Ticketmaster is sent to the principal's office

A current dust-up is not new to those of us here watching the issue.  But we have also learned that the fees are not Ticketmaster's, but go to others (the facility fee being the most obvious).   And this band is angry, because its contract with TM forbids "dynamic pricing", where the base price can fluctuate with demand.

But understandably the consumers are angry. Would enough of them have paid $44.00 all in?  Maybe the $20 base price is bait and switch by the band, not the company processing the sale?

ETA after Robert Smith complained, TM said it would refund some of the fees, but I did not see how much.

In a system where everyone wants to be as greedy as they can be, without getting called greedy in the process… it’s gonna take one party (the bands or LN/TM) to cave from the shame & public backlash. Bands need to be willing to make less elsewhere, to force LN/TM to become more competitive… or LN/TM needs to put it on the bands & have the bands rent the venues from them for whatever price, have the bands/promoters pay that fee upfront, just like you would if you were renting a Hall or Church for a Wedding, have the bands/promoters subcontract out the staffing needed to pull off the show, either from unions, the venue or from their own personnel at the their own expense upfront, then the band can look at what it cost them to put on the show, add what they want to make and then sell tickets with that advertised price through TM or whatever ticketing agency they’d prefer.

As far as congressional action, they should force the dissolution of Live Nation & Ticketmaster, create two separate companies. And they should create a “tax/service fee” for doing it… and make Live Nation & Ticketmaster pay 100’s of millions in service fees to the gov’t. Then you go after them on a state by state basis in the individual state houses and challenge their monopolies inside each state as separate companies, thus creating competitive practices inside each individual market. Now they gotta 50 law suits in 50 states, that’s alotta legal fees. Then the executive branch needs to go after ever top level executive each company has or had in the last 15 years, with audits on their personal finances, the finances of their relatives & current businesses, etc…, they gotta do it publicly with leaks and make it hurt… legally & in the court of public opinion. You gotta make it real hard for anyone to want to business with these people. You cut their balls off and feed them to them on live TV with hearings & trials and exposure of their secrets… you gotta go full on Teddy Roosevelt Trust Buster on their asses. Fuck if it’s legal or if it’ll hold up in court… just drag it out & bleed them dry over time with legal fees, shame and stress to the point they cave & go try to steal money from someplace else that’s easier & less hassle. You put cops outside every Live Nation owned venue in America and have Sobriety Checkpoints at every exit, make it a hassle on fans to go to these places. Force their hands… that’s the only way. Thinking they’ll “do the right thing” is a fairy tale that probably won’t come to be.

One of my favorite Boston GD cover bands (tribute band?), Bearly Dead, is touring right now. On their Facebook page they were offering tix to their show at the Sinclair in Cambridge, MA for $20 with no added fees. All you had to do was send them a PM and they sent you the link to buy the tix with no fees. They mailed me the tix once they received the payment. I didn’t notice them doing this for any other show on their tour just the Sinclair. Maybe it was a special deal for their home town fans. They didn’t charge for shipping either. I bought 4 tix so it saved me at least $40. 

BTW Bearly Dead is playing at Main Line Brewery in Richmond on April 18 and 19. Bob and I will be at the Wed night show.

dynamic pricing, aka surge pricing, is now appearing in restaurants and entertainment facilities, and could even come into grocery/retail. It's always been around for hotels.

I'd rather have the business level out the pricing so it accounts for busy and slow times internally, and I think the consumer would be irritated by a price hike at a busy time--the same consumer that welcomes happy hours, early-bird and midweek specials. But this is emotion, not logic--the essence of marketing.

I've seen some places put time limits on your occupying a table. A popular Italian restaurant won't serve dine-in pizza on Friday nights. In the old days, bars with entertainment had drink minimums and I think there is some return to that.

www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/surge-pricing-is-increasingly-being-used-in-restaurants-and-movie-theaters-making-everyday-activities-much-more-expensive/ar-AA18ABL7?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=98ef522b175c4e29a49e5b556667e775&ei=49

No I'm just quick at making stuff up.