As an avid fan of live shows, I definitely don’t want to see this go down. Although I always try to buy show tickets at the actual venue, sometimes I just don’t have the time. The end result is a $20 ticket turning into a $35 expense due to crazy service fees and convenience charges (sounds a bit redundant eh?). Thank goodness for ticketing sites like Brown Paper Bag. So do me and every other concert goer a favor and put your name on the petition. link
As a concertgoer you have already felt the pain of high “convenience” fees, paired with inconvenient ticketing practices and poor service. If Ticketmaster and Live Nation get their way, it will get worse. History bears this fear out. From 1996 to 2003, ticket prices shot up by 82% while the consumer price index increased by just 17% — at the same time that Ticketmaster and Live Nation (then known as SFX Entertainment and later, Clear Channel Entertainment) were busy buying up rivals in the live event industry. If these two live event industry behemoths are permitted to merge, the variety and quality of artists coming to local venues will be negatively affected, while the costs to consumers would shoot through the roof.
