Ticketmaster has long been the scourge of concert and event goers all over the United
States, mostly due to the fact that they charge these exorbitant fees to actually just purchase
a ticket to an event.
Well, any consumer who is angry about that is about to get even angrier at this story
because it turns out Ticket Master has apparently been working with scalpers to gouge consumers
twice.
Joining me now to talk about this story and the class action that's going to result here
is Scott Hardy from topclassactions.com.
Scott, thank you for being with us today.
This is such a crazy story, isn't it?
It's insane, and it's one of those things that as an avid concertgoer myself that I
see, and I wonder because how do tickets sell out so quickly at events?
I mean, obviously for big events like Taylor Swift or any of the top-named stars out there
that are touring, you know they're going to sell out, but why do they sell out in seconds,
and this class action actually goes into detail into how the tickets sell out so fast, how
the scalpers are buying them and the tools that Ticketmaster may actually be providing
to help them do that.
And you know, this is important to kind of distinguish here.
A lot of people still have the image of scalpers in their head of people standing outside the
event with a jacket pocket full of tickets.
Not necessarily how that works anymore.
Now you've got these actual corporate websites where they do these reselling of tickets,
Ticket Master is involved in those.
You've got the authorized resellers, because they get a cut of the profits here, and that's
part of the issue.
So, having set that up, how exactly does this work?
You know, you talked about how do they sell out in seconds.
Explain that a little bit, because these investigations have found quite a lot of info on it.
Yes, it's really fun to dig into these things and find out how companies are allegedly screwing
the consumer, even though they're doing their best to help people out.
"Oh, we want to go ahead and make sure everybody has a great concert experience," but Ticketmaster
and different venues, like Live Nation, are doing things like selling platinum ticket
packages and those are essentially ticket scalper prices but they're sold directly by
Ticketmaster.
Now that potential particular piece is not included within this class action, but I think
we're going to see that in the future, because if Ticketmaster is saying, "Hey, we're selling
these tickets.
These are all the tickets for a venue," and then magically you show up there to their
website and you find additional tickets for sale that actually aren't available unless
you pay two to four times the actual face value of the ticket, so it's a problem.
Now, ticket scalpers are a huge, huge business as you mentioned.
No one's sitting there outside the venue, and I would never ever buy a ticket from anyone
outside a venue because there's so many ways to print out fake tickets and make them look
so great.
So a lot of us have to go to authorized ticket resellers, through Ticketmaster, or through
other potential resellers like Stub Hub and other things.
But when you find out that there's actually a ticket scalper conference, which has hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds of attendees every year where all they're talking about are ways
to buy tickets and then you have Ticketmaster actually there helping potentially sponsor
events and marketing tools, like a tool called Trade Desk, which was created and used by
scalpers but it was created by Ticketmaster and it's one of their suite of tools that
these scalpers use to buy blocks of tickets.
So, we have people out there ... It's almost like it's an automated system for some of
them.
They've created multiple different accounts so they can get in there, buy blocks of ten
tickets, twenty tickets, maybe only five tickets per account depending on what the limit is,
because I know sometimes for concerts or events they'll limit how many you can buy.
But that's what they're doing, and they've paid full price for their tickets, Ticketmaster
gets that money, those fees, everything.
And then they go and they take these tickets to one of those authorized resellers, and
then Ticketmaster or Live Nation, whoever it is, has a financial stake in those sales
as well so they get double the fees.
Consumers are paying a higher price for a ticket because they don't have the tools that
these professional, essentially corporate sponsored scalpers at this point.
They don't have those same tools.
They just wanted to go see a concert or a comedy show or a football game and they're
screwed twice on the deal here.
Yeah, absolutely.
That's the thing, is that what we're seeing from the research, it looks like Trade Desk
was created exclusively for ticket scalpers and ticket brokers, and as you mentioned,
I want to go ahead and go to this concert or go to a football game and the game is sold
out, the concert's sold out.
I have no choice.
Now I want to make sure that I get a ticket, have a valid ticket so I'll go to a Ticketmaster
authorized reseller.
But as you mentioned, that ticket scalper bought their blocks of tickets using a tool
that was created by Ticketmaster, paid the Ticketmaster fees for the ticket, now is reselling
those tickets through a Ticketmaster approved website, Ticketmaster is digging you for a
fee again, and we're paying so many fees already from facility fees to parking fees that the
ticket prices are just horrendous.
So Ticketmaster is profiting at least twice by using these scalpers, which is why they
have really no reason to not help these people buy these tickets.
They're going to make twice as much money.
Absolutely.
This is a truly disgusting story.
Scott Hardy from Top Class Actions.
Thanks for telling us this story.
For anybody who wants more information on it, go to topclassactions.com, find out everything
about this investigation into Ticketmaster and the scalpers that they're helping.
Scott Hardy, thanks for talking with me today.
Thank you, Farron.
For more infomation >> Ticketmaster Working With Scalpers To Rip Off Consumers - Duration: 6:18.-------------------------------------------
Lauren Jauregui on Her 'Liberation' From Fifth Harmony & Details Her Solo Album | TRL - Duration: 3:55.
Thank you.
Wassup? Wassup?
Wassup? You know, Lauren, every time I would see you,
I would be introducing you on the red carpet.
It's true, it's very true.
Yeah, but you were always surrounded.
Now, you dolo. What does that feel like?
I'm dolo right now. I'm excited.
I feel like a bird let out of a cage.
Uh-huh. Yeah. Truthfully.
Truthfully. That's what it feels like.
Yeah, it's like a liberation, you know, like a freedom,
like, "Oh, wait, - I have wings."
Uh-huh. And then you want to flap 'em.
Yeah.
Let me see how you flap them wings.
Alright.
There. I've gotta keep 'em right here.
Oh, okay, good point. It's the outfit you know.
It's the aoutfit Keep that angle going, right?
Great abs, by the way. Thank you.
Alright, no problem.
You were just recently featured on Nylon magazine.
Yes, I was.
Wow, this is your first time being recognized
in this major way as a solo artist.
Yeah.
Is the gratification different on this level when it's solo?
Yeah, I mean, of course,
it's your own face and body on a chair there.
No, I really love Nylon magazine, too, like,
I love the publication and what they stand for,
and it was really cool for them to have asked me
to be a part of a cover.
Like, any time that I get offered something like that,
I'm very grateful. You're very grateful.
Yeah, incredibly.
Plus, the whole shoot, the photo shoot is a lot shorter.
Way shorter. Let me just throw that out there, yeah.
It takes a lot less time for one person
to get ready than four or five, you know.
But, yeah, it was amazing. It was an incredible experience.
Also, the article that was written
was written by a friend of mine, so it was a really dope piece
and really captured my essence, I feel like, which is, you know,
sometimes rare when it comes to publications,
because, you know, they tend to kind of write their own story.
But, it's really cool to have been able
to give my first interview and cover out there
and it been this great and satisfying for me.
They did a good job?
They did a great job. I'm so grateful.
You know, as you say, when you talk you make me imagine things.
Like, I never even looked at it from the artist perspective.
Somebody can sit and interview you for two hours,
and then when the article comes out,
it has totally taken out of context.
Totally. And lines pulled and headlines
made for click bait, and it's just like, "Really?
That wasn't the focus of this at all."
No, it wasn't, right? Yeah.
Today, we're gonna stick to the facts, okay?
Alright.
Is it true that you robbed a bank when you were nine?
Yes.
That is true? Yeah. I was.
Okay, I read about that.
Yeah. But, I got away with it, right?
Yeah. Why you telling the people?
Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, okay.
I'm sticking to the facts, alright.
Thank you.
So, I'm curious. I always like that transition period
when artists who we know from a group go off
and do something solo.
We saw Justin Timberlake do that and then he blew up.
We could go on and on.
How is your music different than what Fifth Harmony is,
and what are your goals?
Well, it's incredibly different. It's definitely more ...
Well, it's individualized, you know what I mean?
I can speak for all the girls, I'm sure, when I say that,
you know, the group was more of a contrived image that had to do
with what the group was about, you know what I mean?
In terms of the music and what was given to us.
We only were able to write on our very last album
that we put out,
and it was still co-written, you know what I mean?
So, this is me. This is me in a studio,
picking the producers I want to work with,
picking the lyrics ...
Writing the lyrics, I should say, not picking them.
Well, sometimes it's picking.
Sometimes you have to, like, write out a bunch of
- and fill in what you want.
But, yeah, it's just been that.
It's been such a creative process.
I've been involved in every single layer of it,
and my team's amazing and I've put together
a really strong creative team around me,
and I'm just, like, grateful to be doing it,
and the whole energy of it is just more me.
It's more you. Mm-hmm (affirmative).
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Sangrienta muerte en un supermercado en Kentucky | Al Rojo Vivo | Telemundo - Duration: 0:37.
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Asaltos dentro de los edificios alertan a la comunidad | Al Rojo Vivo | Telemundo - Duration: 0:41.
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Querían acuchillar a sus compañeros y beber su sangre | Al Rojo Vivo | Telemundo - Duration: 0:43.
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Stray Cat Struggles With A Can On Its Head | Kritter Klub - Duration: 2:14.
Geez.. Another one?!
I don't know whether to explode with anger or burst into tears
It got stuck in a can that's open on both ends
We should catch it to save it
I'm trying to save you
What are we to do..
How is the can even open like that?
Entices with food
You'll be okay, buddy
There are some nutritional deficiencies
Nothing major
But what's weird is that the can is open on both sides
Someone must've done it on purpose
We wish you all the best!
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Dos mujeres fueron tragadas por la tierra | Al Rojo Vivo | Telemundo - Duration: 0:36.
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Car Seat Guidelines for Your Child - Duration: 2:15.
Let's talk car seats. Your child's first car seat is probably going to be that
infant carrier that she comes home from the hospital in. She's going to be in
this until she outgrows the weight limit or the height limit, but it's usually the
weight limit. These can go up to anywhere of about 22 to almost even 30
pounds in some seats. The next car seat is going to be what's called a
convertible car seat. This is one that can be installed either rear-facing or
forward-facing. Of course, it's going to be installed in the back seat. If
possible it's best to install it in the middle of the back seat. Now importantly,
your child is going to stay rear-facing in this car seat until she outgrows it
based on either the weight or the height limits. It doesn't matter how old your
child is. It matters how much she weighs. Now importantly, many of these car seats
will fit your child until she's almost 50 pounds, so that's close to a
four-year-old which means your average four-year-old can stay rear-facing.
That's how she's safest. Now, when your child is ready to move on to the next
car seat when she's outgrown that other one, she's either going to be forward-facing
in that same five-point harness or she's going to be ready to move on to a booster
seat. Now you can't be in a booster seat until you're at least four years old and
forty pounds, so it's both of those things. Many people are surprised to find
out how long their child needs to remain in the booster seat. It is true there are
some rollercoasters you will be able to ride before you have outgrown your
booster seat. We want you in the booster seat until you are about 57
inches tall or four foot nine, so the average 10 to 12 year old is still going
to be in a booster seat. The reason for this is that you need to be a certain height
before that seat belt is going to fit you correctly. Your child needs to remain in
the back seat until he is 13 years old. It doesn't matter how big he is. It
doesn't matter how much he weighs. Front seats are built for adults. Front seat
airbags are built for adults and front seat seatbelts are built for adults.
They won't protect your child the way he needs to be protected in a car crash.
There's plenty of time to move to that front seat, no need to rush it.
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