La Otracina to Embark on Tour Today; Southeastern United States in Immediate Danger of Psychic Flooding; Experts Fear Many Minds Will be Blown

By Heidi Vanderslice on 04-07-2009

Looks like the good times might be over for brokers of Ticketmaster subsidiary TicketsNow – their records are as good as public, due to “special interest” and subpoenas from the ongoing governmental investigation of the ticket giant's shadiness. Brokers (an awfully generous term) will have no choice but to surrender records regarding individual tickets sold and even provide copies of their contracts with TicketsNow.

It's an interesting turn of events, as brokers have always been the money-making lapdogs of the ticket behemoth but now appear to be grade-A dirty laundry. Just taking a stab here, but perhaps investigators might be interested in exactly how many tickets never make it anywhere near the individual consumer for direct sale, resulting in absurdly quick sell-out times and, yes, scalping by brokers on the internet.

The text of the e-mail sent to brokers is as follows:

As you are aware, recent events have resulted in a heightened level of interest in Ticketmaster's and TicketsNow's businesses. One by-product of this heightened interest is that we have received a number of subpoenas and demands for sworn information about TicketsNow and its broker clients. These include formal requests for information and/or subpoenas from, among others, the United States Department of Justice, the New Jersey Attorney General's office, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Canadian Competition Bureau.

The purpose of this letter is to inform you that we are now required to hand over certain information about TicketsNow's broker clients and their sales activities. In particular, we are required to identify: (i) information regarding any seller of tickets on TicketsNow for the May 21 and May 23, 2009 Bruce Springsteen concerts at the IZOD Center in New Jersey; (ii) the names and contact information of all ticket brokers with whom TicketsNow does business; and (iii) copies of TicketsNow broker contracts.

We are taking steps to protect the confidentiality of these materials once produced but feel we are required to provide these materials in response to lawful demands. Therefore, please be advised that we will respond to these subpoenas and demands for information one week from today. We appreciate your understanding in this matter. Any questions should be directed to legalinquiries@ticketmaster.com.

Ticketmaster Legal Department

By Kid Midnight on 04-07-2009

OH MY GOD!

TOUCH AND GO RECORDS STOPPED DISTRIBUTION FOR A BUNCH OF OTHER INDIE LABELS!

NOBODY TOLD ME!

Just joking, I read the website that I work for; and even though there were initial rumors of T&G completely shutting down (it won’t), the label is mainly just discontinuing distribution for other labels and won’t release new music for awhile. But now most people are wondering: “What’s going to happen to all the labels that used T&G as a distributor?” I don’t know about most of the labels (like Merge, Drag City, Suicide Squeeze, or Jade Tree), but like the headline read: Kill Rock Stars has moved on and found a new distributor.

The venerable Northwest indie label announced on Monday that it has signed a new deal with independent distribution company, Redeye. The entire KRS catalog will now be carried by the indie firm ensuring that records by Elliott Smith, The Decemberists, Bikini Kill, and Sleater-Kinney will still be available to emo kids and riot grrrls everywhere.

Redeye distributes labels like Barsuk, Warp, Luaka Bop, Daptone, and Yep Roc and also ensures that releases by artists like Public Enemy, The Faint, The Donnas, Lisa Loeb, and Cake make it to store shelves.

The first Redeye-distributed record from Kill Rock Stars will be the new album by The Thermals, Now We Can See, expected for release on April 7.