Turkued

I think this is a great show. Then, again, I'm from Boston originally, love punk and you couldn't pay me to go to a Little Steven show (yes, I've tried it). Just shows you Bruce has lots of cross genre appeal.

48 minutes ago, badlands78 said:

Thanks for all the back story and details which I hadn't been aware of.  I respect your opinions on this.

And I respect those who have a different take on things, as well.

On 3/27/2019 at 9:44 AM, badlands78 said:

Could someone clarify what has been removed from YouTube?  Was it only videos that contained officially released audio (Nugs etc.)?

No. Everything, and in the most aggressive manner possible.

I had a video up of the Belfast pre-show. No longer. The fact Universal didn't own the coipyright on part of the performance didn't matter to them. Even when I challenged them to prove ownership they persisted in their claim without doing so. So far Google, owners of YouTube, has sided with their corporate friend. I'm an attorney with a background in i.p. and some of the crap they have been sending me has no basis in law. It's pure intimidation.

I don't monetarize concert videos. That would be wrong. I do have a bunch of other non music videos up that do provide me with some income. I should say did. I now have a copyright strike thanks to Bruce Inc. He's literally taking money from me. All they had to do was ask me to take it down and I would have. But no, direct, punitive action. So...

1. I'm taking down all my Springsteen videos,

2. I'll continue to pursue this through the ADR processes,

3. I'm done with a man I now consider a fraud.

I should note that there is a valid defence against the copyright claim of Universal in the particular video in question. No full songs were involved, only small chunks. it was part of a vlog about the uniqueness of Bruce's pre-shows. It's fair dealing.

I have over 1,400 music videos on YouTube. During the last U2 tour I used the platform to distribute Mr. MacPhisto's, a Bono character, artistic attacks on some of the right wing candidates in Brasil and the United States. One went viral, wound up on Brasilian national TV. A member of the U2 staff tracked me down and thanked me. U2 thanks me, Bruce does his thing.

Yes, I flew across the ocean and paid a ton of money to see Springsteen on Broadway. There were those in this community who criticised the high prices as a money grab. I ignored them. It was Bruce, after all. Well...

I'm done.

Bruce Inc. could have done what every other band does, save a few exceptions: claim the copyright and make money from our work. If he was going to persist in having the videos taken down he simply could have asked me to do so. It's happened a few times in the past and, of course, I complied. Not Bruce.

I'll recover, he won't. While he's been off doing his exclusive shows the world has moved on. YouTube is a promotional vehicle for most acts. Bruce is a dinosaur for folks under 35. There's a reason he can't fill arenas in much of the United States. Outside of a few markets, here in Europe his stadium days are done. Wrecking Ball was a brilliant commentary for our times. During the Trump era, Bruce has been relatively quiet while his ex-business partner, one who I have no doubt he opposes politically, does his thing. Yes, ex-business partner. TRO promoted some of his mid '80's Giants Stadium gigs. Bruce has become irrelevant and silent. I wonder why?

I remember the Bruce who sued to try to prevent the Ticketmaster - Live Nation merger. Now he sells Ticketmaster Platinum tickets for seats on the floor of stadiums. Verified fan which empowers the Ticketmaster data base, instead of the Glastonbury model, very adaptable for a small theatre, which is more effective against resales, and does not. Broadway ticket prices.

Now a "new" album of songs he apparently wrote years ago. Old songs by an old man for...packaged as new. No thanks.

Looking forward to seeing Jake and Max and Garry, most of all Garry, on tour. As for Bruce, no thanks. A man who literally sues his fans, contrary to what virtually every other act does, is not worth my time. I hope he enjoys his daughters horse jumping. If he's lucky, maybe she can marry into the Royal Family. They do things like that. May he be happy and enjoy his wealth.

Bruce should be careful, though. Many in the internet community don't like high handed corporate i.p. enforcement. Wouldn't it be a shame if his own web site was taken down by a few well intentioned individuals? I, of course, would oppose any such action. But karma is strange...

Peace all and enjoy our memories, because in Bruce-land they are a lot better than the present. And for those waiting for the next tour here in Europe, be sure to buy all your tickets for all shows at Ticketmaster. Forget Eventim, See and other vendors. Only tickets bought through Ticketmaster count in the Verified Fan algorithm, which they will be rolling out in the 4th quarter of this year in Europe. Forget the principles that caused Bruce to sue Ticketmaster and get with the new program...

You left out the tour finale...Moon, November 5th.

On 10/18/2017 at 8:51 AM, RickW said:

Surely us unverified fans are due a break sometime soon?

 

Ban any previous purchasers, that would help...

Sorry...new category: Verified non-fans.

"I an effort to expand his audience and win converts, Ticketmaster has announced that verified non-fans will receive priority for tickets for the third leg of Springsteen's Broadway run. Only those who have never bought Springsteen tickets or merchandise will be given an access code for the sale. Due to technical limitations, fans of Bruce Hornsby and Lenny Bruce will likewise be excluded. It is hoped this new policy will allow for increased merchandise sales as, by definitions, attendees will own nothing Bruce branded".

...through June on Broadway?

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Bruce-Springsteen-to-Extend-His-Run-on-Broadway-20171017

If it's touring to London...and it's still an if...Piccadilly Theatre April to early May, 5 week run...has been broached as a possibility. Do with this what you want, I certainly wouldn't count on it, don't even know if Bruce is aware of it, but there has been some to and fro between London and New York and that has been proposed. 

Slightly larger theatre than the Kerr but at least not the American arena to European stadium differential we're used to. 

In other news, Ticketmaster is going to try to bring Verified Fan to the U.K. ( https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ticketmaster-to-out-the-ticket-touts-through-social-media-stmddsktb ). Note they seem to be stressing social media. Given E.U. privacy and competition (antitrust for the Americans) laws I'm not sure how this plays over here. I just know that I won't participate. I remember the Bruce who was very vocal opposing the Ticketmaster - Live Nation merger. Now he's helping them launch their class based ticketing system that locks out younger fans and helps TM further their efforts to monopolise the ticketing industry. If Glastonbury can put photos on tickets and do ID checks, the same can be done at small theatres. Of course, TM wouldn't like that because they are a big player in the secondary ticket market over here (http://www.getmein.com ) (https://www.seatwave.com). It's all about the dollars and pounds.

For those thinking about using Stubhub...I just flew across the ocean to Vegas for a festival this weekend. Stubhub was supposed to have delivered two passes to us at our hotel yesterday. UPS has lost the package. Stubhub offered us a refund for the tickets, not new tickets. After a lot of yelling they will now try to find replacements. Lots of uncertainty. Won't travel without tickets in hand again.

On 10 September 2017 at 11:08 PM, roskilde19 said:

Have you tickets for the broaday shows ?

Yes. I hope. Ticketmaster put them initially in someone else's account (after I paid for and printed them) but have cancelled the initial codes and e-mailed me new tickets. Just in case, I plan on being number 1 in line...get my codes processed ASAP...in fact, I better start the line now. Marker and notebook ready...

16 minutes ago, ukjohnney said:

He wouldn't use Europe as a cash cow would he?   No never what a silly suggestion that is! 

On a positive note, in Europe Bruce will want to read from his other, superior book ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outlaw-Pete-Bruce-Springsteen/dp/1501103857/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505078475&sr=1-4&keywords=springsteen+kids ) and will perform in intimate stadiums, no more than 70,000 seats. Just before the tour starts he will scrap the literary aspect, bring back the full band, and play greatest hits in the Springsteen on Broadway European tour. 

PCS, I actually agree with you that the West End is a cert. The reason I'm hopping over the pond, is all jokes aside, it won't be the same show. Bruce USA and Bruce Europe are two different creatures. And...

I may not be a verified fan over here. Simple truth. I sometimes buy tickets from places other than Ticketmaster UK. I may be unverified. Or even worse, an Eventim verified in a Ticketmaster world.  

28 minutes ago, rachelharms said:

Thank you for the replies regarding flights... I wasn't sure if because I'm going in January perhaps the flights would be cheaper as less people would want to fly due to weather. 

I had a look on BA who I've booked with for my trips to NY this year and I'm looking at £1700 each for a return flight in January and I can't afford that 

so i will look on skyscanner for an alternative 

Hi Rachel,

A few alternatives you might not think of:

Icelandair and WOW: Two carriers based in Iceland. What's neat about them is you can stop off for free in Reykjavik if you like. Highly recommended if you haven't been. Fantastic city.

Thomas Cook Airlines: from regional UK cities.

Air India: Really.

Norwegian will probably be the cheapest. Highly advise going with either of the Icelandic carriers instead. 

Also, flights out of Ireland are generally cheaper because of the reduced taxation. At times you can save a lot by hopping Ryanair or Aer Lingus over to Dublin and catching your transatlantic flight from there. Give yourself plenty of time as you'll have to travel on two tickets and recheck your bags.

2 hours ago, Kim91 said:

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I was on here, but I was wondering if anyone has experience with ticket prices dropping on StubHub closer to the date of the show? (Don't judge me!! ) Does anyone have experience with false tickets? 

I am one of the unlucky ones, on standby twice, no code.. I am especially disappointed for my dad, he was really counting on it (even though I told him not to, considering the odds) and he would have loved to take the trip to NYC with me. I am still trying to cope with my disappointment by scouring the internet trying to convince myself there's still a way to get tickets and not be broke for the rest of the year  

I might keep an eye on stubhub to see if ticket prices drop.. (I know that's against the Bruce-rules, but bear with me here)

Prices will drop. They'll also go up. Stub Hub has a LMS centre in New York. That means you can get tickets day of show. May not help much if you have to travel, but the last 24 hours is when I've found tix to drop the most. You can also expect some tickets to be released day of show by the theater.

I got a code...a week late, but they have learned how to text the UK!

May The Queen of the Supermarket greet all Lakers at Ticketmaster today - instead of Harry. It may be Harry's world but if the Queen could please direct the stocker person to aisle UK I would be greatly appreciative.

Be sure to check your junk folders.

Have a friend in the States who was sent a code off Standby, found it on the weekend in her junk folder. Happy ending: she was able to get tix on Monday.

We'll see what happens. Hoping as many Lakers as possible get in. This is a really special group of people. Bruce would be lucky to have all of you at his shows. 

4 minutes ago, VABOSSFAN said:

It's so cute. I got one last week and I got one this week. The fun part is where they tell you if they can't contact you by phone they will email you. That was special.

Who knows? Maybe this time things will work. Ha, ha, ha, ha...and to think, I used to be an optimist

Well, I'm selected. Again.

As far as I can tell from my conversations with Ticketmaster nothing has changed. No code will ever arrive. But I have two neat souvenir e-mails and was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal. That's something.

Good luck everyone.

27 minutes ago, Paolo's Circus Story said:

This is what I've wanted to see for ages now. A BLOODY COMPARISON!

 

Much lower overhead, no band, no travel...starting to see how this makes sense.

49 minutes ago, Erie Canal said:

everyone getting excited? expect loads of Non US peeps getting verified this time around.

 

 

Either that or they'll send the codes to Taylor Swift fans by mistake.

As a "selected" without a code I hope you are correct. After this week, even with the best intentions I'm doubtful.

4 minutes ago, rosiejaneymary said:

@Ann Jones, I've used Stub Hub in NYC a few times over the years, as have many of my friends, and nobody has ever had an issue.  

Do we know, from those who did get tickets, how those tickets are being distributed?  If they are being mailed, or can be printed off your computer, there's no way anyone can check for ID.  

I hope all goes well!!  

U2 tried to do ID checks, GA's were credit card plus ID,  in Vancouver, it failed ( http://vancouversun.com/entertainment/music/big-crowd-for-u2-long-lines-ahead-of-show-time-outside-bc-place ).

In 2007 NY repealed the anti-scalping laws. That makes re-sales legal. However, your terms of contract (the small print) of TM sales, boilerplate language, prohibits resale. NY did not positively state you can re-sell, just that it is not illegal to do so. The ToS can still prohibit.

It feels like the rules here are being made up as they go along. I doubt they are going to ID - if they caught re-sales it would make it seem as if the Verified program did not work. However...

Twice I've been denied admission on StubHub sales. On both occasions they refunded my money, but no more. I've used them successfully well over 50 times. They are IMHO the best of the secondary firms. 

Good luck, everyone, no matter how you try to get in. Let's hope Bruce is putting as much effort into the show itself as our lot is in getting tickets.

2 hours ago, Rory 7 said:

Got a response just now. Standard mail but perhaps a chink of light, this was in the body of the mail...

 

For all of our international fans, who were verified and selected, that experienced trouble either receiving a code or purchasing tickets. We have you all logged and are investigating this as we speak. We hope to have a wonderful result for you all as soon as possible. We thank you for your patience and apologize for any inconvenience this has caused

We knew they knew when we got the email which suggested we would get priority this week.

The wording here suggests it has come from a call centre on the subcontinent. The respondent actually read your e-mail.

I'm making calls to TM headquarters today, once Los Angeles wakes up. I've been stalking the internet for direct numbers to TM executives. I also have an interview set up with the L.A. Daily News. 

In the end, I expect nothing. Just going through the motions to make my day in court a bit more interesting and embarrassing for TM.

Full props to Rory for maintaining his effort. Who knows? Perhaps they will have things fixed tomorrow and Thursday.

I bought tickets for three future concerts today. I used AXS for one, See tickets for two others, In the past I would have used Ticketmaster for all three. One of the problems here is that in the States venues can have exclusive agreements with ticket providers. So, for example, getting tickets for the Life is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas I had to use Ticketfly. To get tickets for the day part of the IHeartRadio Festival I was required to use TM. In the UK exclusive providers are considered an antitrust/competition law violation and are prohibited.

I've found TM UK to be slightly better than TM USA. Perhaps that is why.

Until tickets are issued, and the first shows take place, I'd be wary about buying them on the secondary market. The T's and C's prohibit resale. They could add further security (ID checks, for example) and you'd have no recourse. Unlikely but...  

For those trying Thursday, a suggestion:

Go into your Ticketmaster USA account, go into profile and list Bruce as one of your favourites.

Couldn't hurt and decent chance it will up your score on the algorithm.

35 minutes ago, QuinnG said:

Ha - I was really looking for a response from someone who had been successful. The problem is: when you enter your mobile number, do you enter the International code, then 44 and drop the first 0 - Their support page is not clear about this and I was wondering if this could be why some people are not getting their text messages and codes outside the USA.

Has anyone been successful?

The backup plan was supposed to be an email if the phone didn't go through. Didn't happen. Americans on holiday Monday. I've been sourcing private emails and phone numbers of TM bigwigs. On Tuesday morning I'll start calling and writing to try to get them to deal with this situation on the front end. Europeans are people too. Good luck!

9 minutes ago, ABZMike said:

It's the usual shambles. But there is the simple solution of printing the purchaser name on the ticket to be verified on venue entry. At s small theatre easy to do. 

Credit card entry doesn't work at large venues because it's not practical to check everyone's ID. U2 tried in Vancouver this year, it was a mess, and ID's were no longer checked for the rest of the tour (to date). Ticket brokers then got around the c.c. issue by using Visa gift cards to buy tickets on and then sending the card to the buyer so without the ID check it didn't do much of anything.

For the small theatre, though, I think it might have worked. No problem checking a thousand people alerted to get there early, or at least there should not be.

Verified is going to be particularly problematic in Europe, where in many countries exclusive ticketing agreements are illegal. For example, in Leeds at the arena Bruce played I can source tickets to the same show from Eventim (the preferred ticketed), Ticketmaster, See Tickets, Ticketline etc. There is no central database. Merch sales? That would drive down sales on site if the only "credits" one got were online orders. Venues would not like that.

Glastonbury has the only ticketing system I find reasonably successful in beating both bots and touts. You pre-register (as with verified) but with a passport photo as part of the process. It's a complicated process involving sales, resales, deposits but bottom line: your photo is on the ticket. This defeats both bots and re-sales. That could have been employed here. Except...

Ticketmaster owns some of the major secondary ticketing sites. They profit from resales if, as c.c. tickets do, they can tie everything into their ecosystem.

It should be noted Bruce has been very vocal in the past opposing TM tactics ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/4520960/Bruce-Springsteen-furious-at-Ticketmaster.html ) . He also was very vocal opposing the TM - Live Nation merger.