Venue Owner Sues Promoter Over Ticketmaster Fees

ALLENTOWN, PA (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The owner of Crocodile Rock Cafe in Allentown has made the initial filings in a lawsuit against promoter SLP Concerts, Stanley Levinstone, Adam Vodovsky and Joshua Rittenhouse, alleging that SLP failed to pay fees collected via Ticketmaster for shows staged at the cafe.

"SLP Concerts refuses to disclose the amount of fees collected by them over 5 or 6 years or more on the shows at the Crocodile Rock Cafe. There could be hundreds of thousands, maybe over a million, in these fees that have never been paid to the Crocodile Rock Café and were collected exclusively by SLP Concerts via Ticketmaster. A $25 ticket could cost a fan as much as $37 and SLP, Stan Levinstone, et. Al. And Ticketmaster kept those fees,” " Crocodile Rock owner Joe Clark wrote in a statement released to the press.

Through the lawsuit, Crocodile Rock is seeking disclosure of the alleged unreported income and they are seeking an injunction against SLP Concerts, to prevent them from moving shows to other venues when they were scheduled to play at the Crocodile Rock Cafe.

Mr. Clark told CelebrityAccess that nine different shows had since been moved from his venue by SLP, including a gig by the alt-rock band Sevendust.

When reached for comment, a representative for SLP replied:

"SLP Concerts will not comment on unspecific allegations contained in the press release issued today by the Crocodile Rock Café except to say that the allegations that have been made against SLP Concerts are without merit and false and it has referred the matter to its attorneys. SLP Concerts also has not received a copy of any lawsuit filed by the Crocodile Rock Café nor any Court Order impacting the venue or time of any of the shows at issue. SLP Concerts has no reason to believe that any of SLP Concerts’ presently scheduled shows will be in any way impacted and all ticketholders and other colleagues in the industry should not assume anything to the contrary unless otherwise notified." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers