The need for increased transparency on the part of organizations brought on by Web 2.0 is being supported by news of a lawsuit against the world’s largest ticket sales company, Ticket Master.

Ticket Master redirected fans to the site TicketsNow for tickets to an upcoming Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen concert when tickets were sold out on the Ticket Master site. The issue: tickets on TicketsNow were marked-up by up to 1000-plus dollars, not to mention the fact that Ticket Master owns TicketsNow and receives 15% of its revenue.

The collaboration that fueled the massive suit was lead by none other than The Boss himself. Speaking to fans through his website, Springsteen said, “We perceive this as a pure conflict of interest. The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you.”

Cudos to Springsteen for using the Web to bring fans together to call Ticket Master for this blatant foul on their customers.  The company was sued in both New Jersey and Ontario. Ticket Master settled the New Jersey suit, agreeing to pay $350,000 US to the state. In Ontario, the matter is yet to be resolved.

Bloomberg.com reported that as a result of the pressure from customers, “Ticketmaster  issued an apology Feb. 4 for having steered Springsteen fans to TicketsNow and vowed to refund them the price difference between the face value of tickets and those purchased inadvertently through the reseller. Fans also will no longer be shown a link to the resale market unless the artist agrees.”

Chalk up another point for consumers coming together to demand better behaviour from companies, and give assists to Springsteen and Wikinomics on the play.