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(TV) (OT) Ticketmaster (was: You think Ebay is bad...)



"Emilie T. Hsu" <ehsu@mindspring.com> wrote:
> 
> Forget Ebay -- I think those Clear-Channel/Ticketmaster charges are outrageous -- they come to $8 per ticket (I just ordered the tickets to the Saturday 03/22 Television concert)!
> 
> Didn't people try to sue Ticketmaster?  If they didn't, people really should, it's a monopoly!
> 

Sure it's a monopoly, like PC operating systems and about a hundred other 
things.  It costs consumers loose millions in monoploy profits.  Worse, 
ClearChannel is a vertically integrated monopoly, and it uses its monopoly 
profits in one industry (radio) to fund predetory practices in other
industries (live music).

But don't hold your breath waiting for the Justice Dept. or courts
to do something about it.  I'll bet ClearChannel contributes more to 
Congressional campaigns than anybody on this list.  (The defining event 
in American politics in my lifetime has been when corporations figured 
out it was smart to contribute to both political parties, so that no 
matter which candidate wins nobody will dare to complain.)

However, should it take a court case to get rid of TicketMaster?  You 
don't have to sue to get rid of a bad restaurant.  Just don't buy the 
tickets!   Nobody really needs to go see rock concerts: it's a luxury item.  
If people stopped for one month it would be the end of TicketMaster.

If this sounds too idealistic, remember what happend with the "New Coke".
The market sent a clear message to Coca-Cola Company that it is unlikely 
ever to forget.  And the embargo on South Africa also was widely observed.
All it would take is for people on lists like this one to decide it is 
definitely _not_cool_ to buy tickets through Ticketmaster.

Of course, I know this is damn unlikely--the American public would buy 
tickets from Adolph Hitler if it got them in to see their favorite band,
just as they will buy goods made by political prisoners in the People's
Republic of China just to save a few bucks.

To a large extent, people get the econcomic masters they deserve.  Ticket-
master's logo should be a white guy in a Panama hat with a bull whip, and
anybody who buys from them should be proud to call themselves a 
"ticket-slave".

Mark
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