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US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

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Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#261

Post by bbarn »

jjeaff wrote: post #201
supernova87a wrote: post #181

Let's however not get too caught up in feel-goodism that somehow breaking up Ticketmaster is ridding the live entertainment industry of some external leech that everyone hated. You should realize that venues and artists are equally beneficiaries of what Ticketmaster enables. In a sense they enjoy having Ticketmaster be the hated scapegoat for high prices that they then also enjoy the benefits of. Without Ticketmaster…

the huge upcharge on tickets is usually from scalpers that are allowed to buy and resell on the platform. are artists and venues somehow in on the scalping? I have suspected as much, but I have no evidence.

A large part of this is there are several companies that are effectively the modernized scalpers using very high dollar pay-per click advertising, and incredibly complex optimization methods to charge the maximum markup they can. Most of them use each other as well, in cooperation via affiliate kickbacks more than competition.

Then, add in ticket brokers, with pre-reserved sets and blocks of tickets, feeding into that, and everyone is getting a cut. Not a small cut either. I do have evidence, as I worked for two of the companies for a while.

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#262

Post by scarface_74 »

Ruthalas wrote: post #255
bpodgursky wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean mostly people make fun of her for losing every important case she picks up.

They're a little rusty after sitting on their hands for several decades, they'll get better with practice.

[flagged]

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#263

Post by scarface_74 »

kelnos wrote: post #200
EasyMark wrote: post #51

The FTC and DoJ have been hitting it out of the park recently, unfortunately, there are a lot of judges out there that think corps should be able to do anything they want.

[flagged]

It’s not all the judges fault. The DOJ has been bringing weak cases with poor arguments.

The LiveNation/TicketMaster case should be a slam dunk. But I seriously doubt the competence of the current DOJ.

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#264

Post by wumeow »

willcipriano wrote: post #143
wumeow wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is actually supported by evidence: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167218783195

So is my theory for what its worth: https://act.represent.us/sign/problempoll-fba The US as a democracy isn't supported by evidence.

Yet the authors of that study recommend increased voter turnout.

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#265

Post by hnburnsy »

DoodahMan wrote: post #134

PLEASE make this happen Uncle Sam! i am a lover of music, my friends are lovers of music, the circles i run in on the internet are lovers of music. i cannot express in words how much Live Nation sucks. they are ruining concerts. not only do they have a strangle-hold on venues, but why the hell are they "allowed" to run some in-house scalping ops? i cannot wait for the day i see their demise. i will not pour out a bee…

> but why the hell are they "allowed" to run some in-house scalping ops?

Because the promoters, talent, and talent management are all in on it, TM just agrees to take the heat for its cut.

That is not to say that separating TM from the venues will not help concert goers, but maybe not as much as you might think.

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#266

Post by hnburnsy »

EasyMark wrote: post #51

The FTC and DoJ have been hitting it out of the park recently, unfortunately, there are a lot of judges out there that think corps should be able to do anything they want.

Yeah not allowing 2 crappy, low margin, and low combined market share grocers who have to compete with Walmart and Amazon to not merge was really knocking it out of the park. /s

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#267

Post by khazhoux »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #185
ajdude wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just not feasible for people who don't have the means to simply fly to Europe to see a band. Sometimes it's a once in a lifetime chance that your favorite band happens to be in your city

Of course it's feasible. Nobody is saying "go to Europe", they are saying to not go to concerts. To effect change, you have to make sacrifices.

Bah! Live performance is one of life's greatest joys (and has been for over 2,500 years). So we grin and bear the ticketmaster extortion.

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#268

Post by sschueller »

What punishment will the executives receive?

This will not prevent any future execs from aggressively building another such monopoly, causing years of financial and other harm.

They still walk away with their bags of cash. Their names won't even be tarnished so they can go right back to doing the same thing.

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#269

Post by peterlk »

DoodahMan wrote: post #134

PLEASE make this happen Uncle Sam! i am a lover of music, my friends are lovers of music, the circles i run in on the internet are lovers of music. i cannot express in words how much Live Nation sucks. they are ruining concerts. not only do they have a strangle-hold on venues, but why the hell are they "allowed" to run some in-house scalping ops? i cannot wait for the day i see their demise. i will not pour out a bee…

Note that this follows on the heels of the recent (near?) death of California Senate Bill 829 [0] - which is taking aim at the vertical integration of live performance by Live Nation. If you’re in CA, call your representatives!

With this in mind, to continue your rant…

The anticompetitive behavior of Live Nation is toxic to the music and performing arts industries. It’s the Walmart effect, except consumers end up paying way more because exclusivity contracts prevent competition. Artists sign exclusivity contracts with Live Nation, and onlt play Live Nation Venues. Venues purchased by live nation outbid independent venues until those venues sign exclusivity agreements with Live Nation or die, and then Live Nation pushes up the price.

[0] https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB829/id/2796147

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