Ticketmaster In The Hot Seat
Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at 12:39PM Ticketmaster officials faced a grilling on Capitol Hill this morning as lawmakers grilled them about unfair ticketing practices and having a monopoly on the industry. This is all coming to a head because so many fans were screwed out of buying tickets for Taylor Swift's upcoming tour. Ticketmaster absolutely could not handle the demand and then the outrage and news stories began.
But don't worry, Joe Berchtold, Live Nation CEO apologized to all of you and they swear they absolutely do not have a monopoly on the ticket business (Live Nation is the parent company of Ticketmaster). I'm totally sure $1,000 an-hour lawyers did not prepare Berchtold's speech and he definitely wasn't wearing a custom-tailored suit either. He is a man of the people, just sitting online in a Ticketmaster queue, trying to get seats like the rest of us. He's a total Swiftie.
"We apologize to the fans. We apologize to Ms. Swift."
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 24, 2023
Top executives in the ticketing industry are facing the Senate Judiciary Committee after Ticketmaster’s breakdown last year during a sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets. https://t.co/ivF7eyC0Sp pic.twitter.com/UT1Ue5nUSC
Will this go anywhere? Who knows. It is going to take a lot more than one hearing to make something happen here, but it does look like there's some momentum. Also, the CEO of SeatGeek says Ticketmaster / Live Nation should definitely be split up. I'm personally shocked a competitor feels that way. Shocked, I tell you.
SeatGeek CEO Jack Groetzinger called to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing following the #TaylorSwift ticket debacle. https://t.co/z8OqGOmcbN
— billboard (@billboard) January 24, 2023
Let's just hope something positive happens here. Can we at least put a cap on the insane fees? On the endless bots? The crazy reselling of seats so Ticketmaster makes money twice on each show? Stay tuned I guess. I'm going back to drinking coffee and listening to Steely Dan. Bah humbug. Oh and Pearl Jam was right.
Senator Amy Klobuchar has scrutinized Live Nation and Ticketmaster for years. Live Nation claims they're not a monopoly. Will this morning's major Senate hearing increase calls for the company's breakup or solidify their position? https://t.co/vJfs8aeLl7
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) January 24, 2023
Reader Comments (8)
now ... if you want to talk about capacity and volume of sales and prices, etc ... then yes, they have the lion's share. but just pure number of shows, meh - most venues can't afford or don't need the bigger services.
but sure break them up, healthy competition works wonders to stimulate the economy.
What, pray tell, is the alternative going to look like?And would it be better? The history of breaking up 'the Big Boys' isn't a tale of wonderful gardens filled with populist happiness. So, I sorta' side with Stu on the idea of 'healthy competition' if, in fact, that is what is created. I also side with him on saying--though my concert attendance number have been down these past few years--that my shows have often been those outside the scope of Ripoffmaster. Not all of them, sure. But many of them.
Thing is, this issue is specific. But it is related to a more general issue: what does capitalism do and does it do it well? Now, before you start staring at me oddly, let me explain. All told, I am happy to live where I do, even if I feel like (poor me) I suffer the indignities of living here. But suffer them I do. Why? Because I am, again, happy to live here. I guess I just sing that song: "You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have . . . Capitalism!" The fact that a bunch of arse-hurt Swifties (though they do clean floors well) got this going (again, after a bunch of Bruce Tramps got all up in arms and down, down, down) is just a sign of how cyclical (I almost wrote _cynical_) all of this is . . on the side(s) of those who complain and those who ask for forgiveness and those who posture about changing the system. Feeling fine and posting selfies until _my_ band is unavailable to _me_. Apologizing _again_ when those fans start screaming on the internet. Promising change when it _again_ is good optics. You know? More of the same.
And me going to those other shows doesn't move a single needle when it comes to what they control (as Stu also aSTUtely points out). And it isn't me lame-throwing a Molotov at "The Man'. When I have to go to a place they own, I do. When I don't, I surely don't. So that does say something about the complexities of slaying a Goliath while David is also taking our money. All for the good of the consumer, right? Well, actually, it is all about what I can afford and how I choose to spend my money. Same for pretty much everyone else.
In other news, Eddie Vedder and Taylor Swift are on bkallday's lawn. Call the cops!!! Giggle.
That said, the system is rigged against us. We have no choice as consumers about how we can buy our tickets, and we've been accustomed to paying exorbitant fees because there is no alternative. It's a fake market. Want to see a concert? You have to pay what Ticketmaster wants.
Ideally, something could be put in place to put a cap on what fees services like this are allowed to charge, and to stop Ticketmaster from double-dipping by selling their own resale tickets. But I doubt anything substantial will actually happen.
I remember after Super Storm Sandy, when a lot of the New Jersey Eastern was wiped out. My summer playground. Towns, left and right, were decimated, including grocery stores and gas stations. Many of those owners decided to CAPITALIZE on others misfortune and hiked their prices to 3-4 times the normal rate.
Then Republican Governor, Chris Christie, went on television and broadcast his message. "You may think that you're being an honest business person and think you have a right to charge what you want, but we have laws against this. It's called price gouging and it's illegal. Go ahead and make your money now, but when this disaster is cleaned up, the New Jersey AG will be coming after you and your business. You'll face millions in fines and a prison sentence.
The next day, those industry types maximizing profits lowered prices, to levels "before" Sandy.
I remember after Super Storm Sandy, when a lot of the New Jersey Eastern shoreline was wiped out. My summer playground. Towns, left and right, were decimated, including grocery stores and gas stations. Many of those store owners, whose businesses were left unscathed, decided to CAPITALIZE on others misfortune and hiked their prices to 3-4 times the normal rate.
Therefore, Republican Governor, Chris Christie, went on television and broadcast his message to those takers. "You may think that you're being an honest business person and think you have a right to charge what you want, but we have laws against this. It's called price gouging and it's illegal. Go ahead and make your money now, but when this disaster is cleaned up, the New Jersey AG will be coming after you and your business. You'll face millions in fines and a prison sentence.
The next day, those industry types maximizing profits lowered prices, to levels "before" Sandy.
We have Milwaukee Bucks season tickets. Of which we pay about $110 a seat to the game. Our tickets are from the Bucks/Ticketmaster. Say I can't make a game and list them for resale.
I list them for face $110. Ticketmaster if it sells, gets 10% of that or $11. I get $99. So fairish, right ?
The kicker is the listing fees. So It's listed on ticketmaster for $110 and when it sells, that ticket cost the buyer. $133.85. $2.95 order processing fee and $20.90 service fee (straight 19% of the listed ticket price). So out of this sale of a ticket. I get $99 and ticketmaster gets. $34.85. Unreal.
"THEY" need to not allow service fees to be a percentage of the ticket cost. It doesn't cost TIcketmaster anymore in service fees to make/transfer/sell tickets if the ticket costs $25 or $100. But the consumer pays a higher service fee if the cost of the ticket goes up.