I'm Countin' On A Miracle

Springsteen Joins In as Fans Decry Ticketmaster’s ‘Scalping’
Adam Satariano and Greg Bensinger, Bloomberg.com, 2/5/09

She said the group ran into technical problems that froze them out. When the system began working again, March said they were steered to Ticketmaster- owned TicketsNow, a reseller offering prices hundreds of dollars above face value.

Complaints from disappointed fans have prompted a U.S. congressman to call for a federal antitrust investigation into Ticketmaster sales practices. New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram said yesterday she’s looking into the matter. The Boss himself condemned the company for having “a pure conflict of interest.”

“Some artists or managers may not perceive there to be a conflict between having the distributor of their tickets in effect ‘scalping’ those same tickets through a secondary company like TicketsNow,” Springsteen said. “We do.”

Springsteen used the incident to voice objection to a reported proposal to merge Ticketmaster, the biggest ticketing outfit, with Beverly Hills, California-based concert promoter Live Nation Inc. A single company would bring back “a near monopoly situation in music ticketing,” Springsteen said.

My friend that was in charge of getting tickets on Monday to Springsteen's show at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, said they were sold out immediately and that he was directed to ticketsnow.

From wiki:

TicketsNow is a TicketMaster company. Ticketmaster simply buys their own tickets and then re-sells those tickets for 200% of face value on their TicketsNow website. This has created a monopolistic market making it near impossible for an average fan to buy a event ticket at face value. If you are trying to buy tickets to an event and the event is "sold out" the TicketMaster site directs you to the TicketsNow website. Most consumers are still baffled as to how this is legal. Also, they are baffled at how out in the open this process is and how nothing is being done about it.

Here's a great response from another friend.

One has to appreciate that Pearl Jam at least tried to fight them. The mafia is legal and won.

Since he performed at the inaugural concert, Bruce would appear to have President Obama's ear. Hopefully the federal government (are you listening Mr. Holder?) will investigate these crooks and finally put them out of business.