Charley Pride decries online scalping, refunds fan

Country music legend Charley Pride reimbursed a Canadian fan gouged 1,200 dollars by a US ticket reseller, as watchdogs probe alleged "scalping" by Ticketmaster and others, media said Monday.

The Grammy Award winner reportedly made a special trip last week to western Canada to repay the fan out of his own pocket and offer her two free tickets to his upcoming show in Edmonton, Alberta.

The original tickets were said to be valued at 133 dollars, but had been inflated by an online ticket reseller based in the United States.

Pride told broadcaster CTV on Monday he acted after learning of the fan's laments of online scalping to local media.

"I sometimes get tired of being used as an artist in these kinds of situations," he said.

Pride, who scored 36 number one hits on Billboard charts during his career, including his 1971 smash hit "Kiss an Angel Good Morning," said he insists on "fair" pricing for tickets to his shows.

He said he was dismayed that one of his fans was gouged by a third-party ticket seller.

The US Justice Department, the Canadian Competition Bureau and others, meanwhile, have launched investigations into alleged industry-wide reselling of prized concert tickets at inflated prices.

California-based Ticketmaster, the dominant ticket seller for concerts and sporting events in North America, said on Friday it received "a number of subpoenas and demands for sworn information" from US and Canadian authorities.

In recent months, the company has come under fire for directing customers looking for Bruce Springsteen concert tickets to a subsidiary's website where prices were substantially higher.