Is anyone else boycotting concerts this year because of all of the new charges thanks to LiveNation?

What charges thanks to LiveNation?

@darwin beat me to the question.

I have no concerts to boycott…

And what are these charges?

The concerts I go to do not handle their ticketing through LiveNation, so, no.

That could explain why I have no idea what is going on. All concerts in our area are handled by Ticketron so that is what I use.

Huh. All concerts in my area are handled by neither. I think a lot are independent. That explains things, though.

what are the new changes?

I use Ticketmaster. I have been to 3 concerts this year. One was independent. I have 3 left. I get to see Paul McCartney later this year. No new charge could stop me from seeing him.

I got my tickets on fee-free Wednesday a couple weeks back

convenience charges are BULLSHIT.

I can’t afford to go to any concerts this year, so a boycott would be moot.

most of the shows i go to don’t require livenation for tickets. most of them are through ticketmaster, which is also outrageous. most of these extra charges, however, you can get around by either purchasing your ticket at the venue, or at fye (though some extra charges still apply for the latter). if the charges aren’t avoidable though, i still try to go. i’m not going to see slightly stoopid, or blink 182 this summer, because of the outrageous charges. but it’s not because i’m trying to ‘stick it to the man’, it’s because i can’t afford it. plus, there are other shows i’d rather go to. i could go to about 2 shows for each one of those. or at least one bigger show with more bands for the price of one of those.

Ticketmaster charges $2.00 per ticket locally, but lets me pay online and print out my own tickets, so that doesn’t really seem to be too high to me. It would cost me at least that to have to drive to the venue and buy the tickets there. If I waited to combine the ticket-buying trip with the actual trip to the concert I wouldn’t have much choice of seats left, if I could get in at all. So I don’t have a problem with Ticketmaster’s fees.

How much are these fees that everyone feels are so outrageous?

http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200907/1246487551.html

(Free-Press-Release.com) July 1, 2009—
Live Nation, Inc. was served yesterday with a class action lawsuit
charging that the company’s “parking fee”, “ticket fee” and other pricing policies at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey violate New Jersey consumer protection
laws. The lawsuit, filed last week in New Jersey Superior Court, Mercer County by attorneys
at Galex Wolf, LLC in North Brunswick, challenges Live Nation’s practice of charging arbitrary and unfair “fees” in addition to the advertised admission price for events at the Arts Center, including a mandatory “parking fee” (typically $6 per ticket) charged regardless of the ticket holder’s intent park a car at the venue, a “ticket fee” (ranging from about $6.00 to $12.00 per ticket) charged without identifying any benefit received in exchange for the fee, and a “charity fee” (ranging from $0.25 to $1.25 per ticket) charged without identifying any charitable organization that would benefit from the fee.

The lawsuit also accuses Live Nation of unlawful and deceptive pricing practices in connection with a recent promotional program called “No Service Fee Wednesday” in which the company had advertised a moratorium on service fees for tickets purchased on designated Wednesdays. The complaint alleges that Live Nation has increased the base admission price for Arts Center events sold on “No Service Fee Wednesday” to compensate for the supposed “service fee” discount, and has in fact charged “fees” on “No Service Fee Wednesday” tickets, including the mandatory $6 “parking fee”.

The complaint asserts that Live Nation’s unfair and deceptive fee and pricing policies at the PNC Bank Arts Center violate the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and Truth in Consumer Contract, Notice and Warranty Act, and seeks damages under these statutes for all consumers who paid Live Nation’s “fees” or who paid inflated “No Service Fee Wednesday” admission prices for Arts Center events. The complaint also seeks an injunction that would prohibit Live Nation from continuing its unlawful practices at the Arts Center.

The named plaintiff in the lawsuit, Michael Katz of Freehold, purchased 16 tickets last month to an Arts Center concert for himself and a group of friends and family members. In addition to the admission price, Mr. Katz was charged various “fees” for each ticket purchased, including a $6.00 “parking fee”, which resulted in Mr. Katz paying a total of $96 in “parking fees” even though his group planned to travel to the Arts Center together only three or four cars. Further, Mr. Katz purchased seven of the tickets on a “No Service Fee Wednesday”, and while Live Nation did not charge the $6.25 “ticket fee” imposed with the nine previously purchased tickets, the base admission price of the seven “No Service Fee Wednesday” tickets was $21.25 higher than the other tickets (all 16 tickets were for the same general admission “lawn” seating).

I can see why folks would be upset. The $2.00 Ticketron fee is nothing compared to that. In addition, if you insist on parking a vehicle at our Convention Center, you pay $5.00 per car. Period. Or you can take the shuttle bus for free.

yeah that sucks.

All the places around me go through ticketmaster though and there’s some kick ass concerts coming up, so no, out of luck on my end :-/.

I’m more into indie tunes and sometimes chase bands around from coffee shop to hookah bar to hear them play. I can’t remember the last time I went to show that in anyway even involved tickets.