Live Music Has Been Destroyed by Ticketmaster

Congratulations if you were able to get Taylor Swift concert tickets this week.

Many fans who were looking to purchase tickets for the singer’s impending tour visited the Ticketmaster website only to encounter lengthy virtual lines, error warnings, and outright technical difficulties.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and other public leaders have taken notice of this and claim the business is monopolistic.

However, how did Ticketmaster become so successful and why does it have so few rivals?

Every time a well-known musician goes on tour, people criticize Ticketmaster for their exorbitant service fees.

The story of Ticketmaster revolves on such fees. In reality, when then-new CEO Fred Rosen went to venues and promoters and said, “Let’s double the service fees on event tickets,” the business effectively dominated the market 40 years ago.

Dean Budnick, co-author of “Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped,” remarked, “And they responded, “Well, why would we want to do that?”

Well, if we do that, Fred added, Ticketmaster will split the profits with us.

Prior to then, venues and promoters funded service prices, according to Budnick.

Around 80% of significant American venues signed exclusivity contracts after Ticketmaster persuaded them to pay for them through ticket sales.
It strengthened its position when, in 2010, it combined with Live Nation, an events promoter and venue manager.

Dean Budnick: “You have this one corporation that has management clients, owns venues, controls the ticketing firm, and is pushing the performances”. Live Nation is accused in a lawsuit of refusing to book performers at venues that don’t utilize Ticketmaster.