Billboard Magazine - June 11th, 1994
Pearl Jam vs. Ticketmaster in the Tour War of 1994
by Eric Boehlert
NEW YORK-Ticketmaster may have won the first round, but the battle between Pearl
Jam and the ticket service appears to be just heating up. A source close to
Pearl Jam's management company confirms that the band has postponed its `94
summer tour. But contrary to published reports, the sources says the tour was
scrapped because promoters would not accept the band's demand that tickets be
sold for no more than $18 and Ticketmaster receive a maximum $1.80 service
charge per ticket (Billboard, April 23). It had been reported elsewhere that the
tour was postponed because the band members were exhausted from their spring
tour and distraught over Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain's suicide. The source
said that while trying to put together a summer road show, the band ran into
"unconscionable activity" and "outright greed" among the
concert industry players, which forced it to curtail its attempt at mounting a
low-budget tour. The battle between Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster already is
shaping up as a monumental one, pitting one of rock's hottest bands against the
industry's most powerful ticket agency. Band members appear adamant that ticket
prices remain affordable for their fans. (Lead singer Eddie Vedder "talks
about it incessantly" says a source close to the band.) And one way to do
that, they insist, is to keep service charges low. But Ticketmaster has
contracts with most of the major venues around the country, guaranteeing that
the service company typically earns twice the $1.80 per ticket limit Pearl Jam
is seeking. "The contracts exist," explains a source close to
Ticketmaster, who labels the brouhaha "a tempest in a teapot." "You
can't just walk in and say [to promoters], `Ignore your contracts.'" To
sidestep those Ticketmaster agreements, Pearl Jam asked promoter to explore
using nontraditional facilities, such as open fields and speed tracks, for the
band's summer shows. Andy Cirzan, senior talent buyer for JAM Productions in
Chicago, says in order to pull off something that "unbelievably complicated"
-creating alternative ticket distribution, building temporary facilities,
dealing with unfamiliar unions in city after city-the band would have needed
complete cooperation from promoters across the country, which Pearl Jam did not
receive. Cirzan estimates that only "a handful" of promoters (including
JAM) were actively trying to meet Pearl Jam's elaborate requests before the tour
was abandoned. "Maybe people didn't want to deal with it during the summer
of `94. But [ticket pricing/service fees] is a dynamic that's not going away,"
says Cirzan, adding "its' not easy to change the rules of rock'n'roll
overnight." A Pearl Jam management source confirms a recent Los Angeles
Times report that lawyers for the band sent the Justice Department's antitrust
division a memo last month claiming Ticketmaster had pressured promoters not to
handle Pearl Jam shows. A Justice Department spokeswoman would not confirm Pearl
Jam's complaint, but did acknowledge the antitrust division is looking into
"the possibility of anti-competitive practices in the ticket industry."
Ticketmaster executives would not comment on the claim, but a source close to
the company suggests Pearl Jam simply gave up too quickly. "Get more
creative," says the source. "Go do something in a high school of a
college or Central Park [where Ticketmaster has no contracts]. Just get around
it. But don't say it's antitrust. That's absurd."