday.com charge much lower service fees. They are content to receive a smaller percentage of the fee in exchange for the business of the artist, or the promoter, who may manage tours for several artists.
Altogether, concertgoers may not find much comfort in the fact that their favorite band and their tour promoter is ripping them off. I personally believe that dedicated fans would be willing to pay a higher face value to support the artists that they love. When it comes down to it though, like any other business claiming to care about their customers, many artists and promoters are only interested in one thing: getting as much money out of you as they can, and if high service fees are a way to do it, while still making themselves look good, well, that’s the way it is.
I was just having this conversation the other day. Ticketmaster is most certainly a monopoly and should be investigated by the feds under current US anti-trust laws. Exclusive contracts with venues only firm up this point. I am an avid hockey fan and have become increasingly pissed at the amount of extra “convenience” charges I MUST pay in order to get a ticket. The most recent was the extra charge for being able to print the tickets at home!!! It’s my paper and my ink, why on earth would you charge me for that!!!!!! It was one thing when you had to camp out in line at ticketmaster, it was almost enjoyable. However, the internet did away with that and hopefully it will do away with Ticketmaster altogether.
Nobody has pointed out that kickbacks are illegal. TM pays the “facility fee” to the venue in exchange for exclusive ticketing rights. This is a kickback, plain and simple.
It’s true. The only we power we have is the power to boycott them. Do not attend any event that uses Ticketscalper or any other ’service’. Make the venues see that this crap will effect their bottom line.
I live in Luray VA, that 2 hours from every major arena in the state. I have been going to shows for the last 32 years and have seen the changes go from bad to worse. In 1978 I went to see Ted Nugent with some unknown band called VanHalen for $7.70 at the box office of the Capital Center, service charges were non-existant.Fast forward to today, I got tickets for Van Halen at the Verizion Center in DC (lucky me?) online for $150 each and a $20 convience charge for each ticket plus processing for a total of $343 for 2 tickets.Show was sold out in a bout 4 minutes. This bad enough, but this is worse. A few years ago, I got $50 lawn
tickets for Radiohead at Merriwether Post Pavillion in Maryland. They sold out.lucky to get what I got. What REALLY PISSED ME OFF was the fact that there were front row seats for sale on e-bay seconds later for $1500 from some guy from California. Ticket bastard is a joke but what is a fan to do
(1) The “convenience” fees were only $2 per ticket about 10 years ago – so why are they sometimes as much as $10, or even more, now? Have their costs of doing business really increased that much? And why does the convenience charge vary depending on the ticket? Are some tickets more “convenient” to provide than others?
(2) Why is it more expensive to have tickets emailed to you ($1.75 per ticket) than to have them sent to you by regular mail (free)? I would assume it costs them less to email the tickets to you, no?
I do everything I can to avoid Ticketmaster now – if they were out of control 10 years ago, they are even more so now. Too bad Pearl Jam made so little impact.
If we all stopped buying these and other way overpriced things in this country wouldn’t the sellers have to lower their prices or go out of business. I love the artists at concerts but refuse to pay the asking price to see any of them.
Ticketmaster sucks. Now they have a totally automated system that takes 10 minutes to complete. For a hot concert like Springsteen you end up with junk seats, still paying over $100 for a $65 dollar seat. I understand the “just don’t go” thinking but why should the sweet things in life be available just to the wealthy?
There’s no way I’ll ever buy a ticket through a service like this. I can afford it, but I refuse to support this kind of rip-off.
Ticketmasters single-handedly put me off concert going in the early 80’s when they started grabbing every single ticket and scalped them. Between Ticketmasters, the record companys and the RIAA, the music business has become so distasteful that I can hardly stand it. I haven’t attended a live show in over 25 years and I ONLY buy CD’s from non-RIAA artists. I hope the government will stop this legitimate (term used very loosely) scalping.
Why is everyone whining about high ticket prices? You created the problem yourselves because you keep paying and paying and of course they keep taking advantage who can blame them?
Here’s the answer in two words: DON’T GO. I stopped going to concerts 10 years ago when the tickets crossed the $100 line and I could care less. That will fix the problem in under a year.
You people crack me up. You say you can’t afford health insurance but you have all this money for your overpriced concert tickets and drugs and alcohol and the rest of the taxpayers can pick up your health care.
Ticket master IS a rip-off! They’re a monopoly that has gotten extra greedy and is trying to nickle and dime consumers for every penny by creating ridiculous fees such as “convenience fees” and the like. Fees should definitely be capped but on the other hand I’d pay anything for Incubus tickets… But lowering the fees will sweeten the deal. We as consumers must stand up!!
What ever happened to fair trade and goodwill? I will never use ticketmaster again. I will always go direct to the box office. If that is not possible, sorry, I miss the concert,
Ticketmaster is evil! I hate them. They do absolutely nothing to discourage scalping, in fact, I think they promote it and save their best seats for the scalpers. Die, ticketmaster, die!
Ticketmaster’s ridiculous fees are exactly the reason why I skip the “middleman” and buy my tickets directly from the venue box office.
Having watched ticket fees rise considerably in the last 15 years I now only go to smaller venue concerts at places like House Of Blues. If there is a show that is not at such a venue I’ll buy through Craigslist or Ebay. I refuse to pay fees like an E Ticket Fee. How in gods name can you charge me to print a ticket on my printer?
Can someone explain to me how much it cost Tickemaster for ME to print a ticket from my computer using my paper. The airlines allow you to print e-tickets without a fee.
Ticketmaster is a monopoly. There is no ‘legitimate’ competition. Yes, there are some smaller chains, but as the article mentioned, Ticketmaster has exclusive deals with the majority of the concert venues. The only person their charge is ‘convenient’ to is them. They should be charged for anti trust….
YES TICKETMASTER SUCKS!!! BUT WHAT IS THE ALTERNATIVE??? REMEMBER PEOPLE, WE LIVE IN A CAPITALISTIC COUNTRY AND TICKETMASTER IS IN IT FOR THE MONEY!! IT’S THEIR RIGHT TO CHARGE WHAT THEY WANT FOR THE TICKET! IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, DON’T BUY IT!! YOU WANNA CHANGE THE SYSTEM??? MAYBE YOU SHOULD GO OUT AND VOTE!! OR PERHAPS, OPT FOR A DIFFERENT TYPE OF ECONOMY!!??
I hate ticketmaster and refuse to see events that have exclusive rights with them. The ONLY time I use them is to buy tickets to the Hollywood Bowl but you have to buy tickets to 5 events to get a break. If you buy tickets to 5 events they only charge you one absurd fee instead of 5. So you save money BUT if they didnt kill you with fees in the first place this wouldnt be an issue.
Ticketmaster is a classic monopoly. I have no idea how they have positioned themselves into this situation except by paybacks to big business and political lobbyists (like most monopolies are formed). Everyone (both fans and performers) involved will be fools if they are allowed to remain in the current status quo scenario.
Let’s face it. Scalping is now supported by our crooked politicians (who get freebie tix) and is now legal in the US. Concerts and sports events are priced above what Joe Six-Pack can afford. I’ve stopped going to concerts altogether. I missed Bruce but $95 plus ungodly Ticketmaster fees are the only alternative to StubHub and Ebay, where tickets are scooped up by the truckload and re-priced above what normal folks can pay. I just gave up. The album was 11 bucks – I’ll settle for that.
IMO Ticket Master is a leach company that profits despite the fact that their customers have always hated them. Their business model is offensive. They have never created a product and their service comes at way too high a price. They can’t offer their customers anything new so they sit around and figure out new ways to charge more for the same service. Much like their buddies at the RIAA, they have no idea how to run a profitable business without using political allies to create rules that force people to accept their monopoly. Unfortunately, I’ve missed a lot of good shows since these punks took over the concert halls.
If I can’t go to a stadium and buy tickets without having to go to TicketMaster, no matter how bad I want to see the game or concert, I won’t go. Ballparks and concert venues need to take note. If a ticket price is advertised, then that’s waht you should be paying. If you go into a store you pay the price on the label-Period. When I do go to a stadium to buy tickets, they are for one cheaper than the asking price online with Ticketmaster, and secondly I get the seats I wanted. Ticketmaster buy block seats and I never get what I want unless I go to the stadium to get tickets. You are better off buying season tickets.
The comments about supply and demand and “just don’t buy” show an ignorance of basic economics. The problem is that Ticketmaster has a MONOPOLY, so they can set prices *independent* of supply and demand! If we had an *alternative*, like drive over to the stadium, stand in line, and then get the ticket without all the bogus fees, then you would see what the DEMAND for Ticketmaster’s services are.
If there’s no competition, no alternative, then there’s no market.
The Ticketmaster charges are just ridiculous. I’m not big into Government oversight, but this has been going on for years, and Congress needs to act. If this was almost any other industry, limits would have been in place years ago. Performing acts don’t even have any choice about it either, its use Ticketmaster or nothing.
I think instead of putting caps on ticket charges, I think there should be a law that prevents a venue from forcing performers from using one and only ticket agent. They should be free to use any, and guess what? With some competition allowed, you won’t see these outrageous fee any longer.
I HATE TICKETMASTER. I tried to purchase Tom Waits tickets online through Ticketmaster and they didn’t accept the card I had on file – even though I had updated my information a half hour before the tickets were to go on sale. They issued an apology after the fact – but I missed out on the seats I had selected to purchase. Plus, the year before that, I went to purchase theater tickets. Two seats for $135 went up to $160 after fees and a e-mail processing fee. I refuse to purchase through Ticketmaster ever again, and now attend more local music events than ever before. They lost my patronage.
I can only say that I feel quite fortunate to have been able to experience concerts during the 70’s. ticketmaster has a monopoly and they appear to be raking the consumer for everything the market will bear. I will NOT pay ticketmaster one thin dime for the ‘privilege’ to attend events that consumers apparently were able to attend 30 years ago without the addition of these excessive fees. Further, I discourage my children from supporting this greed bloated industry.
Back in the beginning of rock concerts (Santana, Moody Blues, etc) you would hear about the event on the radio and go stand in line at the venue to get seats. Earlier in line, better seats. NO FEES. Now, seats are sold by Ticketmasher (sic) at 100s if not 1000s of locations and seat selection sucks. Not to mention the VERY high cost of the ticket AND the enormous profit upcharge (fees). Have I gone to a concert in years? Nope. Will I ever again? Very doubtful. Why pay 100s of dollars when you can get the CD/download/video and enjoy it for the rest of your life. Oh, and have your drug of choice when listening without fear of a DUI arrest while leaving the concert.
I have not attended events because the cost became too high once Ticketmaster charged fees upon fees. It is ridiculous that we have no way to not use them.
They are gouging. A service fee per order would be fine but plus $8 to 15 per ticket (for an order of say 4) is crazy. It costs them little if anything more if the proces 1 or 4 tickets. It’s an example of a monopoly.
I already stopped going to events with Ticketmaster fees. I used to take my son to the theater and several other family events. Now, if I have to buy through Ticketmaster I simply don’t go. Sad, but I got sick of being ripped off.
Ticketmaster is a monopoly, plain and simple. Many of the artists don’t care what it costs their fans to attend a concert because they know they will have an full audience one way or another. What Pearl Jam did was commendable. If more bands did the same Ticketmaster would have to change it’s ways. This is an example of free enterprise that just happens to be at the expense of concert goers. Unfortunately, they have contracts with so many venues that it makes it difficult for a competitor to challenge them.
I am a musician and (formerly) avid concert attendee. I have literally skipped two concerts in medium to large size venues in the past year due to seemingly perpetually increasing ticket service charges. It’s a shame for the music industry…
When the cost of a concert starts to equal the cost of being able to buy all the CD’s the band has put out, as well as the CD player and speakers, I don’t go…Thank goodness I saw many shows 20 to 30 years ago when money was not the driving force behind the business…the enjoyment of the music was.
I stopped going to concerts because of the service charges. If I can’t get a ticket at a reasonable face value price, I don’t go.
I see on average about 12 concerts per year. Recently, the ticket fees/faciliy charges have skyrocketed…30 bucks for a 50 dollar seat I saw recently, I did not buy it. So, as proces rise, I am refusing to buy and will see less shows as a consequence. Too bad everyone is not like me, because, people will continue to pay “gold circle/Premium up front prices” for lousey seats, it’ll keep going and I will see less and less and less concerts. BUMMER! I want my 40-50 dollar totals prices back! MAybe I should become a criminal and startr gouging everyone for my services and then I could once again afford these skyhigh ticket prices.
If the only way I can get tickets to an event is through TicketMaster, I dont go. Period. I boycotted them for years and years, then one of my favourite bands came to the area and a $38 ticket wound up costing me $60. I gave them one more chance and they turned around and bit me.
Never again. I get my tickets other ways, but NOT from TicketMaster! And I also write to the venues and the artists’ management companies whenever they force people to use TicketMaster to get tickets to an event. Complain and boycott and there will be change. TicketMaster is a textbook example of everything that is wrong with corporate America and capitalism when it is not carefully monitored and tightly controlled. Greed overcomes everything. Everything.
Screw those guys.
Thank goodness I was able to see so many concerts 20 to 30 years ago when money was not the driving force behind the business. I will still go to some shows despite the huge cost, but if the cost gets to the point where you can buy every CD that the band has put out, as well as buy the CD player, I will not go to the concert.
Others just touched on the most galling thing about Ticketmaster – the sequence in which they sell tickets as “best available” is highly questionable.
For example, for one of the upcoming Eagles concerts in LA, I bought “best available” seats on the first day they were sold on line by TM. That was almost two months ago. Today, I can go onto TM for the same concert and get BETTER seats (20 rows closer and center stage) than what I got.
As an consumer rights attorney, I believe this goes beyond “what the market will bear.” Something stinks with this company and their practices.
Ticketmaster has a monopoly. And the laws exist to stop them.. Promoters and venue operators should try to operate without Ticketmaster and support their local audiences. Alas it will never happen, because the distribution system works too well for everyone but the consumer. And if we object, they will sell tickets anyway. My question is how do scalpers get so many and how do we stop them?
There are some interesting points made here, but most of them are over-generalized assumptions. First off, Ticketmaster doesn’t sell ALL the seats in an event. Many of the front row seats go to the promoter, artist, and venue. How do you think the radio stations get all those tickets to give away to the 97th caller?
Another assumption is who gets the fees. Do you really think the promoter, artist, label, venue, manager, crew, etc collect on JUST the face value? One of the ways Ticketmaster was able to sign so many venues and promoters was by sharing profits with them. Profits from the fees. An earlier commenter hit it right on the head, there are hidden fees to just about EVERY transaction. The ONE company to spell out how much a ticket costs is Ticketmaster. If you don’t want to pay $38.50 + $8.00 + $2.50 ($49) then go to StubHub and pay $675 for the seat they bought directly from the venue, a roadie, or even the promoter.
A lot of people are also complaining that they’re doing the “work” of selecting a ticket, filling out an order form, or printing a ticket on their own printer. So, the data required to create that concert, the software that manages 20,00 requests for 19,000 seats coming in through the internet, or a phone, or a box office terminal all just appeared from pixie dust? You have to pay money to maintain other things you buy, why wouldn’t Ticketmaster have to pay money to maintain their operations? That website isn’t created from FrontPage, or a Yahoo shopping cart.
Finally, I’m amazed at how people are outraged over paying the equivalent to a couple gallons of gas over the face value to get tickets to a concert, yet many of these people illegally download complete CDs and videos of the same artists. Instead they want the same government that spent $500 billion (and counting) in a civil war in Iraq, took a multi-billion dollar budget surplus into the biggest budget deficit in US history, and shredded multiple civil liberties in the process to step in and slap Ticketmaster on the wrist.
What’s worth being outraged over in this country? How much it costs to send your teenager to a concert? or to send them to Doctor’s office? or to war?
I don’t need to go to concerts bad enough to put up with TicketMaster fees. An advertised $40 ticket easily turns into $60. The venue should advertise only the total cost of the ticket and eat the TicketMaster fees without bothering us with it.
I tried to buy tickets to a recent Tool concert in Los Angeles, but I found that literally 10 seconds after they had gone onsale on ticketmaster.com, they were listed as ’sold out’. However, ticketmaster still had plenty of tickets to the EXACT SAME CONCERT to auction off on their website at several hundred dollars over the face value of the tickets. That is not charging reasonable fees. It is highway robbery!
The suckers that buy from TM are getting what they deserve. If quit buying the tickets, they will change their practices or they will cease to exist. It’s not even like they are offering good service. Be done with them.
In the meantime, support your local artists and venues. They need your money a lot more than TM does.
Greeeeeeeedd!!!! In Arizona we have a choice sometimes. Luckyman Productions and other small ticket sellers should band together to stop this fleecing. AND ARTISTS WONDER WHY PEOPLE DONT GO TO CONCERTS AS MUCH AS THEY WANT TO>
I try to go to events where I can buy tickets directly from the venue so I don’t have to pay the hefty, and excessive in my opinion, Tickemaster fees.
I think the prices that ticketmaster charges are ridiculous I did not attend any events this year because of the high prices something needs to be done.These people think that money grows on tree’s and they are getting rich off of everyone who want’s to attend an event.
Ticketmaster is able to get away with these high charges because they are a monopoly. Have the FTC investigate and require competition and watch the prices come.
The author is a complete moron. Wow, this falls under the slow news day category doesn’t it? Probably the poor reporting category as well. As much as half of the TM fee goes back to the venue. Yet no where is that mentioned. Ticketing is the only business where you have a breakout of costs. If it was one price, no one would balk. TM takes the fall for venues not wanting to be the bad guy. Its a convenience fee. Yes, you can always go to the box office – which TM supplies the tech behind but doesn’t charge for – but you don’t because it isn’t convenient. The whining is intolerable. Going to see a concert or an event is not an inexorable right. Its the same as any luxury good. If you can’t afford it, too bad. That’s why everyone doesn’t drive a mercedes. CNNMoney needs to find more material.
As a long-time concert goer, I am disgusted by Ticketmaster’s business practices, as well as ticket scalpers that follow in hand. I wish more bands and venues would sell tickets directly to local folks so we wouldn’t be forced to deal with Ticketmaster rip-offs, or buying scalped tickets from satanic scalpers who don’t live anywhere NEAR where the concert is taking place, and could care less about gouging true fans with limited cash.
Ticketmaster sucks. Just bought tix for Bruce Springsteen in Pgh. $89 ticket turned into $104 with all the charges. Love Bruce but won’t be doing this again.
I am very upset with what they call a reasonable rate of return! This is a monopoly and we the ticket purchasers are being had! I hope that the government steps in and caps these fees. I have informed my daughter that I will no longer pay for these extra fees and if she wants to go to a concert, she has to come up with them.
The main problem with Ticketmaster is it promotes scalping. I live in Omaha and we have had many concerts sell out quickly with a large part of the tickets going to people outside the area for the sole purpose of re-selling. I know, I have made some money doing this in and out of the Omaha area. The issue is Omaha built a new arena to seat 17,000+ seats, I am paying for it with my tax money. I voted to build it so we could get top quality acts like U2, Stones, McCartney, and sporting events like NCAA finals. But many are forced to buy these tickets on e-bay from out-of-towners at even more inflated prices because the world has access to the tickets at the local arena. What needs to be done is tickets only go on sale locally for the first four hours, after that ticketmaster can take its cut.
as much as i might dislike the high fees, it is truly a case of supply and demand, and by the way concerts sell-out these days, demand is high for this non-essential product
Quite frankly, I am very upset with the hefty fees ticketmaster has imposed on concertgoers. It is really frustrating to pay at least 30% more for a ticket than it’s face value. Unfortunately, ticketmaster has the upper hand, because usually they are the only outlet other than the box office to get the tickets. I just wish they didn’t have a monopoly on this type of service because ultimately it’s the consumer who ends up getting ripped off. Besides that, in my area it is impossible to get tickets to a prime concerts(eg. Madonna, U2, etc)because you can never get through to purchase them and that to me is not convenience…..
Tickemaster has a virtual monopoly which should be illegal. They charge excessive fees and should be restricted by law. When other monopolies were broken up new competitors will charge less for the same service.
I have not gone to several shows because I refuse to pay ridiculous fee prices. This is obviously bad for the artist and the entertainment industry.
Every couple of years someone pens a similar article complaining of the fees charged by ticket sellers. When is the last time anyone has made a purchase and not paid an additional “fee”? Ever buy jewelry? an auto? dine at a restaurant? Do you not think you paid over and above the cost of those items? The biggest difference is that the Ticketmaster fees are spelled out for you when you purchase tickets. You know how much above the cost of the ticket you’re paying. Now, I don’t necessarily agree with the fee structure, but it is definitely necessary for Ticketmaster to charge a fee in order to provide a service and that fee should definitely not be legislated by the government. There are ways around buying a ticket from Ticketmaster. Those ways just are not always convenient. Hence the convenience fees. Those with the biggest influence to change Ticektmasters ways are the facilities themselves. But Ticketmaster offers them a valuable service for the distribution of event tickets. I think they are here to stay. They’ve weathered lawsuits, federal investigations and competition. Avoid the fees or maybe purchase stock in IAC and profit off of those who pay the fees.
Sorry to say your anger is meaningless. Sell a ticket above face value, get arrested unless you have a license like brokers do,aka money to the government. It’s good for the artist (sells out),venue (no overhead)and brokers (profit on others work). But once in a while I can’t help myself, Van Halen/Eagles etc. There’s enough of us to perpetuate it and not enough of us to stop it. sounds like the symptoms of so many problems! Sorry to say your anger is meaningless.
The stupidest part of it all is that I’m doing all the work. I’m inputting all the information, searching for and choosing seats etc. The fees are so much higher now than when you had to call, and there were actual human beings (who had to get salaries and benefits) doing it all for you. The customer now does all the work, yet pays more for the privilege. How does this make sense?
Boycott Ticketmaster, don’t buy any tickets from them. Their fees will drop quickly. Either that or the artists that are also profiting from these ticket sales will drop venues that require Ticketmaster to handle ticket sales. It’s hard to do business if you don’t make any money.
The ticket price fee gouging is even expanding into local theater groups. We have reduced the number of events we attend each year because of ever increasing fees. Ticketmaster may eventually kill the goose with their greed.
Yes, thier fees are way out of line, however, I don’t think government should cap them, somehow the market has to. Hats off to Pearl Jam and any others that help overcome this rude company that adds nothing of value to the exchange. How about venues standing and up??
Yes, there is more to this than meets the eye. Aside from high prices – someone needs to explain why – within 1 second (as registered by the computer) a 19,000 seat arena was sold old.
On 2 occasions, I hit the enter key at exactly 10:00 am (sale time) – and it both instances “sold out”. I was only trying to buy 1 ticket, so they can’t use the “no seats together story”. Also, one second earlier, I clicked and it said “not on sale yet”.
This might have something to do with reason brokers have hundreds of tickets within 1 minute after sale time. I went directly to an online broker after the sold-out message, and saw they had 122 seats available for the event. Hmmm.
I guess it could be worse…they could be selling all of the good seats to brokers who in turn sell them on ebay or stubhub for 10 times their face value. Oh wait, they do that also…
If you don’t like the prices, don’t go to the concert. Simply supply and demand. If people stop buying the tickets, the prices will come down. This is purely expendable income. It cannot be a “ripoff” if the market is commanding these prices.
Ticketmaster is a legalized ticket scalper. You can not get decent tickets and when you do the extra charges are outrageous! It has gotten me so mad, that I do not even try to go to events anymore
I don’t think a law should be enacted that limits Ticketmaster’s charges. However, I do think there should be a law that states that any public event should have to make tickets available at the face price. My beef is when there is no way on earth to buy a ticket at it’s face value.
According to the Billboard Magazine website attendance at concerts was up 35% in 2006, so the price of tickets does not seem to be a real problem here. You have to remember that entertainers are not the Woodie Guthrie types anymore, they are cash cows pure and simple. It’s a business enterprise, and customers are free to buy or not buy just like at Wal Mart. The prices must not be too high, business is booming.
The only real problem I have with Ticketmaster is the fee they charge for me to print my tickets with my printer. They don’t impose a service fee to use standard mail (USPS) so why charge me to use my paper and ink? Because of “stupid” fees I try to avoid Ticketmaster as much as possible.
On top of the hefty overcharge and anti-competition policies, their website is very tricky and I know a lot of people were double-charged for the same ticket.
Ticketmaster would not even sell you good seats even if you want to buy them, I tried getting tickets for Walking with Dinosaurs early, but it keeps on telling me that only the nosebleed seats are available. When we watched the show we noticed rows upon rows of empty good seats below (seats i wanted to get) that were not occupied the entire show. I’m guessing ticketmaster pushes the bad seats first hoping later that they will be able to sell the good seats later anyway. I think it should be first come first serve including the good seats.
Ticket Bastard is screwing everyone. Its a rip-off. We should conduct detailed AUDIT of everything aspect of their operation, including Executive salaries. AUDIT AUDIT AUDIT AUDIT
The charges are outrageous! And with the monopoly, there’s no alternative either! It’s unacceptable. I am surprised consumer groups haven’t done anything about it yet!
do not buy tickets to any concert except a garth brooks(because he will only charge $20 for every seat) other then that do not buy and watch how prices come down,, if you keep paying then stop bitching
Ijust bought tickets for an event in Tampa and had to pay an x-tra $5 per ticket. The tickets were only $15 a piece. Something has to be done with the enormous charges on each ticket. I’m like the rest of the people and think we should stopgoing through them to buy tickets then see what they do.
The sad thing is the Department of Justice threw this case out back in 93′ or 94′. What they did not know is Tickmaster had a history of monoploizing all the parties, the bands, the venues the concertgoer and back in the day, the outlets. They took cuts from every angle and gave all of the above basically no other option in the process. This is evident from Pearl Jams cancellation, I had also heard rumors that venues were threatened being cut off if they used another service. It was monopolistic perfection, I just whish Eddie Vedder had presented his case a little better back then. I beleive tickmaster profits, that is after expenses, are well over $200 million each year.
The selling of concert and sporting events tickets via the Internet has completely destroyed the ticket buying experience for regular fans and placed all the power directly in the hands of the ticket broker agencies. It used to be an even playing field, you went and stood in line with everyone else, and maybe if you were truly desperate, you’d bring your phone with you to try and call in as well while you were queueing. Now, ticket agencies are using technology to monopolize the internet sites and purchase tickets en masse the second they go on sale, taking them directly from the fans in order to make money in a business that is purely driven by greed. TicketMaster fees are outrageous, there’s no doubt, and that should be addressed, but the folly in this country is that these ticket agencies are lobbying everywhere to make scalping legal so they cant be taken to court for their actions. What is even more unbelievable, is our legislators our rolling over and allowing this to happen, instead of passing tought laws that put these truly offensive organizations out of business. This isnt a free market issue, StubHub, AceTickets, and countless others have only one intent, and it is absolute evil incarnate, which is to prevent YOU from buying a ticket at the normal price, so they can buy them themselves and sell it for a profit. They are Greed Incarnate.
It has got so bad I just don’t go to the concert any more. Sad, but I would rather listen to a CD, than pay the fees
Pearl Jam was right all along!
And congress should go after the greedy ticket scalpers (I mean brokers) next!
Ticketmaster is the quintessential robber baron of the 21st century. Why do we need more–not less–government regulation of business? The answer: Tickemaster.
I am so glad you wrote this!! This has been absolute BS for so long, a wrong that long has needed to be righted. Thanks so much for bringing it to this major public forum!!
We can complain all we want to but until we stop buying them nothing is going to change. The goverment will do nothing because they could care less and I bet if there is that much money in it the goverment officals are paid very well to keep their hands out. Look at oil prices, see anything done about that?
I think this is a way of cheating the public. I am sure they get commision from ticket sales that would be enough. I wish other companies get into this business of selling tickets and introduce competition. When you buy more than one ticket these guys charge fees on each ticket that is abuse.
I used to go to lots of concerts, sporting events, etc.
Since about 1999 I have gone far less because of the EXCESSIVE Ticketmaster fees.
All they do is hit “enter” on a computer.
Time hundreds of millions of tickets a year at 5-10 dollars a ticket!
That is totally out of control.
I would still be going to many shows if it wasen’t for this non-sense….
Long ago I realized Ticketmaster’s handling charges were bogus. I refuse to use them for anything. If the only way to see a concert or play or whatever is by purchasing through Ticketmaster, I will not attend. It is an absolute scam to allow them to add so much to the face value of a ticket.
What is the prpose of Ticketmaster???
We didn’t have ticket agencies back in the 70’s or even the early 80’s. We did fine without ticket agencies. Is there any benefit to Ticketmaster???
I am 47 years old. I have gone to concerts since I was 15 years old. I don’t go any more. I refuse to pay the hefty fees.
The worst part that is not even mentioned in the article is that even if the concert/event is cancelled, ticketmasters keeps all the fees. For instance, all the people that bought cub playoff tickets for game 4, were only given refunds on the cost of the tickets. For four tickets at $25 a pop, $33 in ticketmaster fees are not refunded and there wasn’t even an event to attend. State lawmakers need to step up and start creating laws to regulate this as that is the quickest and easiest way to address this issue.
Rather than legally cap the mark-up fee, it would make more sense to legally prohibit the “exclusive agreements” with venues as anti-competitive. This would allow competition to “keep them honest” with regard to their fees.
Brokers get tickets directly from ticketmaster and/or the venues…they pay a small premium and then claim that “they charge what they do cause their getting the best seats and they cost more”. Of course they do! Gotta pay the money under the table to get the best seats before the public can! Ever wonder why the same broker has the same seats for every event?
I think the Department of Justice should look into an anti-trust suit. This has all the ear marks of price fixing.
I would take my family to several concerts a year if it weren’t for the outrageous fees. It is usually about the cost of an extra ticket to take a family of 4. Add in $20 to park in a lot that takes minutes to get in and hours to get out of and the cost of gas.
Ticketmaster is a scam and ought to be investigated. They have inside agreements with “brokers” and teams and the buildings to skim the best seats…ever wonder why you can never seem to get a good seat even if you are 1st inline (or online)? Ever wonder why event tickets are on sale on Ebay weeks before they go on sale through ticketmaster? It is a scam..plain and simple. Legislators do nothing cause they want the good seats too…
I’ve noticed that certain arenas do not charge any of these bogus fees IF your buy the tickets directly from the venue box office and not TicketShiester. I do this as much as possible, even if it costs me more in gas money that the TickeShiester “convenience” fee.
Shouldn’t they be paying me to print the ticket on my own printer? I’m saving them the cost of mailing it. Last time I looked there were plenty of free ways to email. I hate Ticketmaster.
As someone who attends at least one show a month and several sporting events for the past 15 years, YES YES YES. Ticketmaster’s fees are outrageous. They should be capped at $2-3 per ticket period and total. No add’l fees, charges etc. I wish back in the day more bands would have followed Pearl Jam and stood up. I really can’t believe the government does not believe that Ticketmaster is a monopoly.
As for ticket resellers, it’s a commodity and if you have it you should be able to sell it for as much or as little as you please.
When there are legal “scalpers” such as acetickets.com selling tickets over 3 times face value + fees that they claim are cost of business. Ticketmaster seems like a bargain. We should attack the real crooks who are price gouging
Ticketmaster is the equivalent to Ma Bell of the 1970’s. The Government broke up that monopoly and they should do the same with Ticketmaster. Nothing like owning my own phone and cheaper concert tickets!
I’m not sure the fee hurts as much as the current price to see a major act. The Stones, Eagles and U2 are all up in the $200’s for face value decent seats. That’s gone up way faster than inflation!
It’s about time someone doesn’t simply think it whem purchasing tickets. Bringing attention to Ticket Master’s excessive fees is long overdue.
Ticketmaster is a racket! I find myself attending fewer and fewer events due to them!! There has to be some other convenient way to get tickets! For those wanting their tix to be FedEX… fine. I’ve bought many on auction sites. Like your subtitle… concert killer for me.
I THINK THE COST OF TICKETS AS WELL AS
THE OVERRATED FEES ARE OUTRAGEOUS.
MY HUSBAND AND I LOVE CONCERTS BUT
WE WILL NOT BE ATTENDING ANY MORE OF
THEM UNTIL SOMETHING IS DONE. TICKETMASTER IS A TOTAL RIP-OFF AND
SO ARE THE PERFORMERS. THEY HAVE
MORE MONEY THAN THEY NO WHAT TO DO WITH
AND KEEP ASKING FOR MORE. THEIR GREED
IS DESPICABLE!!!!!!!
Ticketmaster prices are Bull S**T! I bought a $25 ticket for a second rate punk band and they charged me $9! WHAT THE HELL TICKETMASTER?! They should be charging 5% tops for a ticket fee.