Boss Fans Cry Foul After Ticketmaster Snub

Company will be more up-front ... but not cheaper

(NEWSER) - Ticketmaster has finally acknowledged the seemingly obvious: that its service fees are annoying and cause some people to abandon the ticket-buying process entirely. In the company’s new blog , CEO Nathan Hubbard attributes the universal hatred of service fees to the fact that buyers “don’t understand what the heck they are for." So he goes on to break down who and what some of the fees go to: "promoters, venues, teams, artists and, yes, ticketing companies." He also unveils the company’s new plan to be more up-front about the fees. More»

'Wiseguys' accused of using hackers to corner market on concert tickets

(NEWSER) - Four men who formed a company called "Wiseguy Tickets" have been charged with running a massive ticket-scalping scheme. Federal prosecutors say the Californians employed a team of Bulgarian computer programmers to help them access the systems of vendors like Ticketmaster and corner the market on tickets for some of the country's hottest concerts and sporting events, CNET reports. More»

Time-wasting cops 'should be fired'

(NEWSER) - Adrian Chen found the ticket scalper with possibly the dirtiest mouth on the New York circuit and convinced him to do an interview for Gawker . He expounds on would-be sex-trading ticket buyer Susan Finkelstein, New York sports fans, and more:

• On Finkelstein: "Every one of those cops should be fired on the spot. If they're such pussies that they can't go into a neighborhood where people are shooting and killing each other and have to waste their time on some woman who's trying to fuck her way into the World Series, they should be fired."

Big-name acts, up-and-comers see modest rise in attendance

(NEWSER) - Concert tours remained surprisingly strong this year despite the weak economy, with slightly more people heading out to see their favorite acts than in 2008. Gross revenue held steady at $1 billion for the period from May 1 to Sept. 1, matching earnings a year earlier. Big-name acts like Kenny Chesney, the Dave Matthews Band, Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, and Coldplay all enjoyed strong tours. More»

(NEWSER) - A website hopes to meet the "tiny challenge" of cataloging every concert ever given, writes MG Siegler on TechCrunch. Songkick, a site developed in 2007 to provide recommendations for live music based on where you live and what you like, also wants to add a mix of social networking to its database. An “I Was There” button in the site’s catalog allows concertgoers to chime in about a particular show. More»