ticketmaster! I'll tell you about ticketmaster Digital Notes: After Springsteen Flap, Ticketmaster Settles in Canada

Digital Notes: After Springsteen Flap, Ticketmaster Settles in Canada

As part of a settlement in a class-action in Canada suit over ticket scalping, Ticketmaster has agreed to limitations on one of its subsidiaries there.

According to the proposed settlement, TicketsNow, an online marketplace where anyone can buy and sell secondhand tickets, will no longer sell tickets for more than face value for events in Ontario and Manitoba. In addition, TicketsNow customers in those provinces, as well as in Quebec and Alberta, may be eligible for $36 refunds.

The suits, filed in 2009, were among several filed after a scandal over a Bruce Springsteen concert in New Jersey. Springsteen fans who went to Ticketmaster were pointed to scalped seats at inflated prices on TicketsNow, which drew criticism from politicians and from Mr. Springsteen himself. Ticketmaster reached settlements with the Federal Trade Commission and the state of New Jersey, where the company paid $16.5 million and agreed not to link between Ticketmaster and TicketsNow for a year.

The settlement in Canada has been given preliminary approval by courts in the four provinces, and final approval is expected in June, according to Jay Strosberg, one of the lawyers representing the class. “We’ve changed their business model, which is a huge victory for consumers,” Mr. Strosberg said. Ticketmaster, whose parent company is Live Nation Entertainment, did not comment on the settlement.

Radio App Adds CBS: TuneIn, an app that collects the streams of 50,000 stations around the world â€" from Top 40 and public radio to local police scanner feeds â€" has added 40 stations from CBS Radio, one of the country’s largest radio operators. They include the sports station WFAN and the news station 1010 WINS, in New York; KDKA in Pittsburgh; WBZ in Boston; and KNX in Los Angeles. TuneIn says it has 30 million listeners in 230 countries, but among the stations it does not have are those from Clear Channel Communications, the biggest broadcaster, which has its own app, iHeartRadio.

 

 

Ben Sisario writes about the music industry. Follow @sisario on Twitter.