I HATE TICKETMASTER

I admit I am spoiled after so many years (decades!) of getting free tickets to concerts as a perk of working in radio. It was to the artists' advantage that we programmers would see and enjoy their work - make us more likely to play their music on the air. You could argue it was payola but it isn't - payola is exchange of something for AIRPLAY and believe me, you get immune to any possible influence quickly. In fact, going to as many concerts as I have became an obligation rather than enjoyable where my staff, or worse - the competition - is hosting the show.

That leads to today's adventure with Ticketmaster.

I hate Ticketmaster. Those are Blood sucking leeches on the wallet John Q Public!!! Case in point: Steely Dan. I'm a big fan.

I can't quite handle the ticket cost - about $90 per. I realize that isn't up in the higher rankings of charges, but after all, I have a terrific stereo system where they play for FREE and probably sound better! No waiting in line. No noisy fans. No standing in front of me. You get the picture.

But we went for it.

Ticketmaster throws in another $12.55 PER TICKET - get this - and I know, I am ticket-naive - "CONVENIENCE CHARGE." WHAT CONVENIENCE? And then on top of that, charges $4.65 processing fee. PROCESS THIS!!! And then If you wanted expedited delivery, another $20 or so...

CONVENIENCE CHARGE? What the heck does that mean? Ticketmaster is to convenience what a Proctologist is to a cheek-kiss.

I did some on-line research:

Excerpt: "The company now ha(s) exclusive rights to 90% of the nation's large arenas, and over 70% of the clubs and theatres. This pretty much allows them to charge whatever markup they want - and as the example at the top of the page shows, they take full advantage of the opportunity. It's interesting to note that Ticketmaster get(s) their claws in at both ends. If they sell your band's tickets, they charge 3.5% commission on gross sales, plus a further "administrative fee" for credit/debit card fees. The latter is particular interesting, removing wholesale one potential justification for what they add to the price of a ticket.

As if gouging in this manner weren't enough, in September the company announced plans to auction off the best tickets to the highest bidder - effectively becoming nothing more than touts, driven entirely by market forces. The worst thing is, laws against scalping are ineffective, since they apply only to the resale of tickets, not the initial purchase. Again, they'll be laughing all the way to the bank. "

read more There are many more complaints and horror stories.

GOOGLE Search TICKETMASTER COMPLAINTS and you get 384,000 results.

Excerpt: "Ticketmaster is the subject of frequent complaints in the blogosphere and print media due to high ticket service charges. Notably, in the 1990s, Pearl Jam brought a lawsuit alleging that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, whose anticompetitive practices allow markup prices of more than 30%. Ticketmaster was found to be not guilty of violating antitrust law.

More recently, Ticketmaster.com customers have complained about being signed up with no consent for the Entertainment Rewards program of sister company entertainment.com. Customers complain that despite explicitly refusing offers made to them while buying tickets through Ticketmaster.com, a $9 a month charge began to appear on their monthly statements. Customers also complain that these charges continue to accrue month to month and that Ticketmaster is unresponsive in stopping or removing these charges." read more

What I resent most is the "CONVENIENCE CHARGE" term (and price). Makes me sputteringly mad. It isn't convenience if you have no choice. It's exploitation clear as a bell, and on top of that, blind arrogance!