Michael Girdley recounts Pearl Jam's failed 1994-1998 fight against Ticketmaster's monopoly. The band wanted $18 tickets with 10% fees, but Ticketmaster's 25% surcharge and exclusive venue contracts won. Pearl Jam filed a DOJ complaint and cancelled tours, but the investigation was dropped in 1995 and they eventually gave in.
1994, Pearl Jam was the biggest rock band on the planet. They decided to declare war on somebody who was ruining every fan's life, Ticketmaster. But they lost. Pearl Jam's album Versus had been the biggest launch of their entire career, and for most of the '90s too. They sold a million copies in just the first week. They wanted to cap their concert tickets at $18 with fees capped at 10%. The problem was Ticketmaster was charging 25% of the time. They went to the CEO of Ticketmaster, a guy named Fred Rosen, And he said, "Hell no." His response became legendary. He said, "If Pearl Jam wants to pay for free, we'd be happy to give their tickets away for free." Pearl Jam, in the dispute, filed a complaint with the Department of Justice, opening an investigation and getting them to hold hearings on Capitol Hill. Pearl Jam also put their money where their mouth is. They canceled their entire summer tour, refusing to work with Ticketmaster. They started to try to book a bunch of venues. They ended up at places like country fairs and high school stadiums and stuff. But they couldn't find enough venues. It turns out Ticketmaster had every single venue that mattered in the United States locked up up with exclusivity contracts. In 1995, the Department of Justice quietly dropped the investigation, letting Ticketmaster keep running their game. In 1998, Pearl Jam actually threw in the towel and went back to letting Ticketmaster sell their tickets and book them in venues, all the while charging monstrous fees to you and me. The largest band in the land couldn't break the monopoly that Ticketmaster had because they had locked up every single venue in the country. The problem was those venues were actually in on it. They got a cut of those fees. But today, 28 years later, a new court case means the whole Ticketmaster and Live monopoly may be broken up for good. I did a full video on the rise and fall of Ticketmaster and why it may be the end for their monopoly here on the channel. You can find a link to it either on my bio or in the comments below.
