Curious Business Practices by Ticketmaster Live Nation and AEG
A few weeks back we told fans about TicketDisaster.org, a website urging ticket buying consumers to sign a petition blocking the proposed Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger. Well it seems like TicketDisaster is not the only organization opposed to the deal which will in effect give one company control over all aspects of the live events industry.
And guess how Ticketmaster and Live Nation deal with opposition??? Pay them off!
TM-LN are so desperate to push their merger through congress that Live Nation has reportedly offered to sell some of their venues for BELOW MARKET VALUE to Anschultz Entertainment Group (AEG). This is in response to AEG CEO and president Tim Leiweke calling the merger “troubling” and “not good for the industry.”
As a condition of selling these marked down venues Ticketmaster and Live Nation are asking AEG to drop their opposition to the merger. Isn’t this called corporate bribery?
As if this story isn’t troubling enough here are some other things you should know about Ticketmaster business practices that could only get worse if the merger goes through:
- Ticketmaster and TicketsNow have been using websites masquerading as affiliates of venues, promoters, teams, and artists to trick the public into paying OVER face value for tickets thinking they were getting them FOR face value direct from the source. Full Story»
- Ticketmaster secretly sells tickets on behalf of artists for over face value through their “official platinum seats” program on Ticketexchange. Full Story» (plus screen shot proof)
- Ticketmaster secretly offered over $1.5 million worth of Britney Spears tickets on Ticketmaster.com and Ticketmaster.ca through this Ticketexchange program. The price Ticketmaster listed for her show in Las Vegas was as high as $2,698.44 per ticket!!!!!! Full Story» (plus screen shot proof)
- During an on sale for Bruce Springsteen tickets last year Ticketmaster claimed they had a site malfunction and redirected buyers to Ticketsnow where tickets were offered for prices higher than face value. Curiously Ticketmaster was informing these buyers that the show was sold out when it was not. Full Story»
One can only imagine what post-merger Ticketmaster, Live Nation, and TicketsNow is capable of…
Tags: AEG, Anschultz Entertainment Group, britney spears, Bruce Springsteen, live nation, Live Nation Sells Venues, Livenation, TicketExchange, ticketmaster, Ticketmaster Live Nation Merger, Ticketmaster.com, TicketsNow, Tim Leiweke
Ticket Master is such bullsh*t. How are they able to get away with this crap over and over again? Scalping their own tickets should be illegal. So should under the table bribes to get another company to let a merger go through that will hurt consumers. These companies all suck I hope they go bankrupt!
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