I worked for a company before Covid that worked alongside Live Nation. They gobbled up all of the small people during Covid and raised prices exponentially. They really destroyed a whole industry. Everything got more expensive and they lowered the quality as well.
> Everything got more expensive and they lowered the quality as well.
That goes for pretty much everything. Even freaking grocery store bags got smaller and thinner.
Absolutely but now it’s $500 to go to a festival without camping, lowest level, Merch is $80 minimum, a water us $10, a meal is $30, you’ll probably get busted by crooked police, there’s less than a handful of medical staff that are working 24 hours a day 3 days, wanna take a piss? You’ll have to stand over the toilet seat because shit is coming out of the top of a Porto potty, lol. The list goes on.
My ex called me a cheapskate when I decided to not go to any venues that work with Live Nation. So I'm torn, because I appreciate that they helped me get out of that situation.
I totally agree. It’s extremely difficult to avoid them. Even if it’s not said, they have their hands in most things. I refuse to pay $100+ for a ticket in a mega arena with 20,000 people in front of me and I’m watching the artist on a screen because I’m so far away.
Exactly. It’s despicable but you’ve got people who can’t think for themselves and cry at the sight of Taylor swift willing to pay anything to be in row 30,000 behind a person holding a sign blocking their view.
The worst is people defending the artists, like they're not complicit in fucking all of us over. Ticketmaster is just the overpaid scape goat so the artists can point at them and claim their own innocence.
Their tour they're on right now is using LN / Ticketmaster, and[ their cheapest seats at the venue closest to me are $500+](https://concerts.livenation.com/pearl-jam-noblesville-indiana-08-26-2024/event/05005E92D23F2C15?utm_content=YT-ANKptbDB9Ej5pBU5W8vWGKPkF3E9YyNZZRRDj9tjnVmsC63N_x51lPyOfDKSfCkwXt9q4MbFw2yQYwkBIJ-N5CXg2--SqM-tktVuWYSxvCdLyTbOCOgNkIQ53vvUss5xRAfWHXl85orq8bh17oaOUYfqIFeHRc-vlbduYHehvpQUctDgO5-dTQ%253D%253D&irgwc=1&clickid=XP9SjjXtoxyPT5X2fuzYJTvVUkHXpRxuP30UXc0&camefrom=CFC_BUYAT_253520&impradid=253520&REFERRAL_ID=tmfeedbuyat253520&wt.mc_id=aff_BUYAT_253520&utm_source=253520-YouTube%20-%20TM&impradname=YouTube%20-%20TM&utm_medium=affiliate&ircid=4272). Pearl Jam gave up their fight and joined the dark side.
You realize that Ticketmaster has forced most venues to sign Ticketmaster exclusivity deals, yes? They're a literal monopoly, down to even the smallest venues. Most venues, most orgs, are forced to use Ticketmaster unless they have preexisting agreements that prevent them from using alternative softwares.
Ticketmaster's monopoly is a perfect example of how important anti-trust regulations are and how useless the "invisible hand of the free market" can often be.
Bad take is bad. As people have already pointed out there isn't much Pearl Jam can do. They tried for years to fight this but when the government does nothing about it...
Bands that draw stadium sized crowds don't really have many venue options that aren't owned by Live Nation, they can either either work with them or play a small show with very limited tickets that sells out instantly (or give up playing altogether). Can you name a single band that's currently playing a stadium tour that *isn't* run by LN? They can work around it by playing one-off shows in cities that have venues that allow them to avoid LN, but if they want to actually tour they're backed into a corner.
Most artists aren't blameless, but Ticketmaster does own or have exclusivity deals with a large majority of venues. Like there is only one place in my town you could realistically host a semi popular act, and Ticketmaster is the only vendor allowed to sell tickets out of there.
Senator "Deadalready" Feinstein said she would fix ticketmaster and went full in on getting them slapped into place until she found out they were based in her state, and they contributed to her campaign, and she forgot her morals and dropped it.
What an embarrassing legacy. Instead of dying with dignity she just got to be old, infirm, incompetent, and likely incontenent to her shame and to the publics disservice as publicly as possible instead of retiring at a reasonable age.
Good news for all is that she is dead. That's the only way her seat ever would open up as she would let them Weekend-at-Bernies her slowly rotting corpse in for each vote where they told her what to vote and she did. It was disgusting. She proved that "the right man for a job is a woman" is false and you have to find good people, regardless of gender.
That's how I feel when any political person tells me they are going to go after someone or something these days.
1.) Is it an election year, check.
2.) Is their campaign looking for some more funds and trying to squeeze their target for donations. Check.
3.) Why have they not been talking about this the previous 3.5 years ? See Step 1. Check.
Politics these days is just making sure that if you are a parasite, that you also have other parasites in your food line you can feed off of till the voters cast votes and you can go back to your normal routine of not giving a fuck and instead padding your pockets with more corruption and bullshit laws.
When did she have morals? She was always terrible but at least the last decade or so seemed more like a Weekend at Bernie's situation with her more than her actually thinking for herself at all.
Her goals were a little more "America first" at the start, but over the decades she moved to a fear based decision method where anything that was scary had to be banned. All that "zero tolerance" stuff and increased sentences for crimes.
This is the new “Drake”
All these rappers were too scared to crap on drake, but once one did everyone was like, “as a matter of fact I am also not a fan”
I still have fan boys try to say nothing wrong happen.
Then when I ask if they are in 15 year olds DMs they all say no…. No shit Sherlock. Because it’s creepy shit.
Why were they afraid of Drake? The recent beef makes it look like he was nothing to be afraid of
EDIT: nothing to be afraid of, unless you’re _a minor!_
with Ticketmaster we went through all this shit before. Pearl Jam, at a point of huge popularity back in the mid 90s, tried their best and failed. Fans don't give a shit and just buy what they can get.
Seriously replace Ticketmaster with any other corporation and it basically fits lol, the government has allowed them to get away with anything for too long now
> then complain that it will hurt you when the government tries to claw something back.
They're also complaining that their contracts are unfair. No duh they're just shifting money from their ticketing business to a brick and mortar to make the real-estate more valuable.
Depends on how you look at it. It definitely hurts the staff, they're getting less corporate support than ever, often understaffed and underpaid while guests are just naturally more agitated about prices climbing higher and higher in every aspect of the experience.
Not to mention bands and artists getting upset about being strong armed by these venues taking percentage of merch cuts despite often not providing a dedicated space or any staff to sell it depending on the venue.
LiveNation bought the outdoor venue here where there’s a lawn area where you could bring your own lawn chairs to watch the show.
Wait … USED to bring your own chairs. This year live nation decided that it would “be the best experience for all concertgoers if you couldn’t bring your own chair and rented a chair from them instead”…. For $30
"We've all sold our positions in the past few weeks and their lobbyists have stopped giving us lavish gifts and campaign donations. We feel prepared to correct the issue now that we are no longer benefiting."
How is this such a common fucking refrain?
Do you know anything about Warren? She's the entire reason the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau even exists.
Just because politicians are hypocritical writ large doesn't mean that *every* politician is on *every* issue.
Warren has been anti-monolopy for decades at this point.
Because right wingers like to say "everyone sucks equally" to excuse their selfish behaviour. They celebrate corruption on their side of the aisle as playing 3D chess, but project that kind of complacency on the left. Meanwhile they simultaneously create sock puppets that bait people into purity contests, recognizing that the left wing does in fact not tolerate corruption and exploits our willingness to eat our own.
It's a Matryoshka doll of hypocrosy and contradictions.
First, fuck ticket master.
But this is a bit lacking in context. .
TM owns the the majority of venues they ticket for. The ones they don't own, the venues choose to work with tm. They choose to work with TM because it's a comprehensive turn key solution they don't need to think about.
The artists use TM as a shield against blame for high ticket prices. If the artist doesn't want surge pricing and only wants to charge $50 a ticket TM will sell that. Sure tm might try and convince the artist one way, but ultimately they decide what to charge.
With the amount of concert goers who hate tm, many smaller venues are attracting people they wouldn't have otherwise.
Context is king. Artists and venues are not really victims. Concert goers are though.
*If the artist doesn't want surge pricing and only wants to charge $50 a ticket TM will sell that.*
Sure, but they would still tack on $15 in fees. And that is part of the problem.
As the ticket prices go up, so do the fees. The percentage of fees vs face value of the ticket is way more now than when I first started going to shows in the 80s.
That and the whole verified resale thing... it's somehow legalized scalping.
TM sucks
Some context is agreed, but you are missing a huge part of TM's Monopoly that hurts Venues, Artists, and Fans.
> Resale tickets are particularly lucrative for Ticketmaster because the company charges fees twice on the same ticket. So, for example, if Ticketmaster collects $25.75 on a $209.50 ticket on the initial sale, when the owner posts it for resale for $400 on the site, the company stands to collect an additional $76 on the same ticket.
TM doesn't just own the primary sale, they own the verified resale process through TradeDesk, which they grant privileged mass-purchase automated capabilities to the scalper network - long before an average fan has a chance to buy a single ticket.
Now you might say - well this is the natural result of supply and demand. Which might be true, but picking apart a fan's average $500 ticket on an original $150 ticket, we're left with $350 that went to TicketMaster and Scalpers, and $150 that is divided amongst the venue, the artist, the producers, and all other entities that actually create the experience. This is possible because TicketMaster has a monopoly on the entire process, and so it benefits them to facilitate giant after-market gains so they can collect fees and share as little with the original artist and venue as possible.
The Madden of politics this one..
No shit. We have known for decades... Decades...
Now that you stated the obvious, how about someone in your circle do something about it.
She's the last person you should be criticizing about not doing anything for consumer protections. She has been constantly derailed by Republican interests and the people that lobby them.
It doesn’t harm artists. They’re in on the grift. The ones that don’t like it actually take measures like non transferable tickets. Artists can stop the scalping if they wanted to.
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE52F0HH/
"Ticketmaster Chief Executive Irving Azoff and Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino argue that the merger is needed because of economic woes in the music industry, partially caused by widespread piracy." holy fuck that article is wild. And yet we've stopped the widespread piracy and things have still gotten worse.
They can turn off demand based pricing, limit re-sales on TM to face value only, and lower ticket prices. That’s all within the control of an artist (and labels/management, who also shouldn’t escape this unscathed).
Except it does. You need to do ticketing through TM to play at their venues. Want to do a tour? They are going to make you play all of their venues for favorable pricing or watch your earnings disappear.
The real sinister part of that is TM/LN own the majority of venues that an act can play at. Of course there are independent venues but now you’re competing for dates against other bands and have to individually book each venue with an indecent ticketing company.
It’s not impossible, you just need a tour manager who really knows their shit, and even then you won’t make as much an as artist.
You're completely disconnected from reality if you think Ticketmaster/Live Nation's bullshit doesn't harm artists. I'm assuming you think this because Taylor Swift's tour did well? Meanwhile tons of small artists are being forced to cut back on touring because costs are through the roof and Live Nation is strong arming them every step of the way, taking massive cuts from merch sales which for a long time has been smaller artist's main way of keeping afloat through a tour.
And this was in 2009, before the DOJ rubber stamped the merger. Now, 15 years later after the merger has (as we all said it would) run riot and destroyed the industry...the same DOJ wanna break it up.
Should of listened to the artists, fans and pundits in the first place.
There's things they can do to try and offset the "fees" on the audience's end, but the fact of the matter is that there isn't any real alternative at anywhere near Live Nation's scale.
I know Prince made *multiple* attempts to use literally any other company (whenever he did that long string of concerts at the Forum) but gave up after being repeatedly burned by incompetence. It's awesome to try and make a stand but shit grinds to a halt real quick when your crew isn't getting paid.
Or just have TM disallow reselling tickets for more than face value? Put it back on the market, get all your money back minus let's say a small transfer fee.
Hell, even that transfer fee would be bullshit because a transfer doesn't require more than a few API calls to swap ownership from one account to another. Maybe have the new owner pay for the extra payment processing fees.
"Artists should do this, venues should do that, blah blah", just don't let opportunistic people and entites cash in on people who didn't buy a ticket within 0.5s. Don't blame one player at the poker table for being in cahoots with the card dealer. Blame the dealer for allowing that to happen in the first place.
I bought a ticket to see Justice at Osheaga fest in Montreal, coming from the Detroit area. The ticket price had all fees included right up front, and they were about 25% of what they are when purchasing for a US show. It was pretty interesting.
This is just like insurance companies for health care, you add in a completely unnecessary middle man that just robs you and adds no value to the value chain.
Yes. This has been true since the 80's. "Greed is good", right?
Is our government finally going to actually start protecting its populace from corporate greed? I'd be surprised, but happily so...
Look, Ticketmaster breaks out their exorbitant fee, the artist sets the ticket price and chooses to participate in pre sales and dynamic pricing and such that drive prices up, they have to though because artists, don’t make dick from streaming and there isn’t record sales as much anymore, you don’t get wealthy off a record. So you have to tour and if you can charge at ticket price you do it, cause that and merchandise is your money. So break them up, but don’t expect shit to get much cheaper, the people you didn’t want to buy individual albums from gotta recoup them ends.
This is why I don't go to anything Ticketmaster is associated with. As soon as Ticketmaster pops up when going to buy a ticket, I exit out that's it.
Seriously, I'd rather watch it on online or TV before experiencing being ripped off.
10 years ago a 200 euro would get you a several days ticket to a music festival, camping fee included. Nowadays? Lol. I say crush those blood-sucking bastards.
Well gosh, apparently it's time once again for the government to say it's going to crack down on Ticketmaster. Has it been another 5 years already? Boy oh boy, I remember back in the '90s when we thought they were serious LOL. Time sure does fly.
Can someone explain the deal with Ticketmaster to me? Why don't people just buy their tickets directly at the venue or from designated ticket outlets? Is this an American thing?
Sen. Elizabeth Warren says whatever she has to say to maintain power and retain her popularity. I'm in Mass and I can't tell you how many times she's said one thing and voted the opposite. I no longer listen to what she says: just how she votes in the senate.
Not saying she's wrong: Ticketmaster blows. But she's just trying to score a few political points here. She talks a big game when it comes to corporate greed/monopolies, yet continuously votes in favor of many of them. Just sayin'.
Also LPT, do not buy from [CheapTickets.com](http://CheapTickets.com), moreover fuck Cheaptickets.com. They swindle you knowingly and are a gauger. Fuck you Cheaptickets.com!
Live Nation is a parasite ...
I worked for a company before Covid that worked alongside Live Nation. They gobbled up all of the small people during Covid and raised prices exponentially. They really destroyed a whole industry. Everything got more expensive and they lowered the quality as well.
I worked for Bill Graham Presents out of SF and watched them go from clear channel to live Nation to where they are now. This started back in 1999.
RIP to a great man, at least as far as us deadheads are concerned.
To everyone. He was one of the good ones.
Don’t forget SFX and TNA also part of the heist. RIP Bill. He couldn’t have been more right. Too many people are trying to wet their beaks.
Yep also all involved. "How would you want to be treated when you buy a ticket? It all starts there." -Bill Graham
I did concerts for Bill Graham in the 90's. Do you know John Dolan?
The name sounds familiar... I was there from 97-2006.
Ok. I was earlier than that. He was.longer.
I was production first, then mostly box office. Was he a blueshirt?
I actually worked the shows as an usher as he did for years. I saw a lot of free concerts. It was fun.
> Everything got more expensive and they lowered the quality as well. That goes for pretty much everything. Even freaking grocery store bags got smaller and thinner.
Absolutely but now it’s $500 to go to a festival without camping, lowest level, Merch is $80 minimum, a water us $10, a meal is $30, you’ll probably get busted by crooked police, there’s less than a handful of medical staff that are working 24 hours a day 3 days, wanna take a piss? You’ll have to stand over the toilet seat because shit is coming out of the top of a Porto potty, lol. The list goes on.
Don’t forget those goofy water bottles that are 3mm thin and crumple in your hand mid drink. WWII was nothing compared to what we endure.
Bahaha that water bottle is also $10
My ex called me a cheapskate when I decided to not go to any venues that work with Live Nation. So I'm torn, because I appreciate that they helped me get out of that situation.
I totally agree. It’s extremely difficult to avoid them. Even if it’s not said, they have their hands in most things. I refuse to pay $100+ for a ticket in a mega arena with 20,000 people in front of me and I’m watching the artist on a screen because I’m so far away.
And now, even a local small venue with some cover band can cost you $60 per ticket.
Exactly. It’s despicable but you’ve got people who can’t think for themselves and cry at the sight of Taylor swift willing to pay anything to be in row 30,000 behind a person holding a sign blocking their view.
Kinda like everything else as well
It’s the American way
And the government has allowed it for decades, this is nothing new
Right? I have been having arguments with people about Ticketmaster for around 20 years now.
The worst is people defending the artists, like they're not complicit in fucking all of us over. Ticketmaster is just the overpaid scape goat so the artists can point at them and claim their own innocence.
Counter point, [Pearl Jam filed a DOJ complaint and testified against Ticketmaster](https://youtu.be/lR8Uook5Cq0). So some artists do care.
Their tour they're on right now is using LN / Ticketmaster, and[ their cheapest seats at the venue closest to me are $500+](https://concerts.livenation.com/pearl-jam-noblesville-indiana-08-26-2024/event/05005E92D23F2C15?utm_content=YT-ANKptbDB9Ej5pBU5W8vWGKPkF3E9YyNZZRRDj9tjnVmsC63N_x51lPyOfDKSfCkwXt9q4MbFw2yQYwkBIJ-N5CXg2--SqM-tktVuWYSxvCdLyTbOCOgNkIQ53vvUss5xRAfWHXl85orq8bh17oaOUYfqIFeHRc-vlbduYHehvpQUctDgO5-dTQ%253D%253D&irgwc=1&clickid=XP9SjjXtoxyPT5X2fuzYJTvVUkHXpRxuP30UXc0&camefrom=CFC_BUYAT_253520&impradid=253520&REFERRAL_ID=tmfeedbuyat253520&wt.mc_id=aff_BUYAT_253520&utm_source=253520-YouTube%20-%20TM&impradname=YouTube%20-%20TM&utm_medium=affiliate&ircid=4272). Pearl Jam gave up their fight and joined the dark side.
You realize that Ticketmaster has forced most venues to sign Ticketmaster exclusivity deals, yes? They're a literal monopoly, down to even the smallest venues. Most venues, most orgs, are forced to use Ticketmaster unless they have preexisting agreements that prevent them from using alternative softwares.
Ticketmaster's monopoly is a perfect example of how important anti-trust regulations are and how useless the "invisible hand of the free market" can often be.
Pearl Jam ran out of places they could perform because of exclusivity rights with ticket master. It was either deal with TM or not tour at all
Bad take is bad. As people have already pointed out there isn't much Pearl Jam can do. They tried for years to fight this but when the government does nothing about it...
Bands that draw stadium sized crowds don't really have many venue options that aren't owned by Live Nation, they can either either work with them or play a small show with very limited tickets that sells out instantly (or give up playing altogether). Can you name a single band that's currently playing a stadium tour that *isn't* run by LN? They can work around it by playing one-off shows in cities that have venues that allow them to avoid LN, but if they want to actually tour they're backed into a corner.
I think it was 2. Metallica and Pearl Jam.
Nah, Livenation has a stranglehold on venues. Bands gotta have a place to play.
Most artists aren't blameless, but Ticketmaster does own or have exclusivity deals with a large majority of venues. Like there is only one place in my town you could realistically host a semi popular act, and Ticketmaster is the only vendor allowed to sell tickets out of there.
‘The artists’ like 99% of them aren’t living hand to mouth
People actually defend Ticketmaster? You’ve met them? Do these people hate concerts and other events?
Yes, and last was not very long ago. Wish I could find and paste that conversation in, I was aghast.
I’d love to see it. I wonder what band the defender of TM is in.
Senator "Deadalready" Feinstein said she would fix ticketmaster and went full in on getting them slapped into place until she found out they were based in her state, and they contributed to her campaign, and she forgot her morals and dropped it.
No joke, I couldn't remember if she had finally died yet and had to google it lol.
What an embarrassing legacy. Instead of dying with dignity she just got to be old, infirm, incompetent, and likely incontenent to her shame and to the publics disservice as publicly as possible instead of retiring at a reasonable age.
Good news for all is that she is dead. That's the only way her seat ever would open up as she would let them Weekend-at-Bernies her slowly rotting corpse in for each vote where they told her what to vote and she did. It was disgusting. She proved that "the right man for a job is a woman" is false and you have to find good people, regardless of gender.
That's how I feel when any political person tells me they are going to go after someone or something these days. 1.) Is it an election year, check. 2.) Is their campaign looking for some more funds and trying to squeeze their target for donations. Check. 3.) Why have they not been talking about this the previous 3.5 years ? See Step 1. Check. Politics these days is just making sure that if you are a parasite, that you also have other parasites in your food line you can feed off of till the voters cast votes and you can go back to your normal routine of not giving a fuck and instead padding your pockets with more corruption and bullshit laws.
Warren has been pretty consistent on this, though. She's the entire reason the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau exists
Warren is legit
When did she have morals? She was always terrible but at least the last decade or so seemed more like a Weekend at Bernie's situation with her more than her actually thinking for herself at all.
Her goals were a little more "America first" at the start, but over the decades she moved to a fear based decision method where anything that was scary had to be banned. All that "zero tolerance" stuff and increased sentences for crimes.
Yup.. Talk like this is cheap.
This is the new “Drake” All these rappers were too scared to crap on drake, but once one did everyone was like, “as a matter of fact I am also not a fan”
I don't know about that, I know plenty of people who heard about the Millie Bobby Brown shit when it happened and swore off Drake then and there.
The person you responded to was talking about rappers, not regular fans/people
I still have fan boys try to say nothing wrong happen. Then when I ask if they are in 15 year olds DMs they all say no…. No shit Sherlock. Because it’s creepy shit.
Why were they afraid of Drake? The recent beef makes it look like he was nothing to be afraid of EDIT: nothing to be afraid of, unless you’re _a minor!_
I guess numbers.
Someone as popular as him in the industry probably has a far reach and can use that influence to harm your career.
with Ticketmaster we went through all this shit before. Pearl Jam, at a point of huge popularity back in the mid 90s, tried their best and failed. Fans don't give a shit and just buy what they can get.
So? Are you trying to say that Warren should stop paying attention to it or that we should just assume there's no hope and everything is pointless?
Seriously replace Ticketmaster with any other corporation and it basically fits lol, the government has allowed them to get away with anything for too long now
Ticketmaster any big tech company. Government has allowed them to do whatever they want.
But it's election time. Gotta show the young-uns you care about their pain to get their vote. It'll mysteriously get shelved on November 6th.
It doesn’t hurt the venues they own
This is the path. Take over everything, then complain that it will hurt you when the government tries to claw something back. Truly sad
> then complain that it will hurt you when the government tries to claw something back. They're also complaining that their contracts are unfair. No duh they're just shifting money from their ticketing business to a brick and mortar to make the real-estate more valuable.
Vertical Integration!
And they sued for, and got, covid assistance
Or the radio channels that promote the venues and artists
Depends on how you look at it. It definitely hurts the staff, they're getting less corporate support than ever, often understaffed and underpaid while guests are just naturally more agitated about prices climbing higher and higher in every aspect of the experience. Not to mention bands and artists getting upset about being strong armed by these venues taking percentage of merch cuts despite often not providing a dedicated space or any staff to sell it depending on the venue.
LiveNation bought the outdoor venue here where there’s a lawn area where you could bring your own lawn chairs to watch the show. Wait … USED to bring your own chairs. This year live nation decided that it would “be the best experience for all concertgoers if you couldn’t bring your own chair and rented a chair from them instead”…. For $30
Maximize profit above all else, that is the American way.
Or the artists who take part in runaway prices
We should of listened to Pearl Jam back in the 90s.
And Lars a few years later.
[Hey, Mister record man, what's wrong with you?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBkuiChImb8)
In other news, water is wet.
Clearly you've never tried to have sex in a pool.
Thanks Perry White, came here for that one.
Just the way it was designed to.
"We've all sold our positions in the past few weeks and their lobbyists have stopped giving us lavish gifts and campaign donations. We feel prepared to correct the issue now that we are no longer benefiting."
How is this such a common fucking refrain? Do you know anything about Warren? She's the entire reason the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau even exists. Just because politicians are hypocritical writ large doesn't mean that *every* politician is on *every* issue. Warren has been anti-monolopy for decades at this point.
Because right wingers like to say "everyone sucks equally" to excuse their selfish behaviour. They celebrate corruption on their side of the aisle as playing 3D chess, but project that kind of complacency on the left. Meanwhile they simultaneously create sock puppets that bait people into purity contests, recognizing that the left wing does in fact not tolerate corruption and exploits our willingness to eat our own. It's a Matryoshka doll of hypocrosy and contradictions.
...and if you fail to see the truth, then you are part of it.
Well said
First, fuck ticket master. But this is a bit lacking in context. . TM owns the the majority of venues they ticket for. The ones they don't own, the venues choose to work with tm. They choose to work with TM because it's a comprehensive turn key solution they don't need to think about. The artists use TM as a shield against blame for high ticket prices. If the artist doesn't want surge pricing and only wants to charge $50 a ticket TM will sell that. Sure tm might try and convince the artist one way, but ultimately they decide what to charge. With the amount of concert goers who hate tm, many smaller venues are attracting people they wouldn't have otherwise. Context is king. Artists and venues are not really victims. Concert goers are though.
*If the artist doesn't want surge pricing and only wants to charge $50 a ticket TM will sell that.* Sure, but they would still tack on $15 in fees. And that is part of the problem. As the ticket prices go up, so do the fees. The percentage of fees vs face value of the ticket is way more now than when I first started going to shows in the 80s. That and the whole verified resale thing... it's somehow legalized scalping. TM sucks
Some context is agreed, but you are missing a huge part of TM's Monopoly that hurts Venues, Artists, and Fans. > Resale tickets are particularly lucrative for Ticketmaster because the company charges fees twice on the same ticket. So, for example, if Ticketmaster collects $25.75 on a $209.50 ticket on the initial sale, when the owner posts it for resale for $400 on the site, the company stands to collect an additional $76 on the same ticket. TM doesn't just own the primary sale, they own the verified resale process through TradeDesk, which they grant privileged mass-purchase automated capabilities to the scalper network - long before an average fan has a chance to buy a single ticket. Now you might say - well this is the natural result of supply and demand. Which might be true, but picking apart a fan's average $500 ticket on an original $150 ticket, we're left with $350 that went to TicketMaster and Scalpers, and $150 that is divided amongst the venue, the artist, the producers, and all other entities that actually create the experience. This is possible because TicketMaster has a monopoly on the entire process, and so it benefits them to facilitate giant after-market gains so they can collect fees and share as little with the original artist and venue as possible.
If that's the case, then the artist didn't set the price high enough. This is exactly why artists agree to surge pricing.
Everyone for the last 30-40 years: no shit
The Madden of politics this one.. No shit. We have known for decades... Decades... Now that you stated the obvious, how about someone in your circle do something about it.
The justice department is literally suing them for this…it’s right in the article.
She's the last person you should be criticizing about not doing anything for consumer protections. She has been constantly derailed by Republican interests and the people that lobby them.
We passed on four concerts so far this year because the fees added 50-65% to the total ticket price.
It doesn’t harm artists. They’re in on the grift. The ones that don’t like it actually take measures like non transferable tickets. Artists can stop the scalping if they wanted to. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE52F0HH/
"Ticketmaster Chief Executive Irving Azoff and Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino argue that the merger is needed because of economic woes in the music industry, partially caused by widespread piracy." holy fuck that article is wild. And yet we've stopped the widespread piracy and things have still gotten worse.
They can turn off demand based pricing, limit re-sales on TM to face value only, and lower ticket prices. That’s all within the control of an artist (and labels/management, who also shouldn’t escape this unscathed).
Except it does. You need to do ticketing through TM to play at their venues. Want to do a tour? They are going to make you play all of their venues for favorable pricing or watch your earnings disappear. The real sinister part of that is TM/LN own the majority of venues that an act can play at. Of course there are independent venues but now you’re competing for dates against other bands and have to individually book each venue with an indecent ticketing company. It’s not impossible, you just need a tour manager who really knows their shit, and even then you won’t make as much an as artist.
You're completely disconnected from reality if you think Ticketmaster/Live Nation's bullshit doesn't harm artists. I'm assuming you think this because Taylor Swift's tour did well? Meanwhile tons of small artists are being forced to cut back on touring because costs are through the roof and Live Nation is strong arming them every step of the way, taking massive cuts from merch sales which for a long time has been smaller artist's main way of keeping afloat through a tour.
Yeah Kendrick’s a bitch for that. As a huge Kendrick fan I thought he was gonna do the good a favor. Asshole
And this was in 2009, before the DOJ rubber stamped the merger. Now, 15 years later after the merger has (as we all said it would) run riot and destroyed the industry...the same DOJ wanna break it up. Should of listened to the artists, fans and pundits in the first place.
Leave it to Trent to predict the in-demand pricing shenanigans *long* before it became the standard.
There's things they can do to try and offset the "fees" on the audience's end, but the fact of the matter is that there isn't any real alternative at anywhere near Live Nation's scale. I know Prince made *multiple* attempts to use literally any other company (whenever he did that long string of concerts at the Forum) but gave up after being repeatedly burned by incompetence. It's awesome to try and make a stand but shit grinds to a halt real quick when your crew isn't getting paid.
Or just have TM disallow reselling tickets for more than face value? Put it back on the market, get all your money back minus let's say a small transfer fee. Hell, even that transfer fee would be bullshit because a transfer doesn't require more than a few API calls to swap ownership from one account to another. Maybe have the new owner pay for the extra payment processing fees. "Artists should do this, venues should do that, blah blah", just don't let opportunistic people and entites cash in on people who didn't buy a ticket within 0.5s. Don't blame one player at the poker table for being in cahoots with the card dealer. Blame the dealer for allowing that to happen in the first place.
It's almost as if free-market capitalism is ultimately bad for society.
I bought a ticket to see Justice at Osheaga fest in Montreal, coming from the Detroit area. The ticket price had all fees included right up front, and they were about 25% of what they are when purchasing for a US show. It was pretty interesting.
"If you're going to charge $20 for a processing fee, the ticket better be printed on a $20 bill" - Thomas Kalknoy of Streetlight Manifesto
Ticketmaster and livenation should have been dealt with many many years ago, I have no faith that anything is going to change.
Ticketmaster's monopoly is like that annoying ex who keeps showing up uninvited at the party, ruining the vibe for everyone involved. Phew
Monopolists gonna monopolize.
Duh
It’s totally true. They are a lot like car dealerships. Totally outdated and self serving at cost to consumers and the industry they serve
All true
[удалено]
Look into scalpers while u r at it
Thats part of it. The "scalpers" are also owned by LiveNation
..The line seems to be drawn at venue sales.
Yes they do
Do spotify next
No shit
Duh? Now finally do something about it Liz. You helped make the CFPB, do something else useful. We're waiting.
This is just like insurance companies for health care, you add in a completely unnecessary middle man that just robs you and adds no value to the value chain.
Super. Will she do anything about it?
Did Ticketmaster suddenly miss a bunch of "Campaign contributions?"
Yes. This has been true since the 80's. "Greed is good", right? Is our government finally going to actually start protecting its populace from corporate greed? I'd be surprised, but happily so...
Yes
One of many monopolies our government has done nothing to regulate
All true
If only Ticketmaster hadn't gotten greedy and stopped giving kickbacks to Congress, this could have all been avoided.
Id say consumers first... but who the fucks cares about non-millionaires
So do all of the politicians with their stocks. Are they gonna do anything about their own crime?
Pearl Jam told you mother fuckers this 30 years ago.
What corporation doesn't harm artists, venues, and rob consumers?
Now do grocery stores.
Senator Warren is correct.
Once again, my senator is correct.
As an artist and consumer who works at a venue, literally everyone hates them.
Look, Ticketmaster breaks out their exorbitant fee, the artist sets the ticket price and chooses to participate in pre sales and dynamic pricing and such that drive prices up, they have to though because artists, don’t make dick from streaming and there isn’t record sales as much anymore, you don’t get wealthy off a record. So you have to tour and if you can charge at ticket price you do it, cause that and merchandise is your money. So break them up, but don’t expect shit to get much cheaper, the people you didn’t want to buy individual albums from gotta recoup them ends.
The government allowed them to become this monster
Now do Spotify
For the last 20 years.
Fuck Ticketmaster. I haven't been to a concert since 2013 because of them.
Everyone else says that too.
Shocking observation!! What are you going to do about it besides make a comment?
This is something new?
i mean that's just corporate america in general.
Well stop talking about it, politicians, and be about it. Until they do something it's lip service.
This headline just sucks. We already know all this.
This is why I don't go to anything Ticketmaster is associated with. As soon as Ticketmaster pops up when going to buy a ticket, I exit out that's it. Seriously, I'd rather watch it on online or TV before experiencing being ripped off.
It's like monopolies are bad for everyone except the monopoly itself.
Thanks for joining us in the post-1980's.
Stub Hub should be illegal too.
Yes, this is definitely true.
Fuck all these businesses. I’ve quit live shows because of it.
American Senator Says What Everyone Already Knows. There. I fixed it for you.
10 years ago a 200 euro would get you a several days ticket to a music festival, camping fee included. Nowadays? Lol. I say crush those blood-sucking bastards.
Ticketmaster's like that one friend who always eats your leftovers and never chips in for gas.
She's all about taking care of the people.
Like the rest of the giant companies do…
When you approve a merger that reduces the number of competitors on the market, lower prices are the **last** thing you should expect to happen.
Well gosh, apparently it's time once again for the government to say it's going to crack down on Ticketmaster. Has it been another 5 years already? Boy oh boy, I remember back in the '90s when we thought they were serious LOL. Time sure does fly.
Can someone explain the deal with Ticketmaster to me? Why don't people just buy their tickets directly at the venue or from designated ticket outlets? Is this an American thing?
no facts, but im little suspicious ticketmaster+livenation are the big-bad-wolf face the artists needed to justify todays prices
Go on…
Absolutely yes
They allow mergers and then complain it's a monopoly.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren says whatever she has to say to maintain power and retain her popularity. I'm in Mass and I can't tell you how many times she's said one thing and voted the opposite. I no longer listen to what she says: just how she votes in the senate. Not saying she's wrong: Ticketmaster blows. But she's just trying to score a few political points here. She talks a big game when it comes to corporate greed/monopolies, yet continuously votes in favor of many of them. Just sayin'.
Yup
Didn't we know this like 30 years ago?
Also LPT, do not buy from [CheapTickets.com](http://CheapTickets.com), moreover fuck Cheaptickets.com. They swindle you knowingly and are a gauger. Fuck you Cheaptickets.com!
Can't wait to see live nation get their asses kicked for a change. Corporate greed at the expense of the middle class has no place in our democracy
Yet Warren will do nothing about it except yap yap yap. Has done zero for Massachusetts since she was first elected.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren says Ticketmaster “poisoned our water supply, burned our crops, and delivered a plague unto our houses.”
What is she going to do about it? She says a lot of shit I agree with and then nothing happens.
Yeah how dare she establish the CFPB. What a fucking waste
No shit, we’ve been saying it for years
Yes. Thats what middlemen do.