This is not their first rodeo

December 30, 2009

This won’t be the first time Ticketmaster meets the Department of Justice. The most comprehensive history of Ticketmaster (through about 2001) seems to live here, but we’ve also given you a sampling of previous antitrust suits put up against Ticketmaster:

One of the most visible was Pearl Jam vs. Ticketmaster in 1994. This opinion piece from May 1995 gives an alternative viewpoint, although I question his crossover of Ticketmaster’s convenience fees into production budgets. Maybe the club/arena tours I’ve been on have left me naive to stadium artists getting a taste of the Ticketmaster fees, but I’ve settled 100’s of shows that have been sold through Ticketmaster assuming the promoter was receiving FACE VALUE on all tickets. If they weren’t, then they’re in serious breach of contact territory. Perhaps I should settle more carefully next time!

This general flaming of Ticketmaster also gives us some perspective and some links to more information, if The Freeman piece didn’t sit well with you

In 1999, they made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where they ruled that the case didn’t have merit because it’s was brought by consumers, not the promoters who enlist Ticketmasters service.

The American Antitrust Institute has a piece reacting to that ruling.

And just last year, there was some anti-trust action surrounding Ticketmaster’s acquisition of TicketsNow

Posted in professionalism