Live Nation Entertainment Making News In Netherlands & Germany

The newly merged company of Live Nation Entertainment (Ticketmaster and Live Nation) is based in Los Angeles, but recently they haves been making headlines in Europe.

Earlier this month the company’s Netherlands operation canceled more than 1000 tickets bought by 12 Dutch ticket resellers. These companies bought the tickets for the sole purpose of reselling and that, according to Live Nation Entertainment Netherlands, violates their terms and conditions.

Live Nation Entertainment are now urging fans who bought tickets from the offending Dutch companies to demand their money back.

The tickets were for concerts by Editors and Mika.

Canceling these tickets has made Live Nation Entertainment the target of criticism. While the company goes after the Dutch secondary market it owns and operates resellers in Europe and the United States.

Live Nation Entertainment’s subsidiary GETMEIN! is their main reseller in Europe while TicketsNow serves America.

Meanwhile, Live Nation Entertainment has done nothing to stop other third party European resellers like Viagogo and Seatwave. Both of those companies, at the time of writing this article, have Editors and Mika tickets in their inventory.

“They are attacking the Dutch industry while letting the UK and US continue to resell tickets for the same concerts - even their own companies,” said Keje Molenaar, Chairman of the European Secondary Ticketing Association (EUSTA).

Also this month, Live Nation Entertainment announced the launch of operations in Germany, the fourth largest music market in the world.

The company has tapped promoter Johannes Wessels to head concert promotions and industry veteran Klaus Zemke to preside over event ticketing. Together they have more than 45 years in the business.

The first concerts the German branch will oversee are three Lady Gaga shows scheduled for Berlin, Hamburg, and Oberhausen.

With their expansion into Germany, Live Nation Entertainment now has a “significant presence” in all key European markets.

NATB Announces New Venue For World Ticket Conference

The National Association of Ticket Brokers (NATB) will hold its annual World Ticket Conference at the Aria in Las Vegas. The conference is scheduled for July 16-18.

For the past five years the NATB has held its annual trade show at The Wynn, the eponymous casino and resort of Vegas tycoon Steve Wynn. However, in the past year the NATB and Steve Wynn have publicly feuded over draconian ticketing policies.

The disagreement between the NATB and the hotel giant arose when Garth Brooks announced plans for a lengthy residency at The Wynn. Steve Wynn, who is not shy about deriding ticket brokers and the secondary market, immediately employed a set of harsh rules to prohibit the resale of Brooks tickets.

Due to Wynn’s hubris, the NATB felt it was in their best interest to move their annual trade show to the Aria which is part of the CityCenter, a new development complex located in the heart of Las Vegas.

“CityCenter is the newest, hottest thing right now in Las Vegas,” said Ken Solky, president of the NATB. “So for us, it was a no-brainer to book the conference there after the incident with the Wynn.”

The NATB is also hoping to attract more attendees to their upcoming trade show. On average, the NATB’s annual conference attracts between 300-600 members. The group is hoping for an attendance figure that’s within 20 percent of those numbers.

“We haven’t set a goal attendee-wise, but we know that trade show attendance is down across the board,” admitted Solky.

The NATB has been meeting in Las Vegas for 13 years, but a full-blown trade show has only been organized for the past eight.

Keynote speakers and a full session schedule have yet to be announced. However, Solky did confirm panel discussions on aggregator ticket Web sites and updates on new state and federal ticketing legislation.

Feds Take Down ‘Wiseguy Tickets’ For Alleged Cyber Crimes

Want to know why you couldn’t get tickets to see the Boss, Hannah Montana, or Babs? The answer is a bunch of Wiseguys.

Wiseguys Tickets is a wholesale ticket broker who saw four of its main principals indicted for illegally obtaining over 1.5 million event tickets.

The indictment, handed down March 1, named Kenneth Lowson, 40; Kristofer Kirsch, 37; Faisal Nahdi, 36; and Joel Stevenson, 37, as coconspirators. The four men are accused of hacking into Web sites, like those belonging to Ticketmaster, Live Nation, and Major League Baseball, to surreptitiously purchase tickets. After obtaining the tickets the men sold them to brokers and profited more than $25 million.

“To achieve this goal, Wiseguys deployed a nationwide computer network that opened thousands of simultaneous Internet connections from across the United States; impersonated thousands of individual ticket buyers; and defeated online ticket vendors’ security mechanisms. When online ticket vendors tried to stop Wiseguys from engaging in this conduct, Wiseguys adapted its methods and continued,” reads the indictment.

Wiseguys Tickets is based in Nevada but they were indicted in New Jersey since they allegedly sold ill-gotten tickets to brokers in that state. Besides New Jersey, Wisguys sold tickets to customers all over the country. They also used shell corporations, software bots, and servers in Bulgaria.

The quintet has been charged with 43 counts of cyber crimes including Accessing a Protected Computer with Intent to Defraud; Transmitting a Program That Causes Unauthorized Damage; and Wire Fraud.

Wiesguys allegedly obtained tickets to some of the biggest acts in popular music including Miley Cyrus, Billy Joel, Kenny Chesney, Barbra Streisand, and Bruce Springsteen. They are also accused of finagling tickets for the New York Yankees and the Broadway musical Wicked.

One person especially happy with the federal indictment is U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. The democratic lawmaker from New Jersey is an advocate for ticket buyers and sponsor of the BOSS Act, a piece of legislation that aims to increase regulation within the ticket industry.

“…my legislation requires all brokers to register with the [Federal Trade Commission] and prohibits them from purchasing tickets within the first 48 hours of the onsale, giving the real fans the first shot at tickets at their face value. We will only stop seeing ticket scalping scandals like this when the market for tickets is open, honest and accountable, which is why Congress must pass the BOSS ACT as soon as possible,” Pascrell said via a statement.

“BOSS ACT” is an acronym standing for Better Oversight of Secondary Sales and Accountability in Concert Ticketing. It was introduced last year and the congressman hopes it will be voted on before the end of 2010.

Three of the four men indicted have pled not guilty. The fourth, Nahdi, is out of the country taking care of his sick mother, and is currently negotiating his surrender with authorities.

Lowson (the alleged ringleader), Kirsch, and Stevenson have all been released after posting bail.

Article from Reuters
* Four indicted for ticket scheme, three surrender

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - Four people were indicted for illegally buying and then reselling tickets to sought-after shows like Bruce Springsteen, Hannah Montana and Bon Jovi concerts as well as top Broadway shows and baseball games, the Justice Department said on Monday.

The scheme yielded some $25 million for the men, three of whom have surrendered to authorities, the department said.

The 43-count indictment describes a scheme by a company, Wiseguy Tickets Inc, which bought prime tickets being sold by Ticketmaster, Tickets.com, MLB.com and other ticket providers, to resell them at higher rates.

In one instance, the indictment said, Wiseguy Tickets managed to buy nearly half of the 440 general admission floor tickets for a July 2008 Bruce Springsteen concert at Giants Stadium.

Wiseguy employees were ecstatic, and in an internal company report described the purchase as “straight domination,” having bought the “best ringsides by far.”

Ticketmaster, which has since been bought by Live Nation Entertainment LYV.N, has itself been accused of shunting tickets to a more expensive reseller, and last month settled with the Federal Trade Commission, which had accused it of deceptive ticket sales.

Computers controlled by Wiseguy jumped the virtual queues controlled by the major ticket seller by defeating the CAPTCHA software, the squiggly letters aimed at defeating automated programs by requiring humans to identify them.

Kenneth Lowson, 40, Kristofer Kirsch, 37, and Joel Stevenson, 37 have surrendered to authorities while Faisal Nahdi, 36, has not, the department said.

Lowson and Kirsch, who owned the company, are accused of hiring unnamed Bulgarian programmers to defeat online ticket sellers’ CAPTCHA software, while they and Stevenson, himself a programmer, would work with the Bulgarians to figure out how to get the most and best tickets. Nahdi managed Wiseguy’s finances.

Efforts to reach the accused, or their representatives, were not immediately successful.

Among the charges are conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to gain unauthorized access and exceed authorized access to computer systems.

“The allegations in this indictment represent a scheme orchestrated through technology to cheat the public and circumvent fair business practices in the entertainment industry,” said Edward Kahrer, FBI assistant special agent in charge and head of its corruption program in the Newark Division. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Elton John, Billy Joel Cancel Plans For Summer Tour

Rocket man Elton John and piano man Billy Joel have cancelled plans to extend their very successful Face 2 Face Tour into the summer.

“As far as I know, there will be no more Billy and Elton shows after the Albany show in New York on March 11,” explained John during an interview with Chicago’s WGN-TV.

The reason for the cancellation is Joel’s desire to take a year-long break; John did not elaborate as to why his partner needed time away from touring.

Cancellations and postponements have been quite common for the Face 2 Face Tour. In 2009, a dozen dates were postponed after John was hospitalized for flu and Joel had “undisclosed medical reasons.”

Only one of those postponed dates were canceled. The eleven other dates have been or will be made up in early 2010.

An official summer itinerary had not been announced but fans were expecting to see a lot more of John and Joel on the road. That includes their third appearance at the home of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field.

“I’m so disappointed because when we came to Wrigley Field last year…and it was like playing in the church of baseball,” said John. “I was so delighted to be there, and we had such a wonderful two days.”

Paul McCartney ‘Back In The U.S.A.’ in 2010

Paul McCartney, who generally waits years between North American tours, and who visited the U.S. in 2009, is returning to the States this spring.

Sir Paul’s “Up and Coming Tour” launches March 28 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona. From there the former Beatle visits the Hollywood Bowl (for two nights), Miami, and Puerto Rico.

McCartney is promising to add more dates and those dates will have him visiting markets he missed on his 2009 jaunt.

Last year, the former Wings front man played 10 sold out shows in seven North American markets. As you might imagine for arguably the most successful musician the world has ever known, demand for McCartney tickets was incredibly high.

McCartney’s 2009 tour was so successful that it topped several ticket industry event and venue rankings.

His 2010 dates are likely to draw similar interest especially his two Hollywood Bowl shows. McCartney hasn’t played that historic venue since 1993.

For this outing, Macca will perform material from The Beatles, Wings, and his solo career.

Garth Brooks: Announces More Las Vegas Dates, Keeps Anti-Resell Measures

Garth Brooks has announced his next 20 concert dates for The Wynn Las Vegas. The country music superstar is in the midst of a five year residency at the resort’s Encore Theater.

The twenty dates (all taking place Friday through Sunday) are March 26-28, April 9-11, June 25-27, July 16-18, and August 6-8. Doing the math, that adds up to only 15 concerts however Brooks will play two shows on Saturdays, one at 8pm and another at 10:30pm.

As with the first set of concerts, Brooks and impresario Steve Wynn are employing drastic measures that eliminate the consumer’s freedom to resell their tickets. The procedures also force fans to buy tickets from just a few select retailers.

Here’s a look at the draconian measures one must endure to buy Garth Brooks tickets…

• Only four tickets per order.

• Name of each attendee must be provided at time of purchase.

• Tickets available at will call on evening of concert.

• Tickets must be picked up from will call at least an hour before show starts.

• When picking up tickets, all members of the party must be present with valid photo ID.

• When picking up tickets, purchaser must present credit card used in transaction.

These measures have frustrated fans and infuriated ticket brokers. Yet, Brooks and Wynn are adamant about keeping tickets away from the secondary ticket market.

Certainly the trials one must undertake to purchase Garth Brooks tickets are preventing some fans from attending. Even so, there are more than enough diehards to sell out the Encore Theater’s nearly 1,500 seats.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, Feb. 27 at 8 am. They retail for $125 with a service fee and tax of $18.

In a move that has angered some and pleased others, UK government ministers have decided to forego regulating the secondary ticket market, according to EUTicketNews.com. The ruling means that the industry can still sell tickets for big music and sporting events including Wimbledon.

Gerry Sutcliffe, the UK’s Sports Minister, pushed for a ban on the sale of tickets to the biggest events. However, a three-month investigation ended with the companies being allowed to police themselves.

That’s good news for the secondary market which includes Seatwave and Viagogo. The agencies don’t even have to self-impose suggested rules because the ministers’ report found that “the proposed system was described in consultation responses as confusing and unworkable.” The regulations in question would have been similar to those for the Olympics

Seatwave’s CEO, Joe Cohen, rejoiced at the news saying, “It is clear to all that a transparent and safe secondary market, such as that offered by Seatwave, is in the interests of fans and the live events and sporting industries.”

The outlook wasn’t so rosy on the other side of the argument where Jazz Summers, manager of The Verve, exhorted, “This report is a whitewash – a waste of time and money. I do not think it is helpful for the health of the music industry, as it will mean concert-goers are likely to pay more for big name acts and not support the smaller acts of the future.”

A spokesman for the All England Club, Wimbledon’s organizer, agreed: “It is deeply disappointing that the Government has turned away a golden opportunity to introduce an effective regulatory solution to the problem of unauthorized secondary ticketing.”

Minnesota Wants Primary Seller To Disclose Number Of Ticket Holdbacks

Minnesota state legislators are considering a change to their ticket resale laws that would require the primary ticket seller of an event to disclose the number of tickets withheld from public sale.

It’s common practice for live events, particularly music concerts, to hold back tickets. This practice both infuriates fans and ticket brokers—fans blame brokers for gobbling up all the tickets. Of course, the brokers have nothing to do with the holdbacks. Tickets are withheld from the public to satisfy the demands of promotions, fan clubs, radio station, sponsors and venue clients.

Minnesota bill HF2950, introduced by State Representative Joe Atkins, is designed to help fans know just how many tickets are available (or not available) for an event they wish to attend.

Here’s an excerpt from the bill, be warned it’s written in legalese…

“A provider of, or initial seller of, tickets for an event or venue in connection with an event for which tickets are or will be available for purchase by the general public must disclose to prospective purchasers no later than two weeks before the event how many tickets for the event were held back from sale to the general public.

“‘Tickets held back from sale to the general public’ means the total number of tickets withheld from sale to the general public by or on behalf of a performer, promoter, sponsor, the venue of the performance, or any affiliate of, or person contracting with, any of them.”

What the consumer would do with this information remains to be seen, although it would reinforce the innocence of ticket brokers.

This bill was introduced in the same week that the Federal Trade Commission announced it has reached a deal with Ticketmaster and Bruce Springsteen fans. The deal stems from an incident that happened in early 2009 when Springsteen fans were redirected from Ticketmaster’s main site to their secondary reseller. This reseller was selling tickets to “The Boss” for well above face value price.

It was a classic bait-and-switch maneuver and it highlighted the issue of ticket holdbacks.

Both the proposed legislation in Minnesota and the ruling by the FTC are aimed at adding transparency to the ticket industry. Only time will tell if that’s the case.

Vancouver Winter Olympics: No Snow, No Tickets

The Vancouver Winter Olympics have suffered through a major lack of snow. Then again Vancouver, B.C. is the warmest city to ever host the winter games. However, snow isn’t the only thing in high demand in Canada’s third largest city. Olympic tickets are too. That’s because organizers are expecting the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics to be a sellout.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee, or Vanoc, anticipates selling all 1.6 million tickets to all 86 of its events. When that happens, it will be the first time an Olympics has ever sold out.

“Demand has been huge,” said Dave Cobb, deputy chief executive officer for Vanoc and former chief financial officer for the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks. “Winter sports are huge here.”

The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing sold 96 percent of their inventory or 6.8 million tickets. The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City sold 96 percent of its inventory or 1.6 million tickets. The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin (the last winter games before Vancouver) had about a quarter of its tickets still unsold when competition began.

Tickets sales will generate about $247 million for Vanoc, who has an operating budget of well over a billion dollars.

Reasons for the sellout are threefold: Canada’s economy is improving, the Vancouver games are in close proximity to the United States, and as Cobb mentioned before, there’s a huge demand to see Olympic events live.

The most coveted event of the 2010 Winter Olympics is the men’s gold medal hockey game scheduled for Feb. 28. According to a spokesman from Fansnap.com, tickets for that game are averaging over $3,200. The Super Bowl averaged about $3,000. Other in-demand events include the men’s snowboard half pipe finals and women’s figure skating.

The last batch of tickets was released to the public just prior to the start of the games and was for events like curling, hockey, and the closing ceremony. The tickets were made available only after television and other equipment was situated inside Olympic venues.

The empty seats that have been popping up on television are actually unused VIP tickets. Empty seats were a big problem at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and Vanoc has gone to great lengths to fill as many of those seats as possible.

Of course, if sponsors and IOC groups don’t use their tickets then they don’t use their tickets and the seats go empty. Fortunately, venue officials use those empty VIP seats for fans that need relocating or have a problem with their original seat.