OPEN LETTER FROM JON LANDAU

BOSS AT A LOSS: With Irving Azoff and Michael Rapino returning to D.C. this week to continue their testimony on behalf of the proposed Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger, the Newark Star-Ledger reported that Bruce Springsteen had wrongly accused TME of holding back tickets for a New Jersey show earlier this year, the responsibility lying instead with Springsteen’s own camp. The fact that the story broke when it did caused some observers to note that the timing couldn’t have been better for the two embattled executives, who are engaged in a high-stakes spinning duel with opponents of the merger.

The item referred to a June 14 story in the newspaper which can be read here. Landau asked that his letter objecting to the item run in full on the site.

Dear HITS Magazine:

I object to HITS portraying Bruce Springsteen as the problem in the Ticketmaster/ TicketsNow controversy. Ticketmaster itself has made a lengthy public apology to Bruce and his fans, accepting responsibility for the ticket mess of February 6. They have signed a consent decree from the New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram, to never again engage in some of the practices that occurred on the 6th. And they have acknowledged its responsibility for the Springsteen ticketing problems when questioned in detail by Committees of Congress.

Your item alludes to the fact that Bruce and Thrill Hill hold a significant number of tickets for their home state shows. This is no different than what most acts do in New York, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, as anyone above the age of five knows. However, the tickets held by Thrill Hill are not now and have never been used for resale for profit. Those holds have literally nothing to do with the "bait and switch" events of February 6, wherein thousands of people trying to buy Bruce tickets on Ticketmaster were linked and directed to Ticketmaster's wholly owned subsidiary TicketsNow, where those tickets were being sold at exorbitant prices, to the unwarranted benefit of Ticketmaster.

Ticketmaster appears to now be using your columns to pretend that they weren't responsible for the ticketing "glitch" (as they like to call it) after openly acknowledging its responsibility for the problem in multiple forums. HITS' attempt to now shift the responsibility for this ticketing fiasco from Ticketmaster to Bruce and Thrill Hill is a low blow—even for Ticketmaster partisans.

Jon Landau