Ticketmaster Senate Hearing

I saw yesterday on the news when I was out to eat that there was a Senate hearing about Ticketmaster. I know there was a T Swift debacle over ticket sales but was that really what this was about? Our Senate spending time on concert ticket sales or was there a different reason for the hearing and a bunch of T Swift fans just showed up because they were mad from a few months ago?

I mean the real issue is the Ticketmaster/Live Nation is an out of control monopoly that performs all sorts of shady (and probably downright illegal) business practices like scalping their own tickets.

But my impression is that the hearing was just because of the Taylor Swift outrage, and they wanted to pay lip service to that. Does anyone actually think anything will change because of this? I don’t.

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If Ticketmaster is a monopoly then that will be dealt with.

So its about Ticketmaster being a monopoly? I understand the Senate meeting about monopolies but I guess I never considered Ticketmaster a monopoly. I have gotten tickets from many different places besides Ticketmaster including venue’s own websites

it’s only an out-of-control monopoly when I have no other options for an essential service. I wouldn’t call concert tickets an essential service. I can always just not go to the concert. Ticketmaster is [essentially] a monopoly, but I don’t care.

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This is definitely an issue for me. And, I don’t go to concerts at prices I don’t want to pay. Their “dynamic pricing” program seems to be OK with performers, and I’m guessing they get a percentage of whatever the tickets are sold as, the first time AND in the Aftermarket, and no longer just $X per ticket.

The Taylor Swift issue is their own fault for putting all of her tour stops’ tickets on sale at the same time. Is this a Senate-level issue? No. But I’m guessing several Senators’ children and grandchildren want their parents/grandparents to do something about it. The result will be priority sales to senators. So, everybody wins!

T Swift concernt is not a choice!!! It’s that or being a loser for life! (/s I don’t really listen to her music like most gays)

The “essential service” shouldn’t be factor in determining whether government should intervene to limit a monopoly’s power.

Ideally, in a free market, players would behave in terms of pricing and service quality, because failure to do so will put them at a competitive disadvantage.

Ticketmaster has become dominant enough that it doesn’t necessarily have to respond to competitive pressures, inviting regulatory scrutinty.

I’m rarely in a position of being a customer for the stuff Ticketmaster sells. But I am an investor and a wannabe entrepreneur. Ticketmaster’s near-monopoly makes its industry one that I can’t pursue certain entrepreneurial activities.

While I’m generally leery of government meddling, I am OK with the government maintaining the sandbox we all play in. Looking into Ticketmaster’s activities is a plausible example of that sandbox maintenance.

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I don’t know anything about the Taylor Swift issue, but I know the last time I bought tickets through Ticketmaster and the event canceled and they kept the copious fees they changed. So my refund was only about 75% of what I paid, which seemed pretty sleazy to me.

ticketmaster sucks. i would believe they are totally rigging sales and funneling to brokers who then re-sell at a higher price where the fees are realized yet again.

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Me neither, twig93, but I recently watched this video on Ticketmaster.

Well, they are now the “brokers” with their own resale market, and I assume they simply “sell” the tickets to their resale business.

Also, they manage the ticket-selling for nearly every arena in the country, so if an artist wants to play in an arena (or a whole tour), they have to use Ticketmaster.

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Is this really true? I don’t go to enough events to know but every time I buy tickets there seems to be lots of options.

I just Googled the local low level professional hockey team who has a game coming up. My options were Ticketmaster, Ticket-center, StubHub, Vividseats, seatgeak, the arena’s website, and the hockey teams website (which took me to Ticketmaster). Seems to be a lot of options or do these websites just buy through Ticketmaster and resell on their site?

I’m guessing that if the hockey team’s website sends you to Ticketmaster, then the hockey team (or the arena, or both) has a contract with Ticketmaster.
Some of the others you mention often work with ticket holders and help make the “scalping” process easier, for a charge.
Example: I have a ticket I no longer can use. I can go to StubHub and advertise that it’s for sale, put a price on it, and hope someone buys it.
(My bone to pick is that if I’m looking for a ticket, I want to buy it at MY price, not others’. So, I should be able to advertise that I will buy a ticket at for $X, and see which ticket holders will agree to that price. That would be a much fairer market imo.)

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I love that idea of offering the price you will pay and see who would resell at that value!

Thanks. Seems only fair.

Well, not all seats are equal. If you are willing to pay $100, then I will sell you a ticket next to Bob Uecker instead of 3rd row. And once I hit sell, we have a deal because you have already provided the funding!

So, no negotiation? Fuck that. Also, I’d wait until I had a few tickets offered at my price and buy only the optimal one, same as a seller looking for a highest bid.
I don’t see why buyers have to take whatever’s offered with no questions asked.

mmmm auction theory

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So if you offer that price, and don’t get any offers until ____ hours before the event, and then ____ hours, and then ____ hours… what will you do?