Ticketmaster fined for CrowdSurge case
Ticketmaster: 10 million fine for the CrowdSurge case
The facts were reported in 2017 after CrowdSurge merged with Songkick two years earlier. The former employee responsible for the violation has been identified as Stephen Mead, who joined Ticketmaster in 2013. Together with the then executive Zeeshan Zaidi (also later fired) he reached out to some of CrowdSurge's confidential information, including statistics on the artists managed. Below is an extract of what is read in the press release on the affair published in recent days by the US Department of Justice in translated form.Ticketmaster employees have repeatedly and illegally accessed a competitor's computers without authorization and using stolen passwords in order to illegally collect information about his business. In addition, Ticketmaster employees brazenly organized a summit aimed at an entire division in which stolen passwords were used to break into the computers of the targeted company.
As already written in 2015 the merger between CrowdSurge and Songkick took place. The latter was then absorbed in 2017 by Warner Music Group. The following year the lawsuit ended with an agreement worth 110 million dollars and with the transfer of the remaining parts of Songkick (those relating to the ticketing business) in the hands of Live Nation against an economic investment never made known. This is the statement attributed to a spokesperson for Ticketmaster and entrusted to the pages of The Verge website.
Ticketmaster fired both Zaidi and Mead in 2017 after their conduct came to light. Their actions violated the company's policies and were not in line with our values. We are delighted that this is now resolved.
Source: The Verge
