Over the months, a number of you have contacted Whistleblower with stories like this one, from Andrew, who bangs his head to the sound of AC/DC. He described getting online at the Ticketmaster site last year when AC/DC tickets went on sale at exactly 10 a.m. But when he clicked on “BUY,” he was told almost immediately that the tickets were sold out. Then he was directed to a site called “Tickets Now,” where tickets were available at $365 to $1,600 each, instead of the original $90 cost. He also noticed the logo: Tickets Now is a Ticketmaster company.

I was shocked to see that Ticketmaster was scalping the very same tickets they were supposed to be selling to the public.

Whistleblower passed tips like Andrew’s on to our able music writers, Jon Bream and Chris Riemenschneider. But it turns out the loudest Whistleblower of them all, the Boss, can make things happen. After state Rep. Joe Atkins picked up on Bruce Springsteen’s ticket rage, Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a bill Monday that “prohibits online ticket sellers from pushing buyers to resale sites that offer tickets far above face value,” my colleague Bob Von Sternberg reports.

Here’s the text of the new law:

Section 1. [609.807] EVENT TICKETS; PROHIBITED ACTS.
(a) As used in this section: (1) “initial seller” means a person or entity with whom a provider of an event or venue has contracted for the sale of tickets for the purpose of the initial sale of those tickets to the general public; and (2) “ticket” means a ticket of admission to a sporting event, theater, musical performance, or place of public entertainment or amusement of any kind.
(b) The initial seller of tickets shall make available for sale all tickets under control of the initial seller in the manner and under terms directed by the provider of the event or venue. The initial seller shall not, unless authorized by the provider of the event or venue, divert tickets from the initial sale to the general public to be sold in any other manner or under any other terms.
(c) No person or entity, with intent to defraud, may sell or offer for sale a ticket that is invalid, counterfeit, altered, or otherwise not genuine.
(d) A violation of this section is a misdemeanor.
EFFECTIVE DATE.This section is effective August 1, 2009, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Now we’ll see if this actually stops the practice, or whether the state will have to write a misdemeanor ticket to Ticketmaster.

(My colleague David Brewster shot that fine photo above of Brian Johnson and Angus Young from AC/DC’s appearance at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul in November).

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 10:29 am and is filed under Businesses in hot water, Buyer beware. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.