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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?

#101

Post by jimbob45 »

anon277748931 wrote: post #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.

That was a good watch. From your comment, it seemed like this was a low-medium level issue with low-medium venues doing exclusive deals with LN/TM but Madison Square Garden is arguably the most prestigious venue in the world.

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

#103

Post by protocolture »

The market wont change until someone discovers a method to sell better than ticketmaster.

Yes ticketmaster sucks, but when competition pops up, it isnt like an order of magnitude better than ticketmaster.

Its like Cabcharge. The first real thing that ever challenged it was uber.

I change here needs to be similar. Maybe a presale marketplace to attract events? Tours could change to follow the money to an extent? Then the money is there on the table and the venue can make the decision whether to change its Ticketmaster only policy or not.

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

#104

Post by rincebrain »

protocolture wrote: post #103

The market wont change until someone discovers a method to sell better than ticketmaster. Yes ticketmaster sucks, but when competition pops up, it isnt like an order of magnitude better than ticketmaster. Its like Cabcharge. The first real thing that ever challenged it was uber. I change here needs to be similar. Maybe a presale marketplace to attract events? Tours could change to follow the money to an extent? Then…

I think the problem isn't that competition needs to be an order of magnitude better, it's that if places have exclusivity agreements, it doesn't matter how much better you are.

The comment in [1] also outlines a bunch of reasons it's extremely difficult to break into.

[1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48452308

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

#107

Post by stephenhuey »

manwe150 wrote: post #94
stephenhuey wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

You know what? Might have been Freakonomics:

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-the-live-event-ticke...

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

#108

Post by HaloZero »

madduci wrote: post #105

It is the same question of: "why hasn't there been a real competitor to Facebook Events and why many people post events information only there?"

I’m not that old but Partiful and other sites have completely consumed Facebook events for me for personal stuff

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

#109

Post by peteforde »

Many of the other commenters have explained how the ownership structure of Ticketmaster gives them near monopoly control because they also own the radio stations and the venues and the promoters. (I'm using "they" and "own" very liberally in this paragraph.)

The simple fact that there's an ownership link between Ticketmaster and the scalper I mean totally legit resale sites is so wildly corrupt that, well, it's textbook stuff.

What I haven't really seen discussed in the comments is that the role and objective of Ticketmaster is poorly understood. They seem like the people who sell tickets, but in reality they are "blast shield for consumer rage" as a service. Their role is to industrialize the conversion of anger into waste heat while leaving the musicians looking like neutral parties.

They also do a lot of catch-and-kill; once competitors get too big, they use bully tactics to starve them until they can acquire them cheaply.

There's an app called DICE. I like it a lot. I'm rooting for them.

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

#110

Post by llsf »

ryukoposting wrote: post #62

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…

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 who are basically competing to see that show ?

Scalpers are optimizing the market.

Maybe the solution to mitigate scalpers would be for ticket holders to only be able to resell their tickets through the same platform. Then the artist could decide if the fans can resell to the platform at face value, or for a profit. Then the artist could decide if the ticket can be sold by the platform with a markup or not.

Basically given the power and control to the artist.

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