New Jersey — Ticketmaster has agreed to change its business practices after a suit was filed by the New Jersey Attorney General.
Springsteen had said, “We were informed that Ticketmaster was redirecting your log-in requests for tickets at face value, to their secondary site TicketsNow, which specializes in up-selling tickets at above face value. They did this even when other seats remained available at face value. We condemn this practice. We perceive this as a pure conflict of interest.”
Under the settlement, Ticketmaster will be restricted for at least one year.
“Ticketmaster will need prior approval from the Attorney General for any links between its ‘No Tickets Found’ Internet page to its TicketsNow re-sale website.”
Also, “Ticketmaster will not use paid Internet advertising that leads customers searching for “Ticketmaster” on search engines to TicketsNow.”
Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff offered an apology:
“While we were genuinely trying to do the right thing for fans in providing more choices when the tickets they requested from the primary on-sale were not available, we clearly missed the mark. Fans are confused and angry, which is the opposite of what we hoped to accomplish. We sincerely apologize to Bruce, his organization and, above all, his fans.”
“We recognize that we need to change our course. “We have committed to Bruce and state publicly here that we have taken down all links for Bruce’s shows directing fans from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow. This redirection only occurred as a choice when we could not satisfy fans’ specific search request for primary ticket inventory, but to make sure there is no misunderstanding in the future, we also publicly state that we will never again link to TicketsNow in a manner that can possibly create any confusion during a high-demand on-sale.
“Specifically, we will not present an option to go to TicketsNow from Ticketmaster without the consent of the artist and the venue, both of whom work together to bring the joy of live entertainment to millions of fans.”