[NA] TicketMaster business model

Airlines are the same way
I just went through the tediously exercise of booking two family trips on two different discount airlines
You see the stupid low teaser price
then it makes it seem that if you want to add some special thing (picking your seats so that your little daughters aren't sitting next to some unknown creep or adding luggage, etc.) then the ONLY option is to pick some up priced package deal.
and it's not till you go down rabbit holes that you determine that you can start with the lower price and add al a cart only the upgrades you want....
but then you have to chase through selecting everything just to see if ultimately one way is better than the other....
then you go through the tedious process of entering it all x5 family members and book (complete with the site kicking out a time or two so I had to re-enter much info.)
only to realize after it's all bought and paid for....that it's too late to back up and try some other angle that you previously hadn't considered..... ugh.
 
MadseasoN said:
I haven't had access to their site in over a month. They blocked my IP Address claiming that I'm a Bot. I don't have a static IP Address and they don't seem to understand why this matters. So they lost a customer.
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Sadly I don't think they are very concerned about losing customers. Seems like most tickets to shows are sold out the second they become available i.e. you have to buy from scalpers to whom they sell in bulk. Doh!:mad:
 
MadseasoN said:
I haven't had access to their site in over a month. They blocked my IP Address claiming that I'm a Bot. I don't have a static IP Address and they don't seem to understand why this matters. So they lost a customer.
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Unfortunately, as it seems with almost all companies any more… they couldn’t care less.
 
SoonerAviator said:
That the artist is charging $80 (or some amount less than that depending on venue markup) and that TicketMaster is getting a $30 cut for doing nothing more than serving as an electronic exchange medium.
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That’s not how the money gets split up in reality. Fees are shared among TM, venues and promoters. They all double dip on these fees b/c they collect the fees again when that same ticket is re-sold again on their site by scalpers/resellers. The whole system is f’ed. As much as I like live music, it just isn’t remotely worth it anymore.
 
mr_happyland said:
That’s not how the money gets split up in reality. Fees are shared among TM, venues and promoters. They all double dip on these fees b/c they collect the fees again when that same ticket is re-sold again on their site by scalpers/resellers. The whole system is f’ed. As much as I like live music, it just isn’t remotely worth it anymore.
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Right, I didn't mean to imply that TicketMaster was the only beneficiary in my example, just that the cut that they all take is pretty exorbitant on top of a ticket cost, especially when it is often a % of ticket value rather than a flat fee per ticket. Buying a pair of upper level $75 tickets with 30% fees on top of it starts looking better versus lower level $125 tickets with that same 30% tacked on. Springing for the better seats gets tougher to justify.
 
Early life for ceo checks out.
 
Simple solution. Declare them a monopoly, fix the ticket prices at $50/seat, payable to the performers with a 10% service charge going to the house. Limit ticket sales to 4 per adult with an ID check from purchase. Let the venue make money on concessions. If they don't like the deal, they can gift the property, if they own it, to the state to lease to another vendor. Yep, that's not a great system, but a public sector monopoly is better than a private sector monopoly, in my view.
 
Albany Tom said:
Simple solution. Declare them a monopoly, fix the ticket prices at $50/seat, payable to the performers with a 10% service charge going to the house. Limit ticket sales to 4 per adult with an ID check from purchase. Let the venue make money on concessions. If they don't like the deal, they can gift the property, if they own it, to the state to lease to another vendor. Yep, that's not a great system, but a public sector monopoly is better than a private sector monopoly, in my view.
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Or . . . the government could step in and declare that TM is a monopoly and enact ways to break it up so that smaller players are able to compete in a free market. I don't want any part of a government monopoly for entertainment lol. If TMs stranglehold on the industry were removed so that a lot of competition could occur, the prices would come down naturally.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Or . . . the government could step in and declare that TM is a monopoly and enact ways to break it up so that smaller players are able to compete in a free market. I don't want any part of a government monopoly for entertainment lol. If TMs stranglehold on the industry were removed so that a lot of competition could occur, the prices would come down naturally.
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Yep, that would be better if possible.

The other part of this is that the last concert I went to was a small bar somewhere in Boston, where my brother knew the sound guy and although it was busy, there were only about 50-100 people there. During intermission, we had drinks with the band, and it turns out the bass player used to work in Albany. Music was great, food was good, I didn't have to walk 30 minutes to get to my car or go through a metal detector to get in, and the whole thing was less than $80 for two of us. Small clubs are awesome.
 
Albany Tom said:
Yep, that would be better if possible.

The other part of this is that the last concert I went to was a small bar somewhere in Boston, where my brother knew the sound guy and although it was busy, there were only about 50-100 people there. During intermission, we had drinks with the band, and it turns out the bass player used to work in Albany. Music was great, food was good, I didn't have to walk 30 minutes to get to my car or go through a metal detector to get in, and the whole thing was less than $80 for two of us. Small clubs are awesome.
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Absolutely the local smaller venues are better all around. Generally a more intimate show with pared down theatrics. Even if it's all floor seating it's worth it. Some bands are "stadium" bands, but most of the stuff I want to go see in person is better in a dance hall/large bar environment.
 
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