US blindsides states with surprise settlement in Live Nation/Ticketmaster trial
93 points
20 hours ago
| 4 comments
| arstechnica.com
| HN
jaybrendansmith
13 hours ago
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Rock is truly dead. Regulatory capture disguised as antitrust enforcement.
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euroderf
16 hours ago
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Follow the money.
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igor47
19 hours ago
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More grift from the Trump admin, a Trump ally is on Ticketmaster board and they fired the DoJ antitrust chief last month to make this deal happen. Ticketmaster paying 3 days of revenue as a fine and getting a slap on the wrist. The terms include them promising not to do any more illegal stuff that was already illegal and they just did anyway, such as retaliating against artists and venues that try to oppose them. Meanwhile we get to continue paying a 30% convenience fee for our tickets, the only reasonable remaining way to support artists in the Spotify era, plus we get to use their shitty app.
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i2oc
13 hours ago
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Yeah there is something fishy here. There is ample evidence of anti competitive behaviour. TM/LN are well known in the industry as being bullies. This should be a slam dunk case for someone who really wanted to chase it.

The resale market at minimum should be separated, if not the ticketing from the touring side.

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toraway
18 hours ago
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Wait a year and Ted Cruz or another Republican Senator will make a big thing about standing up for the average Joe getting ripped off by Ticketmaster and promptly do nothing about it again.

Right wing populism is so depressing to watch…

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ta9000
9 hours ago
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The solution is to stop going to these shows. If enough people do it, eventually prices will adjust.
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wussboy
5 hours ago
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Any solution that requires a bunch of independent actors to go against their best interests will certainly fail. You need to find another option
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ta9000
3 hours ago
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Then they should stop complaining that ticket prices are too high. If they were too high, they wouldn’t be going, I guess.
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tencentshill
3 hours ago
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They have determined, with mathematical precision, the exact maximum fans are willing to pay. Not legally a scam, but still unethical and should not be rewarded.
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csto12
19 hours ago
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Is grift the right word to use here? Is all corruption grift?
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dragonwriter
13 hours ago
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All corruption (and other dishonest ways of making profit or advantage) is graft, to attempt sell something under false pretenses is to grift [0].

Grifting is often among the techniques used to effectuate graft.

IMO, the upthread post reads better with “graft” which is a abstract noun, matching the use upthread, where “grift” is usually a verb (I've also seen it used as a concrete now for a particular operation in which the agent is perceived to be grifting.)

[0] Most dictionaries I think will still say this is specific to small-scale swindling, but I think that's a lagging indicator; IME, usage has drifted to be more generalized, with large scale operations often referred to as grifting.

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IAmBroom
6 hours ago
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Grift is slang. Graft has a long historical usage, and therefore a well-established definition.
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suchoudh
11 hours ago
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if anyone thinks this is not preplanned is fooling themselves.

I have lost counts of Trump doing insider trading violations. This guy is dangerous not just for US but for entire world order. STOP him.

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ta9000
9 hours ago
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What would you suggest we do?
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sumedh
7 hours ago
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Vote?

Protests?

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IAmBroom
6 hours ago
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And maybe strongly worded letters to our congressmen? /s
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DANmode
2 hours ago
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Funny, but have you actually tried that?

When enough people do, it’s easy to figure out who’s representing you, and who isn’t.

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