This is a really good question. If possible, I use other providers because Ticketmaster is a disaster. Since I'm not in one of the "big" countries, registration was already a nightmare. For me personally, their technological solution is a disaster. I've already wondered if this is done on purpose.
Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
181–190 of 250 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#182Ticketmaster obviously sucks, and their monopolistic business practices deserve a close look by regulators. But the core of it is that an unregulated ticket market actually supports these prices. Fans keep showing that they're willing to dig deep and outbid each other to attend these events in person. Ticketmaster realizes this, and have set up a business model that extracts accordingly. I think this is where us Amer…
Looking at the world cup ticket prices gives me a mini heart attack. I don't know who is responsible for such high prices (maybe a combination of FIFA and Ticketmaster?), but goddamn these prices are insane. It is going to price out most people. Either that, or people are going to get into debt, just to see a couple of matches to see their favorite teams play.
There's a simple answer actually, FIFA decided to cash out and their objective is now to get the maximum amount of money out of attendees, even becoming their own scalper.
This video is a good overview: https://youtu.be/ocxngraLbV0?si=XzeJf3Chfsbr_BeD
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#183I always wonder why ticketmaster/live nation isn't making more money? Given they are a monopoly, I'd expect them to be making a ton of profit. But it doesn't really seem to look that way: https://www.google.com/finance/quote/LYV:NYSE
“They” (shareholders, etc.) also own the venues and promoters, so much of the pass-through revenue is captured by the same interests that own TM.
You mean the company that happens to own the venues and promoters also happens to own the ticket platform that they prefer to use.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#184I always wonder why ticketmaster/live nation isn't making more money? Given they are a monopoly, I'd expect them to be making a ton of profit. But it doesn't really seem to look that way: https://www.google.com/finance/quote/LYV:NYSE
Ticketmaster's job is to take the heat for ticketing (high prices, BS fees, sketchy reselling, etc), but funnel enough money back to the producing parties (artist/event, venue, promoter) that nobody is going to go through the effort to try to compete. Better to set their margins at 2-3% and keep a monopoly than be forced down in a competitive marketplace.
Considering so many people here don't care about the corporate structure of Live Nation and instead blame Ticketmaster, it seems like they are doing a good job.
After all, the idea of competing with Ticketmaster is silly, since the problem isn't originating in Ticketmaster at all, that's where the problem is most visible.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can't find any evidence of this urination incident, got a link?
I think the word 'literally' has gone the way of the emdash
The em-dash has a fairly specific use. It's just that some people have decided that it indicates AI and can't resist trumpeting that supposed insight at every opportunity.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can't find any evidence of this urination incident, got a link?
I think the word 'literally' has gone the way of the emdash
Well, they have some horror stories about them, so it's plausible, I just didn't find any evidence they specifically urinated on the audience.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#187Japan has multiple ticket vendors (Lawson is dominant but not close to TM), dozens of venues of all sizes, concert tours lasting years (I have tickets for a show in November 2027), ID checks, ticket lotteries, presales for fan clubs, anti-scalping laws, you name it, but the prices can still be astronomical for local price levels. I think the problem is that there isn't five clones of every popular act.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
First come first serve, and multiple show dates if you're optimizing for sales. There are lots of platforms for ticket sales and venue management. That's how they run high school and college events, local theaters, etc. Ticketmaster is doing something completely different.
Guess who wins that, bots. Now you need a whole new system to verify the identity of the buyer (which HN would prob love). Also is First Come First Serve really fair? Some people have more time at hand to keep refreshing the page until the tickets are available.
Supply md5 hash of first name + last name + seed when buying, computed manually by yourself.
Upon arrival at the venue you show photo id and a sheet of DIN A4 paper containing the hash and seed, and the Ticket Man will verify.
Side joke: One of the German ticket sites, maybe eventim, stated on the PDF that it must be printed on DIN A4 paper.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Presumably the don't want only old rich people and empty seats. Otherwise you could self-scalp all the tickets at the highest price possible, maximisung revenue for a single gig but making it so unfun/bad press that you come off worse.
I think a majority of old rich people is pretty much unavoidable at a return tour.
Why does Hacker News hate us old people so much? Of course, I usually only see old acts (the B52s / Devo show was great!) and most of the audiences for those are 60+ years old, like me. Next week, I'm seeing Steve Forbert!
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agree... and not defending Ticketmaster, but regarding scalpers in general, I am not sure why one would blame only the ticketing system. If the artists are willing to say sell tickets for $50.00 and the demand is such that some resell to $400.00 the same seat. Is it the fault of the ticketing system ? Who is the victim ? - The artist who could have make more money (but then they could have price it better) - The fans…
> Scalpers are optimizing the market. This is sort of applying the same logic that justifies high frequency trading except in this particular case, the market overlaps with the arts. Society at large values "fairness" in a hard to define but culturally important way and "let the free market determine the price" for access runs counter to that I think in many peoples minds. I think it's generally very easy to come up…
Not to mention the market is tiny, a few thousand seats at most.