Live Nation Sued Over Concert Tickets

July 9, 2009 -- A New Jersey man has sued Live Nation Inc.,
accusing the concert promoter of violating consumer protection laws
by padding ticket prices at the PNC Bank Arts Center during its
"No service fee Wednesday" promotion.
Michael Katz, of Freehold Township, is seeking to have his
lawsuit classified as class-action. It was filed late last month in
Superior Court in Mercer County.
Katz bought two batches of lawn tickets to an upcoming Blink 182
concert at the Arts Center in Holmdel.
The base ticket price of the first batch were $7.75 each, not
including $12.25 in fees. The base price of the second batch --
purchased a few days later on a Wednesday -- were $29 each, not
including a $6 parking fee and a 25 cent "charity" fee.
In the lawsuit alleges that the company wasn't truthful about
its no-fee promotion, that instead of dropping the fees Live Nation
merely incorporated them into the base price of the ticket and then
raised the base price.
"They have this ticket fee system that seems to be elastic,"
said Katz attorney Henry Wolfe.
The lawsuit seeks to recover money for all consumers who paid
inflated base prices during the no-fee promotion and to stop Live
Nation from charging mandatory parking and charity fees at future
events.
"I don't think it's fair," Katz said. "The ones that suffer
the most are the loyal fans."
Live Nation has acknowledged that some fees never went away
during the promotion, but called the lawsuit "frivolous" and
denied ticket padding.
According to Live Nation spokesman John Vlautin, the first
several thousand lawn tickets for the Blink 182 concert were
offered on sale for the total price of $20, including fees. He said
that by the time Katz made his second purchase, those promotional
lawn seat may have all been gone.
Typically, service fees help pay the ticket-selling company.
Live Nation was able to cut certain surcharges for their no-fee
promotion in the hopes that it would make that money up by getting
more people to come to the venues it owns and having them pay for
such things as parking and concessions.
Tickets at the Arts Center sold during the no-fee promotion are
still subject to a $6 parking fee and a 25 cent charity fee, Live
Nation said.
The parking fee has long had concertgoers seeing red because it
is tacked onto every ticket, regardless of whether the ticket
holder drives to the show. And the facility maintains far fewer
parking spaces than the Arts Center's 17,500-person capacity.
Live Nation said the parking fee is needed to keep traffic
flowing.
"In an effort to alleviate the traffic issues on the Garden
State Parkway that would occur if fans were forced to stop and pay
for parking at the entrance of the PNC Bank Arts Center parking
lot, we instead charge a per ticket parking fee of $6," the
company said in a statement.
It said the charity fee is required under their lease with the
state-owned Arts Center. All the money goes to the Garden State
Arts Foundation, which funds free entertainment for seniors and
children.
Some fans worry that ticket prices would go up even more should
Live Nation's proposed merger with ticketing giant Ticketmaster
Entertainment Inc. be approved this year following an antitrust
review.