Ask Lemmy

I can answer that.....for money.

Ticketmaster is a perfect example of how much politicians are full of shit, all of them.

You know those Congressional Dog & Pony Shows, where they drag out the CEOs of some industry, holler at them all day, and then go back to their office and do absolutely nothing about what they just hollered about?

They did that with Ticketmaster in 1994, again in 2009, and again in 2023. Every 15 years or so, they get outraged in public, and do nothing. I'm sure it has nothing to do with Ticketmaster making enormous campaign contributions to everyone in office.

Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives

If Pearl Jam couldn’t fix it in the 90s and Taylor swift couldn’t fix it in the 2020s that tells you just how much money is behind them.

Republicans

They are extremely litigious. I work in software security and they are notorious for basically having an ocean of lawyers.

There are currently lawsuits against them, but it takes time. This is from NC Attorney General Jeff Jackson's newsletter earlier this year:

"The People vs. Ticketmaster/Live Nation

I’m forcing myself to only pick one case to go into detail about - but it’s a great one.

Let’s say you want to make a bunch of money by supplying live entertainment, primarily the music industry.

Well, the three big pieces in that business are:

The venue

The right to promote the event

The right to sell the tickets

Now imagine you control each of those. You own venues, and you promote the events, and you sell the tickets.

Congratulations - you’re a monopoly.

You’ve achieved vertical integration within your business, which means the sum of those parts has unlocked the ability to gouge customers with the confidence that they won’t be able to find a competitor to offer them a better deal. And using your monopoly to further entrench your power to charge customers higher prices is against the law.

This is exactly what I, along with a bipartisan group of AGs, allege that Ticketmaster/Live Nation has done.

They've turned concert ticket fees into something fans call the “Ticketmaster Tax.” These are the “convenience fees,” “processing fees,” and “handling fees” that add up quickly, inflating ticket prices by huge margins.

Why can they get away with it? Because they've locked venues into exclusive contracts, squeezing out any chance of competition.

But it gets worse. If venues try to resist and explore other options, Live Nation retaliates by threatening to strip venues of popular acts. The internal emails from Live Nation executives detailed in our lawsuit are explicit and awful.

Which means, if you’re an independent venue that doesn't use Ticketmaster, good luck booking artists. Ticketmaster controls ticket sales and Live Nation controls promotion, so artists who are promoted by Live Nation typically won't be allowed to perform at venues that refuse to use Ticketmaster for ticketing.

This is textbook unlawful monopoly behavior. Consumers are paying higher prices and artists and venues are suffering from reduced competition and income.

The good news is that Live Nation just tried - but failed - to get our lawsuit dismissed. That’s a big step toward accountability, including our ultimate request that Live Nation be required to divest Ticketmaster, which it acquired in 2011 and which became the linchpin for much of their monopolistic behavior."

Unregulated capitalism. Specifically, unenforced monopoly laws, which the U.S. has been terrible at.

Ticketmonster has just always been outrageous. I was a teenager in the 80s and it was ridiculous back then too. The prices were lower but the percentages were just as ridiculous, I think. For example, my first concert was Men At Work in 1983. The tickets were $12.50 but my final price at Ticketmonster, which used to be a physical business inside Sears, was over $16, which is around a 30% markup!!

We were warned in the 90's.

And congratulations, the current US administration now considers you a terrorist. Complaining about being abused and exploited is anti-capitalist.

Was my dream to catch Rush on this tour. 1000 cad per ticket. I can go to a European metal festival for the same price and see 120 bands.

Blame the artists too. Neil young capped tickets this year's tour at 120 with no ability to resell.

Why is so shitty? Why is so shitty? Why is so shitty? Because we fucking suck balls at any type of informed decision-making and it's fucking snowballed to this current shit show.

Lack or regulation in their industry. Regulation, while it can be burdensome in some cases, prevents bullshit like this from existing. Republicans want less regulation so businesses are allowed to generally be as horrible as they want and have pushed everything towards less regulation and more monopolistic control, knowing that while some people will boycott individually, mass boycott is unlikely without a massively bad immediate fuck up (target just did this). Boil the masses slowly and they won't notice in time to do anything about it. Kinda like US politics over the last few decades leading to the fuckery we endure now even outside of shit businesses.

Because people keep paying them.

Something happened in the last 20 years where billionaires were able to buy the government and monopolies are now no longer illegal or controlled.

I have a rare one, i've NEVER purchased a ticket through ticketmaster, so i'm glad they never got my money. Too much free/cheap live music local to me anyway.

Because politicians stopped working for us since a long time ago

I'm boycotting Ticketmaster. I'm just not going to go to shows that force me to use them, even if they're my favourite bands. I will buy my music on Bandcamp Fridays to support the bands instead.

Deregulation and regulatory capture

How Ticketmaster Ruined the Music Industry

Because people keep giving them money

They haven't actually got a full monopoly. You can give axs money. You can in some cases go to the box office ahead of time like it's 1980.

If you want to see taytay, you are indeed going to pay ticketmaster, but the only way to defeat them is by not giving them money.

Got to smaller shows at local clubs

Because people keep buying the tickets even though they aren't a necessity. This should be an easy boycott.

I would normally advise you to stick to the small stage stuff. Unfortunately anymore you have to go through a ticket service to see most of those shows. Fucking "convenience fees"

Basically, through mergers and acquisitions they're dominating the venue market. It used to be that there were many actors, but now everything is everything under the Ticketmaster umbrella.

It's convenient for artists, as they only have one point if contact needed per location in terms of booking, ticket sales, merch, and everything else around the concert/event.

It's convenient for venues, as Ticketmaster brings in business. However, it's a double edged sword: Do something Ticketmaster doesn't approve of, such as use a competitor, and you're not getting the big headliners.

It's awful for the rest of us, as we then have to deal with a monopoly pushing up the prices.

I am cautiously optimistic about the long term outlook, though: The Ticketmaster hate is widespread to the point where some artists refuse to work with them, as they feel their fans are getting robbed with the band getting the blame. And they are the ones with the leverage to turn things around - artists with integrity will put their fans first, and that is what will hopefully bring long term change for the better.