Ever wonder why you can't get tickets?

[ColdWaterConch]

Pittsburgh firm implicated in Hannah Montana ticket heartbreak

By Chris Togneri

TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Wednesday, October 10, 2007


A secretive Downtown business accused of enabling scalpers -- and not parents -- to snatch up tickets for the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana concert tour could be ordered to stop selling its controversial ticket-purchasing software as soon as Monday.

RMG Technologies Inc., owned by Cipriano Garibay, is accused in a lawsuit of selling software that allows users to flood Ticketmaster with requests and then sell the tickets online for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Ticketmaster is seeking an injunction to keep RMG from selling the software. A decision is expected Monday in federal court in Los Angeles.

Hannah Montana, a fictional character portrayed by Miley Cyrus, 14, daughter of country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus, is wildly popular among young girls. Her "Best of Both Worlds" tour comes to Mellon Arena on Jan. 4.

When tickets went on sale last month, the show sold out within minutes. Stunned parents turned to online auction sites and found ticket prices ranging from $250 in nosebleed sections to more than $24,000 for a luxury box. The highest face value for a Hannah Montana ticket is $63.
"It's really unfair that those of us who don't have hundreds and hundreds of dollars can't take our kids," said Belinda Krestar, 29, of McKeesport, who wanted to take her 6-year-old daughter to the show. "At this point, it does not look good. I've seen tickets for $2,500. That's absurd."

The state Attorney General's Office fielded hundreds of phone calls from angry parents who felt they were shut out by scalpers. But while parents seethed, RMG's president said little.

"I have a lot of things to say, but I shouldn't say them right now," Garibay said in a brief phone interview. Asked to describe RMG, Garibay said he runs a "software company" but would not elaborate.

RMG moved operations to One Oxford Centre earlier this year from Steubenville, Ohio, Garibay said. He referred additional questions to his Los Angeles-based lawyer, Jay Coggan, who did not return calls.

In court documents, Garibay said he has designed software for 10 years and that his 10-employee company created, marketed and sold the Ticket Broker Acquisition Tool. He denied the software is a "bot" -- a program that performs automated tasks repeatedly on the Internet -- but would not discuss "technical information" about the software because it is "proprietary to RMG."

According to a former client, RMG is a tight-lipped company that screened clients' backgrounds to make sure they were ticket brokers and instructed customers not to publicly discuss the company's software.

In court documents, Southern California resident Chris Kovach said he began scalping tickets in 2003 but quickly learned he could not buy them fast enough to support the venture. He said he paid RMG a monthly fee to access ticketbrokertools.com and found that he could buy tickets in bulk with RMG's software.

RMG's software sent out automated devices called " 'workers' that can automatically navigate the Ticketmaster Web site," Kovach said in his statement. "By the time I canceled my RMG account in 2007, my level of service enabled me to use multiple workers -- sometimes over 100 of them -- simultaneously to search for and request tickets on Ticketmaster's Web site."

click the link for the rest of the article:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 31807.html
------

[jonesbeach10]

Pittsburgh firm implicated in Hannah Montana ticket heartbreak

By Chris Togneri

TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Wednesday, October 10, 2007


A secretive Downtown business accused of enabling scalpers -- and not parents -- to snatch up tickets for the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana concert tour could be ordered to stop selling its controversial ticket-purchasing software as soon as Monday.

RMG Technologies Inc., owned by Cipriano Garibay, is accused in a lawsuit of selling software that allows users to flood Ticketmaster with requests and then sell the tickets online for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Ticketmaster is seeking an injunction to keep RMG from selling the software. A decision is expected Monday in federal court in Los Angeles.

Hannah Montana, a fictional character portrayed by Miley Cyrus, 14, daughter of country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus, is wildly popular among young girls. Her "Best of Both Worlds" tour comes to Mellon Arena on Jan. 4.

When tickets went on sale last month, the show sold out within minutes. Stunned parents turned to online auction sites and found ticket prices ranging from $250 in nosebleed sections to more than $24,000 for a luxury box. The highest face value for a Hannah Montana ticket is $63.
"It's really unfair that those of us who don't have hundreds and hundreds of dollars can't take our kids," said Belinda Krestar, 29, of McKeesport, who wanted to take her 6-year-old daughter to the show. "At this point, it does not look good. I've seen tickets for $2,500. That's absurd."

The state Attorney General's Office fielded hundreds of phone calls from angry parents who felt they were shut out by scalpers. But while parents seethed, RMG's president said little.

"I have a lot of things to say, but I shouldn't say them right now," Garibay said in a brief phone interview. Asked to describe RMG, Garibay said he runs a "software company" but would not elaborate.

RMG moved operations to One Oxford Centre earlier this year from Steubenville, Ohio, Garibay said. He referred additional questions to his Los Angeles-based lawyer, Jay Coggan, who did not return calls.

In court documents, Garibay said he has designed software for 10 years and that his 10-employee company created, marketed and sold the Ticket Broker Acquisition Tool. He denied the software is a "bot" -- a program that performs automated tasks repeatedly on the Internet -- but would not discuss "technical information" about the software because it is "proprietary to RMG."

According to a former client, RMG is a tight-lipped company that screened clients' backgrounds to make sure they were ticket brokers and instructed customers not to publicly discuss the company's software.

In court documents, Southern California resident Chris Kovach said he began scalping tickets in 2003 but quickly learned he could not buy them fast enough to support the venture. He said he paid RMG a monthly fee to access ticketbrokertools.com and found that he could buy tickets in bulk with RMG's software.

RMG's software sent out automated devices called " 'workers' that can automatically navigate the Ticketmaster Web site," Kovach said in his statement. "By the time I canceled my RMG account in 2007, my level of service enabled me to use multiple workers -- sometimes over 100 of them -- simultaneously to search for and request tickets on Ticketmaster's Web site."

click the link for the rest of the article:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 31807.html
------

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but if the program is 10 years old, it's ancient by today's technological standards. Wouldn't it be about time for TM to redesign the site so that older technology can't hack into the TM software?

[Candyman]

This is an interesting story. I guess Live Nation is tired of Ticketmaster also.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/busin ... icket.html

[ColdWaterConch]

I doubt that the software is 10 yrs old, and is probably updated constantly. This company has 10 employees, and this software is their only product.

[RinglingRingling]

I doubt that the software is 10 yrs old, and is probably updated constantly. This company has 10 employees, and this software is their only product.

exactly. Tho, Ticketbastard could probably stand a bit of tightening.

[Dezdmona]

I doubt that the software is 10 yrs old, and is probably updated constantly. This company has 10 employees, and this software is their only product.

exactly. Tho, Ticketbastard could probably stand a bit of tightening.

Just a bit.

[popcornjack]

This is an interesting story. I guess Live Nation is tired of Ticketmaster also.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/busin ... icket.html

But would this be a good thing? Not that it already doesn't have the feel of a monopoly, but having everything, including the artist themselves, in the hands of one entity doen't make me think tickets will be any cheaper or easier to come by.

[The Grim Reefer]

TM should go to a timed lottery system like what they use in some outlets for people standing in line at on-sales. It's still not completely fair, but it eliminates the chances of people flooding the site with requests and scalping the tickets.

After all, almost anything is better than the current system. I just wish TM didn't have such a monopolistic hold over the market. That will change soon, though. At least I hope so.

[Down around Biloxi]

Hey ColdWaterConch,

Thanks for the heads up on this story. I sent your posting to the producers around our bureau.. It seams that Good Morning America was working on this story down in the Kansas City area, it wasn’t advancing as much as they liked, this news will really help the story and now or people and World News seam interested in doing the story. Hopefully by getting the our news organization and well as other national news organizations we can blow the lid off these guys, and go back to the times when fans can get tickets to artist, sporting events without paying out the a**. Who would of guess that it would be Hannah Montana to kick the door open on this one. The real lesson is don’t mess with p*** off soccer Mom’s!

[mike6981]

I hope they hangem, someday I will be in the front row for face value. I will not pay more then face value for any ticket and people who do are very stupid. We need to stand up to those people and tell them NO MORE!!! I hope the court system works in this case.

[Carolinadreamin']

I hope they hangem, someday I will be in the front row for face value. I will not pay more then face value for any ticket and people who do are very stupid. We need to stand up to those people and tell them NO MORE!!! I hope the court system works in this case.

Mike - I've paid, on occasion, more than face value for a ticket and I'm don't think I'm stupid. I'm just someone, like lots of other folks, who couldn't get tickets to something I really wanted to see and had two choices. Pay more or not go. Lucky for me, I can afford to pay a little more. I may not get the seat I want, but I'm where I want to be.
I would PREFER NOT to have to do this. But at this stage of my life (a pirate over 40), I'll buy all the fun tickets I want and can afford. So please, don't call me stupid.

[Down around Biloxi]

What’s sad is that this can go on so long and nobody question the reason why shows sell out so fast and that tickets appear on eBay before the they even go on sale. Members in government positions never seam to mind, if you’re a governor, mayor, councilmen of a state do you see them trolling for tickets to sporting events, no they all seam to find great seats to popular events. People who have unlimited income enjoy the fact in not standing in line or waiting on the computer in a waiting room to get tickets.
It’s capitalism at it’s finest and I have no problem with someone earning a living. What I would like to see is a fair playing field. I want to see Jimmy, it’s the only concert I go to. For the Alpine show we had eight people try to get tickets, on the computer, standing in lines, on the phones……I was the only guy to get us tickets. One out of eight, people took off work, and spread out all over the city to remote ticket locations in hopes that we could go to the show without paying a ticket broker. Should it had come to this, no, I want the same chance of getting a great seat to see Jimmy as the next guy. Buying tickets from a broker is not stupid and if that’s the way you get tickets more power to you, we have never used a broker and have always gotten tickets the old fashion way, but it shouldn’t take a small army to get them. So here’s to the good folks in Pittsburgh, grab whole of this one like a mad dog with a steak bone.

[Skibo]

LOL at parents crying 'it's not fair'. If the PA attorney general has the time to pacify crying parents then I deserve a tax break and his staff should be cut. There were not laws pointed out as being broke just that the software company should stop. Good job mob rule.

[Down around Biloxi]

Spoken like a true Republican!

[The Grim Reefer]

Spoken like a true Republican!

Amen to that! Bad grammar and all! (just kidding)

[pirate676]

Even though I think its strange to pay $63 for a 7 yr old to attend a concert its very funny that this is what it took to get some media attention. We have been dealing with this since the invention of the internet. I like a lot of people have got Buffett tickets thru ebay etc and whenever I have extra tickets I end up eating some of the costs. The brokers must be better at advertising than I am.

[Skibo]

Even though I think its strange to pay $63 for a 7 yr old to attend a concert its very funny that this is what it took to get some media attention. We have been dealing with this since the invention of the internet. I like a lot of people have got Buffett tickets thru ebay etc and whenever I have extra tickets I end up eating some of the costs. The brokers must be better at advertising than I am.

Ticket scalping goes back long before the internet. Perhaps I'm too old but I remember the good old days when you had to camp out or know someone that worked at a ticket outlet to get tickets. While camping in those lines I guess I was the only one that noticed how few of the people were even familiar with the band they were getting tickets for.

[Down around Biloxi]

Even though I think its strange to pay $63 for a 7 yr old to attend a concert its very funny that this is what it took to get some media attention. We have been dealing with this since the invention of the internet. I like a lot of people have got Buffett tickets thru ebay etc and whenever I have extra tickets I end up eating some of the costs. The brokers must be better at advertising than I am.

If their Buffett tickets Post them here at the Ticket Exchange, fans are always looking for them and they are more than happy to pay face plus the service charge.

[RinglingRingling]

LOL at parents crying 'it's not fair'. If the PA attorney general has the time to pacify crying parents then I deserve a tax break and his staff should be cut. There were not laws pointed out as being broke just that the software company should stop. Good job mob rule.

If PA has laws on the books against scalping, then he is doing his job.

and if not, here's a nickel. That should cover your share of what you pay
as a portion of the office's budget. Probably overpaid you, but what the heck. It's a nickel.

[Dezdmona]

Thanks for the heads up on this story. I sent your posting to the producers around our bureau.. It seams that Good Morning America was working on this story down in the Kansas City area, it wasn’t advancing as much as they liked, this news will really help the story and now or people and World News seam interested in doing the story. Hopefully by getting the our news organization and well as other national news organizations we can blow the lid off these guys, and go back to the times when fans can get tickets to artist, sporting events without paying out the a**. Who would of guess that it would be Hannah Montana to kick the door open on this one. The real lesson is don’t mess with p*** off soccer Mom’s!

Gosh I hope to see something come of this. The fans should be able to see the show for face value.

The artist/venue, etc... isn't making any more, only the scalpers, and it's the fans who suffer.

I've never paid over face for a ticket, but I've sold a few for face or under.

I don't have a good answer for the problem because I still want to be able to sell my extras if I can't go, or if a friend bails on me
(I like buying in groups of 4 or 6 so we can sit together, and meeting at the seats rather than before we enter the show).
But it sounds like to avoid this problem, the game may change, at least for some shows (e.g., Buffett at the Fillmore)