Music

Ticket scalpers forced to pay $2.7 million settlement

by Richard Howard

So, who else as a live music fan has developed the overwhelming desire to knee ticket resellers in the junk due to their increasing use of ticket-buying bots? Yeah, me too. That’s why the news out of New York is more delicious than an Ali’s Roti with a Wellington Ale on the side.

Following an investigation by that state’s Attorney General’s office, six ticket brokers were forced to settle – and while they avoided prosecution, they’ll collectively be ponying up a whopping US $2.7 million.

TicketToad.com of New Jersey, Charm City Entertainment of Florida, Just In Time Tickets of New York, A2Z Tix of New York, Flying Falco Entertainment of California, and All Events Utah were all busted for illegally selling tickets to New York-based events since 2011. All of these ticket brokers except for Charm City Entertainment utilized ticket bots, scooping up massive numbers of tickets before regular ol’ humans like you and me had the chance to on websites like Ticketmaster.

What do I mean by massive? How about 520 tickets to a 2013 Beyonce concert in three minutes? Check out the prices of their ticket auctions above. Seriously, fuck you guys.

*Deep breath* But back to the good news. The resellers’ chortling about the massive profits made off of their exorbitantly priced tickets quickly turned to blubbering as they handed over the following payouts:

Suck it, jerks. Now, if you’re not one who often buys tickets to large events online, you may be unaware of how ridiculous things have gotten. This brilliant satirical article pretty much explains everything to a tee.

Fingers crossed Toronto, also a stop for nearly every major North American tour, take a page out of New York’s books. In the meanwhile, lemme know if you find any bot-using ticket resellers in the city. I’ve been working on my Muay Thai knees.

[h/t Syracuse.com]