High-Tech Ticket-Sales Outfit ETM Folds

ETM Entertainment Network Inc., the Costa Mesa start-up that hoped to transform the ticketing business with its cutting-edge technology, ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy this week. ETM’s demise follows recent failed attempts by company executives to raise additional financing. The company said in late June that it was handing over its business contracts to its biggest foe, industry giant Ticketmaster Corp. The company’s general counsel, Bennet Kelley, confirmed that the company had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. ETM is down to four employees who are wrapping up the company’s operations, he said. The company previously had approximately 100 employees. ETM burst into the competitive ticketing business in the mid-1990s when the rock band Pearl Jam began using its high-tech system to sell tickets as part of an ill-fated boycott of Ticketmaster. From there, the company lured the Los Angeles Dodgers, persuading the baseball team to drop its 14-year relationship with Ticketmaster. The upstart Orange County company sold tickets through electronic kiosks in Southern California grocery stores.