Various people in the country of Australia are upset at Britney Spears for lip syncing — and feel that it is dishonest for the pop star not to disclose that sometimes she’s just mouthing along while she dances.
concerts
Forced To Call Ticketmaster Over 225 Times About Pee-Wee Herman Tickets
By 10.9.09
Ryan had a dream. Not an unreasonable dream for any fan: he wanted to see Pee-Wee Herman perform live. Many fans, including Ryan, were thrilled when a limited engagement of shows was announced in Los Angeles, and Ryan bought tickets and made plans to travel cross-country for the performance. Then the concert promoter and Ticketmaster stole his bike. Metaphorically. He says he attempted to call Ticketmaster over 225 times (the line was busy) and the Pee-Wee debacle still isn’t solved.
Ticketmaster Mislabels Concert, Sells Music Fan Tickets To Wrong Show
By 9.14.09
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports a Minnesota music fan named Chris logged onto Ticketmaster hoping to buy tickets to a show for a band called the Teen Idols, but what he got were tickets to a show of actual former teen idols from way, way back in the day.
Rained-Out Concert Disaster Leads To Successful Chargeback
By 9.13.09
Ben wrote in a few weeks ago to share his successful chargeback after he and his girlfriend were rained out of one day of their three-day passes to the recent All Points West festival in New Jersey. His story raises questions about the definitions of the term “rain or shine.”
By 6.30.09
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Ticket holders for the late Michael Jackson‘s planned 50-concert series in London will receive either full refunds or “souvenir tickets.” We’re not sure what the latter means. Maybe they’re bronzed? Laminated? Holograms? [New York Times]
Help, StubHub Never Delivered My Tickets!
By 4.12.09
Vinay’s StubHub tickets to see Lady Gaga never arrived in his inbox, but StubHub insists that they delivered the goods and refuses to issue a refund. StubHub’s only communication with Vinay was a short confirmation email promising that the real tickets would arrive via SubHub’s e-LMS system. The tickets still hadn’t arrived the day of the concert, and armed with only a confirmation email in hand, Vinay was turned away from the venue.
Ticketmaster Sells Phish Tickets Early, Then Cancels
By 3.20.09
Thousands of disappointed Phish fans are crying right now because Ticketmaster accidentally sold “a significant number” of 4-day passes to the upcoming show at Red Rocks — then canceled them. Phish fan and Consumerist reader Trevor has the scoop:
"TicketsNow Hangs Up When I Say 'Refund'"
By 3.12.09
TicketsNow has a pretty explicit guarantee that if the tickets you buy aren’t good, they’ll refund the money. In Sean’s case, they seem to have found a way to avoid delivering on that promise: they just disconnect whenever he mentions the word “refund.”
Who's Scalping Those Concert Tickets? Artists And Agents, Frequently
By 3.11.09
The Wall Street Journal reported today that for many big name concert events, the people behind a good deal of the really expensive secondary market tickets are the artists themselves, along with their agents and promoters. Recent concerts where the artists and promoters resold tickets on the secondary market and split the profits with Ticketmaster include Neil Diamond, Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Van Halen, Billy Joel, Elton John, and possibly Britney Spears.
Ticketmaster Agrees To Stop Linking To TicketsNow
By 2.23.09
When the recent Bruce Springsteen ticket sales event blew up in Ticketmaster’s stupid face, it brought down the wrath of New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram. Now Ticketmaster and New Jersey have reached a settlement that will change how the company conducts business across the U.S. Here’s what will change:
Ticketmaster Redirects Woman To TicketsNow, Sells Tickets That Don't Exist For Over $800
By 2.13.09
Will the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger be good for customers? Why of course it will! Just take a look at this awesome purchasing experience Ticketmaster managed to provide recently:
Ticketmaster And Live Nation Agree To Merge
By 2.10.09
That booming evil laughter you heard echoing across the sky earlier today came from the board room where Live Nation and Ticketmaster agreed to an all-stock merger between their two blighted companies. Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller says the merger will benefit customers, who are frequently “frustrated by their ticket buying experiences.” Oh! So by merging the two companies most responsible for those frustrations, we’ll cancel them out! This is doubleplus good, right?
Congressman Wants Ticketmaster Investigated For 'TicketsNow' Website
By 2.4.09
Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D) of New Jersey has asked the FTC and the Justice Department to investigate the relationship between Ticketmaster and its reseller website, TicketsNow, after consumers who tried to buy Bruce Springsteen tickets encountered technical problems that prevented purchase, and were then redirected to TicketsNow where prices were “hundreds of dollars above face value” (actually, more like “thousands of dollars,” based on our check just a few minutes ago).
Ticketmaster, Live Nation Consider Merging, Destroying Concertgoing Forever
By 2.4.09
The two companies most responsible for making your next live entertainment experience a financial disaster may announce a merger as early as this week, reports Reuters and the WSJ. If it goes ahead, the new company will apparently call itself Live Nation Ticketmaster, not “Satan’s Boxoffice” as one might expect. The merger will raise antitrust issues, but if Sirius/XM has taught us anything, it’s that those issues can be ignored at the expense of consumer choice and pricing.
Ticketmaster Is Evil And Must Die
By 10.12.08 — Updated: 6.19.16
Ticketmaster is an evil monopoly that steals cash from defenseless consumers. They are infinitely more evil than their hated 30% surcharge would suggest, and they must be destroyed.
'Brown Paper Tickets' Offers A Fair Alternative To Ticketmaster
By 8.13.08
On his Cool Tools blog, Kevin Kelly describes his love for Brown Paper Tickets, a teensy ticketing David to the Ticketmaster Goliath. They don’t gouge customers with outrageous fees, and they’re fair to venues as well, he writes, providing great service and paying promptly.
Dear New York Philharmonic: Please Don't Call Me In The Middle Of Performances To Ask For Money
By 6.21.08
As I enjoyed the New York Philharmonic’s production of Tosca this past Tuesday, I received a solicitation call. From the New York Philharmonic.
Asking the Boston Symphony Orchestra For Donation Information Apparently Commits You To A $25 Pledge
By 5.18.08
Reader Ian told a Boston Symphony Orchestra representative to mail him information about donating. The orchestra somehow mistook his request for a $25 pledge, and is now accusing Ian of making a “fraudulent pledge” and demanding that he immediately pay up.
