Back in the early 90s, Pearl Jam was one of the biggest rock band’s in the world. They released 3 massive albums including 1991’s Ten, 1993’s Versus and 1994’s Vitalogy.
Following the release of Versus, the band opted to stop making music videos for nearly half a decade. It was around this time that the band picked a fight with Ticketmaster that didn’t end well.
Origins of Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster was built on the premise of selling ticketing software and by 1982, the company changed their business model by signing exclusivity contracts with venues promising them a cut of the profits and fees.
By the early ’90s, Ticketmaster was buying up its competition, effectively owning more than 60% of the market share in the live entertainment business. On top of that, Ticketmaster had lobbyists in Washington and hired the best anti-trust lawyers, in addition to setting up a government relations office in the nation’s capital to lobby congress. The company also hired public relations people to tell the company’s story in both the media and online.
By the early to mid-90s, Ticketmaster was ready to challenge any kind of legislation or messaging that threatened their bottom line. Before Pearl Jam raised a stink about Ticketmaster, there really wasn’t a big debate around service fees. The bigger question was how high ticket prices could go with legacy acts like Billy Joel, The Eagles and Elton John charging upwards of almost $100 per ticket.
The Slow Build of Pearl Jam’s Feud with Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster’s feud with Pearl Jam wasn’t instantaneous. It was something that built up after both parties had bad experiences with one another. It effectively started on Labor Day 1992. Nearly a year prior, Pearl Jam released their debut album, Ten which was a monumental success. To thank the fans in their hometown of Seattle, Pearl Jam wanted to play a free concert. It was estimated that about 30,000 people were expected to attend.
Despite being advertised as a free concert, Ticketmaster was distributing the tickets and wanted to charge $1 for every ticket distributed. Upset with this request, Pearl Jam ditched Ticketmaster and distributed the tickets on their own, keeping the show free.
“We swore when we formed this band that if we ever got successful we would make sure we did something to keep our concert prices down…” – Stone Gossard
Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament told the LA Times in late 1996 that it was their idea to take on Ticketmaster. Gossard revealed to the LA Times, “We swore when we formed this band that if we ever got successful we would make sure we did something to keep our concert prices down but we decided to take it one step at a time.”
In 1993 Pearl Jam was supporting their album, Versus. While the band was out on tour, they were still playing Ticketmaster-friendly venues and had the company distributing their tickets. Ticketmaster was charging a service fee between $3 – $6 per ticket.
Pearl Jam started cutting deals with venue owners for them to take a smaller cut of the band’s merchandise sales so they could lower their prices from what the industry standard was. So a concert tee that typically went for $24 was now sold by Pearl Jam for $18.
Once Pearl Jam became a headliner on the road, they started adopting a non-compromising attitude, wanting their ticket prices to be only $18. This move resulted in Pearl Jam forgoing millions of dollars they could have made, had they been charging industry standard rates. Fans applauded it but the concert business wasn’t happy with the move.
“…Unlike a lot of other acts, Pearl Jam is not greedy…” – Anonymous Promoter
One promoter spoke to the LA Times on the condition of anonymity told the paper, “The minute they became a headliner, this band refused to compromise with anybody. Unlike a lot of other acts, Pearl Jam is not greedy. But they could care less about the middlemen in this business and any time you disagree with them during a negotiation, they just tell you, ‘Hey, man, it’s either my way or the highway.’”
By November 1993, Pearl Jam was set to wrap up the North America leg of their tour, playing 3 shows in their hometown of Seattle. Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster both agreed to donate $20,000 of their earnings from that night to a local children’s charity. However, an hour before Pearl Jam’s first of 3 Seattle shows, their manager, Kelly Curtis, was informed that the Chairman of Ticketmaster, Frederick R Rosen was not in the loop about the donation and wanted an additional $1 surcharge added to the ticket prices.
Upset with Ticketmaster’s ask, Pearl Jam requested that the concert be cancelled, but a deal was worked out last minute where Rosen agreed to donate $14,000 to charity without raising the ticket prices. Ticketmaster disputed the band’s account of what happened.
Ticketmaster and Pearl Jam’s 1994 Spring Tour
By the spring of 1994, Pearl Jam was planning on hitting the road again to do a 24-date tour. The band was planning on doing a summer tour as well. For Pearl Jam’s spring tour, Ticketmaster charged a $3.75 service fee on each ticket and was planning on listing their service fees on the tickets themselves. Once again things came down to the last moment.
Almost an hour before the tickets went on sale for their spring tour, Ticketmaster’s Chairman called up Pearl Jam’s manager, refusing to show the service charge on the tickets and in response, Pearl Jam threatened to cancel shows. The 2 parties eventually worked out a deal and Ticketmaster complied with Pearl Jam’s request but the peace didn’t last long.
Pearl Jam Tries Going Around Ticketmaster
Nearly a week later, during a show in Detroit, the band sidestepped Ticketmaster and cut a deal with the local promoter Nederlander. The band sold their tickets for $18 with a $1.75 service fee going to the promoter. As a result of the move, Ticketmaster threatened legal action against the promoter for breaking their exclusivity agreement and went as far as shutting down the ticketing machine at the venue. A solution was eventually worked out where the ticket giant accepted a part of the promoter’s fee.
As Pearl Jam turned their attention to their 1994 summer tour, they wanted to be proactive and started making stipulations to Ticketmaster. Pearl Jam wanted to keep the cost of their concert tickets low so fans could see them. They told Ticketmaster they didn’t want the company charging more than $1.80 in service charges on their tickets. Ticketmaster sometimes charged 2-3 times that rate and for high-quality seats, service fees could be as high as $18 per ticket.
“We really just got sick of arguing about it.” – Stone Gossard
Pearl Jam ran out of options with Ticketmaster. Stone Gossard recalled to the LA Times, “By this point, we were getting pretty frustrated. There’s no doubt that Ticketmaster takes more of the total ticket percentage than they deserve. We really just got sick of arguing about it.”
The band opted not to use Ticketmaster for their 20-date US summer tour in 1994 and hired a company to scout out potential venues, some of which were in pretty remote locations. The band also looked at other ways of distributing tickets.
That’s when the band discovered Ticketmaster had worked with a group that represented the nation’s largest promoters, the North American Concert Promoters Association, to boycott the group’s planned summer tour.
The LA Times reported that if any of the members of the promoters’ association agreed to book Pearl Jam they could face legal action from Ticketmaster.
In April of 1994, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain died, a death that shook Pearl Jam who was already dealing with the trappings of fame, and their fight with Ticketmaster.
“…We just couldn’t risk it.” – Kelly Curtis, Pearl Jam Manager
Concerns over possible litigation from Ticketmaster as well as the health, safety and logistics of holding concerts in remote locations resulted in Pearl Jam cancelling their summer tour. The band’s manager told the LA Times, “What if we had spent two months assembling the show and Ticketmaster threatened the promoter with a lawsuit one hour before we were set to hit the stage? What if a show got cancelled at the last second and a fan got hurt? We just couldn’t risk it.”
The band’s manager revealed to the Times that the band could have made as much as $9 Million had the tour gone on as planned.
Pearl Jam Files Memo Against Ticketmaster
By May of 1994, Pearl Jam filed a memo against the company with the Justice Department’s Anti-Trust Division, according to Billboard magazine. The band claimed that Ticketmaster operated as a monopoly and used its power to pressure promoters to not book the band during their summer tour of 1994. The Justice Department had already investigated Ticketmaster previously when they bought competitor Ticketron in 1991.
The New York Times reported that Ticketmaster allegedly hired a private investigator to look into the band and their record label, Sony.
There were some concessions made by Ticketmaster during this time as some fans were allowed to buy their tickets through the mail, waiving the need for service fees, but it wasn’t enough.
On June 30, 1994, both Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament testified in front of the Congressional Subcommittee, who was investigating anti-trust charges against Ticketmaster. Several artists lended their support to the band during the hearing including Garth Brooks, Neil Young, R.E.M., the Grateful Dead and Aerosmith.
“The whole thing was a joke.” – Jeff Ament
Both Ament and Gossard spent a week rehearsing, dealing with difficult questions and when it came time to testify they were asked softballs questions like, “What does Pearl Jam mean?” Ament looked back at the testimony, telling Everybody Loves Our Town, “The whole thing was a joke. The Department of Justice used us to look hip… it makes me a lot more cynical of what goes on with our government.”
REM lent their support to Pearl Jam’s cause by having a representative at the same hearing but they played at Ticketmaster venues for their 1995 Monster Tour and allowed the company to charge a $6.50 fee for a $40 ticket. Eddie Vedder told the Independent, “There were other people who had opportunities to join in, instead, they actually cut deals with that company.”
Dave Abbruzzese is Fired from Pearl Jam
By the summer of 1994, Pearl Jam’s drummer, Dave Abbruzzese was fired from the band. Personality conflicts led to his departure and he never agreed with the band’s hardline approach against Ticketmaster.
Abbruzzese revealed in the book Everybody Loves Our Town, “When these guys were testifying in front of Congress, I was in Indonesia, just enjoying being alive. The more I read about the Ticketmaster situation, it’s like it all sounds good and nice but there are way more important flagrant injustices we could have latched onto. I really thought we should have been playing music instead of participating in that Ticketmaster fiasco. I thought it was a waste of time.”
By late 1994, Pearl Jam released their third album, Vitalogy and the issue of touring to support the album came up once again. The band was still boycotting Ticketmaster and there was one company born during this time called ETM entertainment.
ETM gave fans personalized tickets with their name on it along with a specialized bar code so scalpers couldn’t sell them and counterfeits couldn’t be made. They charged a small service fee of $2.50 per ticket.
Pearl Jam worked with ETM during their 1995 summer tour but as the band started to plan their summer tour the following year, they learned just how difficult it was planning a tour without Ticketmaster.
“We were having week-long meetings about chain-link fences and porta-potties…” – Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder told the Independent, “We were having week-long meetings about chain-link fences and porta-potties and because we would only play in non-Ticketmaster venues, we had to go to these really out-of-the-way places.” Guitarist Mike McCready added, “We had to handle everything ourselves. I remember taking calls about portaloos. It was an ordeal.”
The tour itself was fraught with problems as well. The opening show at the Boise State University Pavilion had to be cancelled because the venue had issues with ETM’s ticketing codes.
Investigation Into Ticketmaster is Closed
On July 5, 1995, while Washington, DC was mostly quiet due to the Independence Day holiday, the Justice Department issued a two-sentence statement that said its investigation of Ticketmaster was closed. Attorney General Janet Reno put out a statement that read, “It did not seem like an appropriate time to continue to pursue the investigation. My understanding is that the division found that there were new companies coming into the arena.”
In addition to lobbying the politicians in Washington, Ticketmaster had a lot of support from the venues they had exclusivity agreements with, who created their own lobbying arm to talk up Ticketmaster, giving more ammo to the company.
Despite the band’s failed battle against Ticketmaster, Pearl Jam did shed a light on something that was largely ignored by the media and consumers. Around this time, a bill was circulating around Congress requiring Ticketmaster and similar companies to clearly display their service fees on the ticket stubs. Ticketmaster publicly supported the bill but behind the scenes, they lobbied Congress to successfully defeat the bill.
“… I think you’ll find that the band is just going to do whatever it takes to just play…” – Kelly Curtis
By the end of the 1995 tour, Pearl Jam seemed to indicate a willingness to reconsider their Ticketmaster fight. Kelly Curtis told the LA Times, “After this tour, we are going to reassess everything. It took us a whole year to plan these summer dates, and we’re not going to go through that again. We did want to make a point on how difficult it was to tour without Ticketmaster, and we made the point. I think you’ll find that the band is just going to do whatever it takes to just play. And if that means they’re going to have to play some Ticketmaster shows, they’re going to play Ticketmaster shows.”
Despite that assessment, the band still stayed stubborn for their next album, No Code, which saw them play venues that weren’t affiliated with the ticketing giant.
By 1998, with the release of their 5th album, Yield, Pearl Jam finally agreed to start playing some Ticketmaster venues with their ticket prices rising to $22.
In early 2020, it was reported that Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster were working together to fight against scalpers. They distributed all tickets digitally and had them tied to a purchaser’s phone number.
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