This was posted today on the Bruce Springsteen official website. It is good to see that Ticketmaster realizes that there is a problem and in this one case plan on making it right.
AN OPEN LETTER OF APOLOGY TO BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, JON LANDAU AND THE ENTIRE SPRINGSTEEN TOUR TEAM:
While we were genuinely trying to do the right thing for fans in providing more choices when the tickets they requested from the primary on-sale were not available, we clearly missed the mark. Fans are confused and angry, which is the opposite of what we hoped to accomplish. We sincerely apologize to Bruce, his organization and, above all, his fans.We recognize that we need to change our course. We have committed to Bruce and state publicly here that we have taken down all links for Bruce’s shows directing fans from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow. This redirection only occurred as a choice when we could not satisfy fans’ specific search request for primary ticket inventory, but to make sure there is no misunderstanding in the future, we also publicly state that we will never again link to TicketsNow in a manner that can possibly create any confusion during a high-demand on-sale. Specifically, we will not present an option to go to TicketsNow from Ticketmaster without the consent of the artist and the venue, both of whom work together to bring the joy of live entertainment to millions of fans.
If any fans inadvertently purchased tickets in the resale marketplace believing in error they were purchasing from the initial on-sale, we will refund the difference between the actual purchase price and the face price of the ticket. (Please don’t abuse this good faith gesture – we did not give brokers any preferential access to tickets.)
We are committed to helping deliver the most transparent and best live entertainment experience to fans. We will do better going forward.
Sincerely,
Irving Azoff, CEO, Ticketmaster Entertainment
I am very interested in the language used in the letter. For one, it states that
we will never again link to TicketsNow in a manner that can possibly create any confusion during a high-demand on-sale. Specifically, we will not present an option to go to TicketsNow from Ticketmaster without the consent of the artist and the venue, both of whom work together to bring the joy of live entertainment to millions of fans.
What about all ticket sales? Not just the high-demand on-sale shows?
This story is a long way from being over.
I found this quote interesting: “we did not give brokers any preferential access to tickets”. If you believe that, I have some beachfront property in Arizona, and a bridge you might be interested in.
Now, they may not have *intentionally* given brokers preferential access, but I’m positive that brokers TOOK preferential access by abusing the online ordering system.
It would be trivially easy to block out most broker sales by using captchas (to slow down automated purchases), limiting the number of tickets purchased by a single IP address, credit card, or to be delivered to the same mailing address. Ticketmaster could have, and should have, put these protections in place long ago.
It’s way past time for this service to disappear. They charge far too much for doing next-to-nothing for ticket buyers, venues, or performers. If iTunes can sell me a song for $1 (or less) and make a profit after paying the copyright holders a share of the proceeds, there is no logical reason why a ticket broker needs to charge more than $1 per ticket (plus printing and delivery charges!) to facilitate a ticket sale. Let the buyer print out their ticket just as we do now for boarding passes.
I believe that the bands don’t really know this is happening and now that Bruce has the ball rolling, other acts can get behind the change in the system.
The idea that ticketmaster promotes the secondary ticket market is wrong.
Maybe it is time for will call only. The credit card that bought the tickets needs to pick them up at the show.