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Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

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Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

#91
post #2

Rant: Trying to buy tickets for the Knicks game at MSG. Is it really impossible to have a ticketing platform that prevents scalpers from marking up prices to an insane amount? $10000+ for a ticket that originally costs around 2k should be illegal. Most of these tickets will go unsold I'm sure.

If there is demand for tickets at $10,000, then people will find a way to sell them for $10,000. Any regulation that would somehow prevent that would only make it even more impossible to buy ticktets due to shortages.

Games and concerts are luxury goods. If you can't afford to go, don't go.

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

#92
I don’t get why Spotify didn’t inject themselves into the ticket buying pipeline. They recently announced something but it’s kind of strange.

I often find I learn about a festival or concert too late to buy tickets or they are prohibitively expensive. Spotify knows who I listen too and where I live, I don’t get why it can’t remind my to buy tickets X months before the event. I can even manually see an artists concert schedule.

It then be trivial to monetize this. If 50% of people buying tickets on Ticketmaster, actually are going through Spotify first, that gives Spotify a lot of power in an otherwise asymmetrical position.

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

#93
I think a few providers, particularly with high fixed assets like venues, will always dominate in pricing power over many buyers (same for oil companies). The difference between oil and events is that they're elective (not a real need) and almost never substitutes (you don't go to one performer instead of another due to price). So providers really have the incentive to avoid competition (just as movies used to avoid coming out the same weekend). Altogether this drives towards provider coordination if not consolidation.

As others have pointed out, high prices and additional fees are just extracting higher prices, which is good for the providers financially.

The more interesting question is: since ticketmaster has a monopoly, why have price tickets at all?

The most efficient way to maximize price is the auction (assuming you can eliminate re-selling), particularly the dutch auction which reduces signaling.

With auctions, the performer takes no reputational hit for the outrageous price. Losing fans would have to blame the winning fans.

Also, you get a lot more information about the market, and could see softening demand or specific preferences (to, e.g., increase or decrease the luxury boxes).

That also tracks the winners/loser zeitgeist in the US, where people want to signal that they're in the 1%/10%.

My few concerts were real milestones in my life, but they were always the first shows of a great performer, relatively intimate and cheap (and always pure luck). I wish others could have that experience instead of the overpackaged hyper-produced events of today (required to support the high venue investments).

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

#94

From the point of view of the promoters, concerts are a two-sided marketplace. Two-sided marketplaces are notoriously difficult for small players to compete in. You need to attract good acts so people will buy tickets, but to attract the top acts you need to show that you can sell lots of tickets. Ticketmaster avoided the two-sided market problem until they reached scale. They were just a website where you buy ticket…

Just tried searching for a long-form article I read in recent years. Wish I could find it, but obviously the facts are not a secret. It explained in depth all the problems with the monopoly, but it also pointed out something very surprising to me. A few artists have spoken out angrily on behalf of their fans. However, the fact is, the artists in general do financially benefit from Ticketmaster's way of doing things.…

Was it possibly actually a podcast? https://www.npr.org/2025/10/23/nx-s1-5582775/are-concert-tic...

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

#95
Ticketmaster's clients are the venues and/or promotors (or both), not the ticket buyer (i.e. you). The undesirable convenience fees and other fees collected go to the venue & promotor, not to Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster's actual service fees are just a few percent -- not the 20-30% you see when you check out. They are effectively a punching bag to allow the venues , promotors & artists to collect excessive fees while retaining goodwill with the fans.

The more you hate Ticketmaster, the better they are doing their job, really (assuming reliable service is being provided, which they do well).

Moreover, pricing , tiering, selling, lobbying , on-sales, marketing, customer support, check in / validation (often without stable internet) are really hard problems.

The lesson here : the consumer experience of a business is usually just the tip of the iceberg, and extremely biased , often missing the crux of the business.

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

#96
What exactly is the problem with Ticketmaster? Scott Wiener's California junk fees law blocked them from late-revealing charges so what you see is pretty much what you get. They have a pretty good system for transferring tickets or relisting ones for sale that you already have. They've got a janky login system but I'm sure it's because they're being anti-fraud or whatever. Overall, I don't have much of a problem with Ticketmaster.

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

#97
Hi, I used to work at a startup in Toronto that did compete against ticketmaster called Uniiverse. In the end they go bought out by ticketmaster. I don't know the details because I left way before then but this is one example of a company trying.

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

#98

From the point of view of the promoters, concerts are a two-sided marketplace. Two-sided marketplaces are notoriously difficult for small players to compete in. You need to attract good acts so people will buy tickets, but to attract the top acts you need to show that you can sell lots of tickets. Ticketmaster avoided the two-sided market problem until they reached scale. They were just a website where you buy ticket…

[flagged]

Your AI-detector needs a calibrate, I think. What made you think it was llm-written?

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

#99
Here's a fascinating clip that's stuck with me of Louis CK talking about trying to circumvent ticketmaster: https://youtu.be/UtoyMpR-mWY?si=LHfmofSERrQZLEj9&t=3015

Specifically the part where he'd play at a non LiveNation/Ticketmaster venue, and right after, TM would find out and would make a deal with the venue to be their exclusive promoter. Insanity.

Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

#100
post #93

I think a few providers, particularly with high fixed assets like venues, will always dominate in pricing power over many buyers (same for oil companies). The difference between oil and events is that they're elective (not a real need) and almost never substitutes (you don't go to one performer instead of another due to price). So providers really have the incentive to avoid competition (just as movies used to avoid…

People would revolt if there were auctions, because it would make it impossible for many people to attend live events. Right now there is the hope that you can, even if that’s most not true.

For example, I did the Amex presale for US Open tickets. There were 22k people in front of me for regular day passes during the earliest rounds. So we end up with an auction-ish situation anyway, via the resale market, but can blame scalpers.

The thin illusion keeps it palatable enough, if only barely. Ticketmaster is wants to extract the most profit. Being hated is fine. Being regulated because you’re _too_ hated is not.

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