More on the Phish/Ticketbastard Debacle

A newspaper from Newport News in Virginia picked up on the Ticketmaster/TicketsNow issues surrounding the Hampton Phish shows.  The more publicity this receives, the better it will be for the fans of any band, team, musician, or event.  I would suggest, especially if you’re in Virginia, that you write to your Attorney General’s office and get them looking into these issues.  In fact, if you’ve had this type of issue for an event in your own state, write to your Attorney General.  Ticketmaster has a near monopoly on ticket sales for any major event at a major venue.  Why Congress hasn’t looked into them, but has been harassing Microsoft and now Google is beyond me.  The only way to stop this madness is if people stand up for themselves and complain.  The only way to stop ticket brokers (aka scalpers) is to stop buying tickets from them.  If you aren’t getting tickets from the source, don’t buy them.  Not only are you spending a lot more money on the tickets than you should have been, but you risk spending that money on tickets that won’t get you into the show.  A lot of these scalpers, especially the ones on eBay will sell you a counterfeit ticket.  There’s only one way to be sure you’re getting the real thing – buy only from the official source.  In the case of the Phish shows, that’s the Phish lottery or Ticketmaster.  Getting shut out sucks, but there are hundreds of thousands of people who want to see those shows and only 41,000 seats in the arena.  Do the math.