Trent Reznor Says Bands Scalp Their Own Tickets

In a recent blog posting, Trent Reznor blew the whistle on bands using TicketsNow.com and StubHub.com to scalp tickets to their concerts. As prices for tickets on these sites are immoderately higher than face value, Reznor claims that bands are in an "us or them" stance against scalpers.

Reuters reports that Reznor, who has a history of butting heads with the music industry, doesn't see things getting better with the impending Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger. Said Reznor, "My guess as to what will eventually happen if/when Live Nation and Ticketmaster merges is that they'll move to an auction or market-based pricing scheme – which will simply mean it will cost a lot more to get a good seat for a hot show. They will simply become the scalper."

Unfortunately, Reznor's customarily bleak outlook was confirmed by the Wall Street Journal, who reported that Ticketmaster is collaborating with artists and concert promoters to sell tickets on its TicketExchange site. The dirty part of the whole deal is that Ticketmaster is making it appear as though the tickets sold on TicketExchange are being sold by fans.

Ticketmaster's antics, which were brought to light in the recent Bruce Springsteen ticket controversy, have drawn negative attention from both fans and the Federal Government. CEO Irving Azoff appeared before the House Judiciary Subcomittee last month and said, "We agree this model is broken and it needs a solution."