Dont Mess With the Boss

Tickets for Bruce Springsteen's spring/summer '09 tour went on sale last Monday at noon. Enthusiastic fans, myself included, our clicking fingers stretched out, poised, and hovering over our touchpads, sat waiting in front of our computers, ready to serve up the obscene service charge to Ticketmaster in exchange for a chance to see the Boss. One problem. Ticketmaster crapped out.

"Our server is temporarily down, please try back later. Thank you." In my hunt for tickets I saw this message over and over again, my frustration bubbling up each time, along with the fear that this was one Springsteen tour I might miss out on. Well, I wasn't the only victim of Ticketmaster's ineptly run monopoly. It seems thousands of fans ran into the same problem. Now, were this a once in a blue moon occasion, I would grudgingly let Ticketmaster off the hook. But this was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

For years Ticketmaster has had exclusive rights to sell tickets to Live Nation events. For those that don't know, Live Nation is Clear Channel's live music arm, and Clear Channel is the huge mega media conglomerate that owns just about every media outlet and venue in the country. Essentially, Ticketmaster had a monopoly on big concert's ticket sales, and their obscene service charges (sometimes up to 40 percent) were a product of their dominance of the market share. Also, due to Ticketmaster's exclusive deal with Live Nation, I couldn't get tickets to Bruce from any other ticket agent, leaving me weeping tears of sorrow onto the keys of my Macbook. Well, this aggression will not stand man!

Sunday, February 8, 2009, NY Senator Chuck Schumer held a press conference railing against Ticketmaster for its mishandling of the Bruce ticket sales. The Boss (who was invited) was a no show, but the conference was a hit. Look forward to some anti-trust suits against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. That's what happens when you mess with the Boss kiddos! (To be fair, Live Nation has already said that they will not renew their deal with Ticketmaster). I'm not sure how far this populist zeal will go towards breaking up the Clear Channel media monopoly(they really own the airwaves, no joke), but its good to know that something is popping. So maybe, just maybe, one day soon we will all be able to afford to go see the Boss at the Izod Center AND pay rent in the same month.

And for those who don't get why Bruce is the man, I leave you with this: