Mad Seasons [Abandoned Story]

68. Pearl Jam VS Ticketmaster (Very Long Chapter)

Ticketmaster was built on the premise of selling ticketing software and by 1982, the company changed their business model by signing exclusivity contracts with venues promising them a cut of the profits and fees.

By the early '90s, Ticketmaster was buying up its competition, effectively owning more than 60% of the market share in the live entertainment business. On top of that, Ticketmaster had lobbyists in Washington and hired the best anti-trust lawyers, in addition to setting up a government relations office in the nation's capital to lobby congress. The company also hired public relations people to tell the company's story in both the media and online.

By the early to mid-90s, Ticketmaster was ready to challenge any kind of legislation or messaging that threatened their bottom line. Before Pearl Jam raised a stink about Ticketmaster, there really wasn't a big debate around service fees. The bigger question was how high ticket prices could go with legacy acts like Billy Joel, The Eagles and Elton John charging upwards of almost $100 per ticket. An exorbitant sum for a concert ticket.

Ticketmaster's feud with Pearl Jam wasn't instantaneous. It was something that built up after both parties had bad experiences with one another. It effectively started on Labor Day 1992. Nearly a year prior, Pearl Jam released their debut album, Ten which was a monumental success. To thank the fans in their hometown of Seattle, Pearl Jam wanted to play a free concert. It was estimated that about 30,000 people were expected to attend.

Despite being advertised as a free concert, Ticketmaster was distributing the tickets and wanted to charge $1 for every ticket distributed. Upset with this request, Pearl Jam ditched Ticketmaster and distributed the tickets on their own, keeping the show free.

 Stone and Jeff told the LA Times in late 1996 that it was their idea to take on Ticketmaster. Gossard revealed to the LA Times they swore when they formed this band that if they ever got successful they would make sure theydid something to keep their concert prices down but they decided to take it one step at a time.

In 1993 Pearl Jam was supporting their album, Versus. While the band was out on tour, they were still playing Ticketmaster-friendly venues and had the company distributing their tickets. Ticketmaster was charging a service fee between $3, $6 per ticket.

Pearl Jam started cutting deals with venue owners for them to take a smaller cut of the band's merchandise sales so they could lower their prices from what the industry standard was. So a concert tee that typically went for $24 was now sold by Pearl Jam for $18.

Once Pearl Jam became a headliner on the road, they started adopting a non-compromising attitude, wanting their ticket prices to be only $18. This move resulted in Pearl Jam forgoing millions of dollars they could have made, had they been charging industry standard rates. Fans applauded it but the concert business wasn't happy with the move.

 When Pearl Jam became a headliner, the band refused to compromise with anyone, unlike many other bands, because they weren't greedy for agents or power. They didn't care about middlemen, and when anyone disagreed with them during a negotiation, they'd say so outright.

In November 1993, Pearl Jam was about to wrap up the North American leg of its tour with three concerts in its hometown of Seattle. Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster had agreed to donate $20,000 of their proceeds to a local children's charity.

However, an hour before the first of the three Seattle concerts, their manager, Kelly Curtis, was informed that Ticketmaster president Frederick R Rosen was unaware of the donation and wanted an extra dollar added to ticket prices.

Upset by Ticketmaster's request, the band asked for the concert to be cancelled, but reached an agreement at the last minute. Ticketmaster agreed to donate $14,000 to charity without increasing ticket prices. Nevertheless, Ticketmaster disputed the band's version of what had happened. Such a shark was not to be believed.