Bruce Springsteen is at the centre of a ticketing mess following complaints from fans over malfunctions to obtain tickets for his upcoming tour.
A notice at the official Springsteen site accuses Ticketmaster of a conflict of interests claiming that the agency was bumping fans to a secondary site.That has led Ticketmaster Entertainment CEO Irving Azoff to respond.
“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,” Azoff writes.
“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”.
“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”.
Sincerely,
Irving Azoff, CEO, Ticketmaster Entertainment
The problem came just days after Springsteen and the E Street Band was accused of miming his performance at the SuperBowl on Sunday. That criticism is ridiculous because everyone does that at the SuperBowl.
The SuperBowl will not risk a malfunction (although Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction was clearly beyond their control).
The E Street Band recorded their performance a few days earlier but then again, everyone does that. Tom Petty did it the year before. The Stones did it. McCartney did it too.
It is a technical impossibility to set up a band to perform with optimum sound in the middle of an event like the SuperBowl. All acts mime.
However, credit should go to Bruce. His vocals were live to the miming E Street Band. So what? This was not a Milli Vanilli moment. Springsteen and the E Street Band recorded their entire performance just days earlier in a controlled environment.
The SuperBowl is not a rock show. It is a sporting event. The music is just decoration.
Anyone complaining of a mimed musical performance at a SuperBowl clearly has never watched a SuperBowl performance before.
