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String Cheese Incident Protests Ticketmaster, Scalps Own Tickets
Michael Kang (L) of String Cheese Incident performs at the fourth annual JAMMY Awards at Madison Square Garden on March 16, 2004 in New York City (Roberto Rabanne/Getty Images)
After a long history of confrontations with Ticketmaster, the Colorado-based jam band String Cheese Incident organized 50 fans and friends to buy $20,000 worth of tickets from the Greek Theater in Los Angeles.
With cash advanced by the group, each person bought an average of eight tickets at $49.95 each for the band’s concert in July at the theater. After collecting nearly 400 tickets, they sent the tickets back to the String Cheese Incident headquarters in Colorado and are reselling them for $49.95 with no extra “convenience charge” imposed by Ticketmaster, The New York Times reported.
As of Thursday evening, both the String Cheese Incident’s website and Ticketmaster are selling the band’s tickets, at $49.95 and $62.85 respectively. Ticketmaster charges the listed price of $49.95 as well as a convenience charge of $12.90.
The band has also created local box offices and store locations for fans to purchase tickets in person in Berkeley, Calif., Los Angeles, and Park City, Utah “in effort to continue to try and minimize service fee charges.” The band said purchasing tickets in person would incur “minimal to no additional service fees for general public.”
String Cheese Incident is only one of the latest groups to confront Ticketmaster for overcharging. Over the past year, several New York-based world-touring groups have switched from Ticketmaster to a new New York-based Web ticketing system, Ticketingbox.
The String Cheese Incident, formed in 1993, is launching its tour on June 28 in Rothbury, Mich. and finishing off on July 22 in North Plans, Ore.
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