MUSIC NEWS - The head of Ticketmaster, Irving Azoff, took time off from the heavilly rumored Live Nation / Ticketmaster merger negotiations and responded to the outcry over the problems of their sale of BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN tour tickets. Not only did Ticketmaster upset comsumers and a NJ state senator ( Bill Pascrell ) , they angered Bruce Springsteen and his manager, Jon Landau ! Mr Azoff stepped in and issued an apology after Springsteen's official website posted a message accusing the ticketing giant of deliberately and misleadingly redirecting fans to their secondary ticketing resale site (TicketsNow). Springsteen's team commented after many fans complained that when they tried to buy tickets for one his shows via the Ticketmaster website they consistently received an error message, which then redirected them to TicketsNow, where they could buy tickets on the secondary market, at a considerable mark up (Ticketmaster, of course, receives a % of the mark up from their TicketsNow site). Irv claimed Ticketmaster provides the link to TicketsNow only when their main site is unable to sell primary tickets for an event, either because they are not an agent for that event, or because all primary tickets are sold out. He argued that TicketsNow provides an added value service for consumers wanting to get tickets by any means. However, with regard to the Springsteen tix, it seems that fans were redirected to the broker website when the primary site (Ticketmaster) was unable to cope with demand.

Azoff quickly issued a statement apologzing, and pledged to restrict when the Ticketmaster site directs consumers to TicketsNow, and to only offer the secondary ticketing options when/if an artist approves. He wrote: "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 apologise to Bruce, his organisation and, above all, his fans".

He continued: "We recognise 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". And he concluded: "If any fans inadvertently purchased tickets in the resale marketplace believing in error they were purchasing from the initial on-sale, we will refund the difference between the actual purchase price and the face price of the ticket. (Please don't abuse this good faith gesture - we did not give brokers any preferential access to tickets). We are committed to helping deliver the most transparent and best live entertainment experience to fans. We will do better going forward". They'll need to, as the NJ Attorney General has announced an investigation into the incidents.

This recent incident should receive even more attention from the Federal Goverment and media, especially with a possible merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Such a merger would create a near monopoly in the sale of entertainment event tickets in the USA.