Miley Cyrus Fan Club Settles

Yet another ticketing scandal. In 2007, mileyworld.com, Miley Cyrus’ fan website, advertised that people who joined the site as members would be given a special chance to buy pre-sale tickets for the two Hannah Montana shows in the state of Pennsylvania that were part of Cyrus’ tour. The problem was not that the site didn’t hold tickets for pre-sale, but that it continued to advertise the special deal after all pre-sale tickets had already been sold. 966 people joined the club after the tickets were gone, each paying a $29.95 yearly membership fee for the privilege. The company that runs mileyworld.com, Nashville’s Interactive Media Marketing, Inc., has settled the case that the Pennsylvania state attorney general brought against it, but is admitting no wrongdoing. Instead, it will pay $20,000 to the state and give everyone it duped a free four-month membership extension. It also will have to have a message on its site saying that membership does not guarantee tickets. A national lawsuit against the company had already resulted in 2 months free, so Pennsylvanians will get 6.

What a useless settlement for a lawsuit. None of the people in the suit wanted the membership except for the tickets, or they would have joined earlier. Now they have six months of something with no value to them, if it really has value to anyone. Which brings up the issue of the site charging a membership fee in the first place. The whole thing is basically an advertisement for Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana shows and merchandise, but they get people to pay thirty dollars for it. And they can get away with it because everyone who wants a membership is a child, who will get its parents to pay for the membership without realizing itself what a rip-off the whole thing is.

I didn’t used to have any problem with the Miley Cyrus machine – sure, the music is awful, but its for kids – but this charging membership fees and tricking people into paying them makes the whole thing despicable.

What do you think? Did anyone sign up just because they’re a fan?

Source: Yahoo! News