Fansrule Complaints

[MrCC]

I saw this site today and was slightly amused: Aerosmith Fans Angry at Fansrule (http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/AeroAngel/FR.html)

I know this is old news, but I thought this site was a little humorous. They don't hold back at all. Anybody tired of discussing Fansrule should avoid this discussion. By tomorrow I may avoid it myself too.
http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/AeroAngel/TeeFront.JPG

P.S. I posted this in the non-Jewel forum because I really don't consider Fansrule a Jewel related topic any more.

[Little Bird]

What do they mena 'still sucks'? How can something still suck when they don't exist?

[MrCC]

Well, I guess if they haven't convinced anybody yet that they don't suck yet they will very likely never get the chance. In that sense Fansrule will suck for eternity. And beleive me that's a really really long time to suck. ;)

Oh look. There's Fansrule burning in ____. :devil1:
Fansrule will stop sucking when ____ freezes over. :o

[MrCC]

Fansrule Intentionally Ripped Off Fans For Profit (http://www.rockthisway.de/news/news_november02.htm)

Here's some interesting parts from this webpage:

So I wrote them a letter. About how many fans (besides myself) have the perception that the concert tickets tha t were previously available to the fans through AF1 for regular price (as a standard benefit of membership in the club) were diverted to this scheme when AF1 decided to extort exhorbitant sums for those tickets as a way to generate revenues. About how Aerosmith's "official" fan club is auctioning these "Experiences" on eBay. What? But the AF1 web site says the Velvet Rope Experience "REQUIRES AF1 MEMBERSHIP." And AF1 membership policy states that a membership will be revoked if a MEMBER resells fan club tickets for profit! But the fan club itself can sell tickets to the highest bidder OUTSIDE the fan club?! About how fan club members went nuts on the AeroForce One members forum message board! And how AF1 personnel began deleting posts, trying to keep word from spreading about the eBay sales. And how founder and CEO of FansRule, Mr. Neil Donahue, actually emailed several posters on the AF1 message board about what we thought was "so wrong" with peddling th ese tickets outside the fan club. I inserted a copy of the email from good ol' Neil and my response to him for Steven to read.

And then I wrote:

"But now, guys, be advised. They're selling the 3RD ROW Velvet Rope tickets on eBay now! The very ones the fan club web site claims are "EXCLUSIVE" to AF1 members. Why is FansRule not offering these tickets to the fan club's membership first?

"And so I ask an even bigger question, and so many of us want to know, why does Aerosmith allow their "official" fan club to operate in this manner?

Interesting. Fansrule was giving fan club members crappy seats and selling the best seats on E-bay for whatever they could get! I also know they were doing this. I bought some tickets on E-bay in row three for a show that was supposed to be reserved for fan club members only in rows 1-10. I paid less than half what Fansrule was asking fan club members to fork out for them. So where did all the money go to? Good question, but it's been said that Fansrule owner and founder Neil Donahue was stealing from Fansrule and drove the company under on purpose. Neil Donahue is a music insider who lives in Massachusetts and owns many companies. It's no coincidence that one of the companies he owns is called "In The Pocket Productions." Fansrule is just another example of a business ran by corporate crooks. They move the money around from one company to another and until eventually one or more of the companies declares bancrukrupcy. They laugh all the way to the bank. I am sure Mr. Donahue was made wealthy off the backs of all the fans who paid their membership to Fansrule.

[MrCC]

This article also sheds some light on this topic:

My http://www.pollstar.com/news/viewnews.pl?NewsID=3696 (http://www.pollstar.com/news/viewnews.pl?NewsID=3696)

Scam Club
Updated 09:07 PST Mon, Nov 29 2004

Last June, 13-year-old Sophia Lief was all set to go to her first concert to see her absolute favorite: Christina Aguilera.

Sophia's mother, Janet Crane, wanted to be assured of getting good tickets. So she joined Aguilera's official fan club, paying the $35 membership fee that offered access to seats in the first 20 rows. She bought three tickets, totaling another $375.

In late April, however, Aguilera canceled her entire 28-city tour due to "strained vocal cords." Naturally, Sophia's mother looked for a refund -- except there was none, for her or hundreds of other Aguilera fans.
Aguilera had hired a company called FansRule to run her Web site and fan club. But as it was taking money for Aguilera tickets, FansRule was being run by a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee after filing for Chapter 11 in November 2003.

FansRule still owes about $320,000 to Aguilera fans, trustee Joe Baldiga says.
"The inability to refund payments made for tickets," Baldiga said on Aguilera's web site, "is in no way the fault of Christina Aguilera."
Sophia (whose father is a sports writer for The Associated Press) doesn't agree. "Her fans aren't going to follow her through the years if she treats us like this and doesn't even make up the (canceled) concerts," she said.
Said Crane: "I don't really know how the music business works, but she is responsible if she hired (FansRule). We paid money on good faith." She recently obtained reimbursement from her credit card company, six months after the fact.

FansRule also ran clubs for Aerosmith. After the band postponed three concerts in June, many ticketbuyers went without refunds. One fan, Ginny Roberson, posted a Web page telling FansRule to kiss a certain part of her body.
"I will continue to be a fan, but I am extremely disappointed and disillusioned at the way (Aerosmith) have sold us out for a quick buck," she wrote. "I never would have believed it possible for them to become like this!"

It has become regular practice for music acts to outsource their fan clubs to companies that run their Web sites, sell high-priced VIP concert tickets and offer an assortment of perks for paying members. But how did the fans of international stars like Aguilera and Aerosmith end up left out in the cold -- and for a summer tour, no less?

Like many things, the answer begins with none other than the The Grateful Dead.
Decades ago, the Dead pioneered the idea of a club offering direct ticketing to their biggest fans. Back then, as much as 50 percent of tickets were made available directly to Deadheads. Now Ticketmaster caps seats available to fan clubs at closer to 10 percent.

The business dramatically changed, though, in the '90s with the Dave Matthews Band. Manager Coran Capshaw saw a connection with fan clubs and the then-emerging Internet, which offered new ways for bands to connect with their fans beyond the traditional newsletter.

"Fan clubs had been a neglected or stepchild of the business," says Capshaw, now the CEO of Musictoday, one of the largest fan service businesses.
For example, one of Musictoday's acts, The Rolling Stones, offer two types of memberships. For $65, a fan gets a one-year membership, full access to the member-only online fan club, e-mail updates and a Stones DVD. However, $100 also buys a commemorative poster and special access to tour tickets.
The amenities for members can be a fan's dream. Turnstyle, a smaller company whose clients include Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson, offers raffles where fans can win a birthday phone call from their favorite artist.

FansRule was pushing to bring fans even closer to their idols. Founder and former CEO Neil Donahue, a venture capitalist and music producer, says his company was "pioneering in fan experiences." It specialized in getting fans front row and backstage as part of a "velvet rope experience."

Brian Sikorski, CEO of Ticketrends.com, said FansRule was an innovator in the highest growth area of the music business. Mike Lundgren, former chief operating officer of FansRule, says the company only went bankrupt because of "external financial reasons" -- which remain murky.

Sikorski talks of mismanaged funds. Baldiga says an individual may have taken money from the company -- a possibility Sikorsky considers likely, noting the questionable name of another company founded by Donahue: In the Pocket Productions.
"They give fan services a bad name," says Sikorsky.

Baldiga, while running the company under bankruptcy law guidelines, used all incoming money to pay FansRule's bills. He says the company was going "gangbusters" until the Aguilera tour cancellation.
After the non-tour, a proposition for over $1 million in financing was turned down in bankruptcy court and Baldiga closed down FansRule for good. Hundreds of fans remain unpaid and their chances for reimbursement from FansRule look bleak. Ultimate resolution of FansRule's liquidation could run two to three years, says Jon Aquino, another bankruptcy trustee.

Aguilera has hired attorney Larry Green to help retrieve as much money as possible for her fans. He hopes the matter can be settled within a year.
Green says Aguilera "never saw a dime" of the tour ticket money, and is actually owed money in "mid five figures." But he says he is seeking reimbursement for the fans, not Aguilera.

Whether these experiences will lose fans for Aguilera or Aerosmith remains to be seen. But it's clear that outsourced fan clubs will thrive regardless. Record labels are beginning to sniff around, sensing a new revenue stream.

"This business is just going to grow and grow," says Baldiga, even as he presides over the liquidation of FansRule. "It's the way of the future."
Associated Press

:lovejkf: