How about banning Ticketmaster for the good.
Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
151–160 of 250 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#152A question only tangentially related to the original post, but I always wonder about it when I read such discussions.
To all the people, who complain about "price gouging" or "scalpers" and "lack of regulations": if there are no fair market price, how exactly are you planning to judge who is "worthy" of getting a ticket and who isn't.
Let's say, you somehow forced them to sell tickets at low prices and somehow magically got rid of all the resellers. Now you have a 1000 people venue and 10_000 people willing to buy a ticket for the stated price. What do you do? How do you decide who are the lucky ones?
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#153A question only tangentially related to the original post, but I always wonder about it when I read such discussions. To all the people, who complain about "price gouging" or "scalpers" and "lack of regulations": if there are no fair market price, how exactly are you planning to judge who is "worthy" of getting a ticket and who isn't. Let's say, you somehow forced them to sell tickets at low prices and somehow magica…
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.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#154Ticketmaster 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.
It is FIFA, no question there. And they don't care about pricing out most of people out of world cup at all. Just about only thing that organization cares about are money right now. Simultaneously, it is an organization that turned corruption and kowtowing to corrupt regimes into a genuine proud art form.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#155The older I get, the less interested I am in seeing big bands. I'm lucky to live in an area with a great local music scene, plenty of independent venues. I can't think of a single band I'd pay these extortionate prices for, I'd much rather support a local band and local venue.
Are you suggesting that others should share your musical taste in order to punish Ticketmaster?
I'm saying I don't need to give sleazy American companies money in order to enjoy great music, and that I put money back into my local economy when I go out for a gig.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#156I think centralization (e.g. one player having almost all of the primary supply in the marketplace) is a big issue. The issue of venues/arenas etc. as mentioned, is another. I think an underrated issue most don't bring up here is that the demand is extremely concentrated too.
Most people want to see a tiny number of musicians/entertainers/shows (i.e. there's only one Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Kevin Hart), and there are extremely few venues that can accommodate those huge shows. That supply is further constrained by the artist's time and need for physical presence, meaning it's impossible to expand supply.
This makes it extremely hard to break into the market because you need to get one of extremely few, extremely demanding customers on board.
The dynamic almost approaches that of defense contractors, where your only potential customers are a few governments in the world.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#157Ticketmaster's parent company, Live Nation, owns and operates numerous venues worldwide. This includes controlling booking for many major concert locations, which contributes to its dominant position.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#158Earlier 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…
The cure did this, we got tickets a few days before the shore, bought from reseller directly through ticket master but they could only be relisted at face value, got 8th for $75 I think, it was a great show
Here in Norway they passed a law which states you can only resell tickets at face value. I'm sure there are some scalpers still but I can't recall reading about it in the news the way I did before the law.
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
What incentive would Oasis have to help bring down the prices for their own shows anyway?
I remember Oasis. They're the ones who literally pissed on the audience here back in the 90s. The idea that they care if their fans live or die really comes down to whether they could get sponsors on board or not.
Can't find any evidence of this urination incident, got a link?
Re: Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?
#160Hi, 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.
were they trying to compete, or just hoping to get acquired lol
Doesn't matter too much. We should all just start up one of these and all get acquired, then Ticketmaster has given us all a lot of money for no benefit to them. If enough of us do it they can't afford to keep acquiring us, and there will be real competition.