Didn’t Pearl Jam boycott Ticketmaster back in 1994 for similar things?
About fucking time.
A market so free the DOJ had to step in
Good. The market shouldn’t be free.
Yes. Everything should be monopolised and more expensive as a result.
Jesse what the fuck are you talking about?
I think he rather means the market should be regulated.
If it was free, they wouldn’t be able to charge the ridiculous prices they do.
I’m totally fine with this. My only question is why taylor swift is the pic they chose for this?
Live Nation drew antitrust scrutiny when it merged with Ticketmaster in 2010. But those concerns boiled over in November 2022 when a Ticketmaster crash blocked thousands of Taylor Swift fans from purchasing tickets for the Eras Tour due to “unprecedented demand.” The DOJ opened an investigation into Live Nation shortly after, The New York Times reported.
Maybe it’s a factor of watching the bands you like become more popular, but 15 years ago I remember being able to get concert tickets for $10-50 bucks a pop after all the fees. $50 was ultra rare and you’d probably be seeing multiple bands in that scenario. Now, I can’t find tickets that don’t end up costing a minimum of $150 for nosebleed seats.
One of those monopolies ive never understood, why do no artists use any other ticket service?
Because Livenation/Ticketmaster have a hand in almost every step between the artist and their fans.
They either have exclusive deals already in place, or they even outright own parts of it.
The artist’s manager has contracts with them, they have contracts for concert promotion, and overall the vast majority of venues have exclusive ticketing contracts to only use Ticketmaster.
There are very few large venues that will even give artists the option of using a different ticketing service.
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the vast majority of venues have exclusive ticketing contracts to only use Ticketmaster.
It doesn’t even end there. Live Nation has been buying up major venues all over the country.
Because they like their kneecaps too much. The DOJ hasn’t exactly been on top of this. The power live nation has accrued makes cable and telecom companies look like total sissies. This is casino bosses in early Vegas level shit they are pulling on a huge scale.
What other service?
I may be misunderstanding how it all works, but the venues choose the ticket service, not the artists.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Department of Justice is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
The lawsuit could reportedly come as early as next month and will target the company’s alleged monopoly in the live ticketing industry.
Live Nation drew antitrust scrutiny when it merged with Ticketmaster in 2010.
But those concerns boiled over in November 2022 when a Ticketmaster crash blocked thousands of Taylor Swift fans from purchasing tickets for the Eras Tour due to “unprecedented demand.” The DOJ opened an investigation into Live Nation shortly after, The New York Times reported.
Lawmakers also levied heavy criticism against the ticketing company, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) calling Live Nation’s business practices the “definition of monopoly.” Although President Joe Biden announced last year that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have promised to get rid of hidden ticketing fees at checkout, Senator Klobuchar argued that the companies still aren’t doing enough.
In 2019, the Justice Department blocked Live Nation from coercing venues into using Ticketmaster and also extended its 2010 consent decree to ensure the companies comply.
The original article contains 251 words, the summary contains 186 words. Saved 26%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Bout time. Ticket master has been ruining venues and driving up ticket prices for years: https://www.cbs58.com/news/ticketmaster-accused-of-running-underground-ticket-scalping-project-to-drive-up-prices
Venues have always sucked. Ticketmaster/LiveNation are trash corporations, but music venues have always been about doing things as cheaply as possible and providing the barest of minimal services.
While I do hate Ticketmaster with a passion, I have to admit that about 6 years ago I went to local venue that had been gobbled up by LiveNation and I was amazed at the transformations they had performed. Bathrooms had actual attendants, people whose job it was to keep the line moving. They would watch stalls and urinals and then tell the next person in line when one was free. Pavilion seating had wait service, so you didn’t actually have to get out of your seat to get an overpriced beer or food. The place was clean, fresh paint was on everything. I was at a concert at this venue last year and it still looked nice and these services hadn’t gone away.
I’m not saying that LiveNation should have the monopoly it has on live shows, but there has to be some kind of middle ground between keeping it fair, but also incentivizing venue owners to keep things looking nice and providing useful services.
Yeah, is called breaking up the company. Live nation can still do all this stuff if it breaks apart from its parent company. And it would encourage healthy competition and fairer prices.
Think you mean Ticketmaster. Live nation is the parent company
While I do hate Ticketmaster with a passion, I have to admit that about 6 years ago I went to local venue that had been gobbled up by LiveNation and I was amazed at the transformations they had performed. Bathrooms had actual attendants, people whose job it was to keep the line moving. They would watch stalls and urinals and then tell the next person in line when one was free. Pavilion seating had wait service, so you didn’t actually have to get out of your seat to get an overpriced beer or food. The place was clean, fresh paint was on everything. I was at a concert at this venue last year and it still looked nice and these services hadn’t gone away.
Yeah, that’s how it works. The monopoly strangle the dependent company to force them to sell to you. “Vertical integration” they call it. Perhaps if the original owners had a reasonable cut of the money before , they could’ve provided better amenities.
Hey look it’s Taylor Swift! For . . . some reason.
The article implies a very public failure of Ticketmaster making tickets to her tour available is what sparked the investigation.
Okay, so why not the head of Ticketmaster? Or the DoJ person? Swift is not involved in the case at any level, so.
Why a picture of her and not the people actually involved? You know why. Or you should know why.
Because it was her tour that sparked it and she’s more famous than the head of ticketmaster and the DOJ person put together. People making news like clicks. Why are you being weird about the fact that news companies like it when people consume their content so they can make more on advertising?
Pretty lady bad?
It’s because you like her….
Wait, you like her, right?
Well sure but. Why not Metallica or Neil Young or Pearl Jam or Mr. Burns, or anyone else who actually took actions against Ticketmaster? Is it because they’re all gross old, and occasionally fictional men? It is.
You nailed it whether you meant to it not, it’s because none of those artists are relevant anymore. I say that as a fan.
Even when they were at the height of their fame, they had a significantly smaller fan base than Swift does now and a fraction of the influence
Ticketmaster came under increased scrutiny in this regard when scalpers crashed the site buying all the tickets to her Eras Tour.
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Taylor_Swift-Ticketmaster_controversy
Great! I can’t wait for my $2 off my next $150 “Cheap Seat” ticket while Live Nation “Accepts no Responsibly or Blame” and gets to stay in one piece.
I’ve received several hundred dollars via Sony and Google class actions. I see no reason why this one will be any different.
This isn’t a class action suit. This is anti-trust suit. Very different beasts
Look I criticize the Biden admin a lot but this is something they’ve actually been pretty good on. I’d like to see more/ harder monopoly busting, but in its context its a big start.
I read that they get artists to sign contracts which prohibit them from playing at venues that don’t have a contact w live Nation. So they use that as leverage to get venues to sign contracts else all of those artists will not play their venue
I recently had to hold my nose to see a band I’ve been following for a very long time.
The venue utterly sucked, treated like cattle, tighter security than getting on a plane flight. Pathetic.
Ticketmaster/livenation can go die in a fire.
