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Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

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131–140 of 397 posts

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#131
post #79
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I understand correctly Ticketmaster is still the one creating this problem, they demand exclusivity in their contracts which often means the venue has no choice if they want to participate in a large enough market to continue operating. Similarly artists have trouble securing large venues if not participating in their scheme. This is the problem with most 'monopolies', they reach a certain critical mass where they…

Taylor swift is big enough that she could build a venue in each location if she wanted, so that not an issue. If Taylor and a few other large artists gave the middle finger to ticketmaster and basically created their own ticket system, i promise you that they would have enough pull to basically solve this. However, like you said, thats not in their or their labels interest.

Yeah why does Taylor Swift not simply build multi-billion dollar stadiums in the middle of hundreds of cities across the country? Is she stupid?

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#132
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if it is in her interest to not deal with Ticketmaster, her business is performing life music. She as her team aren't trying to create work for themselves to screw TM, they want to do what they do. Imagine trying to set up logistics at a venue/church which has never held a large concert before.

Have you ever been to a mega church? They basically are a large concert. Not the 80,000 people kind, but of the size that would rival a decent percentage of touring acts. Lakewood church in Houston has 45,000 attendees a week. I think the church idea is a brilliant TM workaround, until they lock that up too.

TicketMaster announces ChurchMaster in the year 2027.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#133

I'm as glad as anyone else to see an abusive company get some scrutiny, B U T . . . Everyone is complaining about Ticketmaster but they're still giving them their money, so how are they supposed to respond? They are not being financially incentivized to change their ways. This feels a lot like the video gamer who hates Video Game Company XYZ with the passion of a thousand suns, yet like clockwork buys their video gam…

totally agree. I think one other angle to potentially consider is that, like many other things in the industry, this has an outsized impact on smaller artists. singers make most of their money through touring so fans might be more inclined to wade through live nation's scheming in order to support artists with a smaller base.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#134

My horror story of Ticketmaster; I recently bought standing-room-only tickets on short notice ( I reached out to support for assistance, and after several days of wasted time and run-around, they finally sent my issue to their engineering team saying they'd get back to me in 5 business days. Keep in mind I said I bought these tickets a week before the event, and they'd already wasted a few days giving me the run-arou…

> I attempted to charge back the purchase since they did not provide what I paid for (tickets I could sell), and they fought me and won somehow. This has happened to me twice now (though not with TicketMaster) and I was 100% in the right, and I lost. When I mentioned it on HN I was met with a lot of doubters. I think something has really changed regarding chargebacks.

which bank if you feel free comfortable sharing?

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#135

I'm as glad as anyone else to see an abusive company get some scrutiny, B U T . . . Everyone is complaining about Ticketmaster but they're still giving them their money, so how are they supposed to respond? They are not being financially incentivized to change their ways. This feels a lot like the video gamer who hates Video Game Company XYZ with the passion of a thousand suns, yet like clockwork buys their video gam…

[flagged]

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#136

The only relevant monopoly for a Taylor Swift concert is Taylor Swift. Fans would use any platform to buy to tickets for any venue in any city.

Except there are only 3 venues in the metro area that can accommodate such a concert and all of them have exclusive contracts with Live Nation. So what are Taylor Swift and her fans supposed to do?

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#137
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taylor swift is big enough that she could build a venue in each location if she wanted, so that not an issue. If Taylor and a few other large artists gave the middle finger to ticketmaster and basically created their own ticket system, i promise you that they would have enough pull to basically solve this. However, like you said, thats not in their or their labels interest.

stadiums are multibillion dollar affairs that take years and lots of public financing. SoFi stadium was $5.5B. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_stadium...

SoFi was entirely privately funded, as far as I know. Public funding for private stadiums is less popular than it used to be

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#138
post #64
post #15

One important thing to know is that the venues/artists often get a kickback of part of the Ticketmaster fees. In other words, the artists, venues, producers, and Ticketmaster are in cahoots to fleece fans for as much money as possible, and Ticketmaster is willing to play the 'bad guy' and take the blame for high prices, and they get to keep a bigger slice of the overall pie than they would in a highly competitive mar…

If I understand correctly Ticketmaster is still the one creating this problem, they demand exclusivity in their contracts which often means the venue has no choice if they want to participate in a large enough market to continue operating. Similarly artists have trouble securing large venues if not participating in their scheme. This is the problem with most 'monopolies', they reach a certain critical mass where they…

> artists have trouble securing large venues

Then perform smaller venues and ration tickets to your most-devoted fans. Unfortunately, if you do that, it's tough to become a billionaire. (Analogy: wineries. On the 4 x 4 of size and price point, you have wines positioned in each quadrant.)

TicketMaster is, or more accurately its exclusivity requirements are, the root of the problem. But everyone around them--from the municipalities that publicly finance and permit exclusivity deals by these stadiums to the artists who perform at them--are profiting from and complicit in the market failure. (Ethically, not legally.)

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#139
Throw away account or i'll probably get sued. I have worked for both Ticketmaster and Viagogo (on the record, fuck Eric Baker!). I lasted 2 days at Ticketmaster and a whole morning at Viagogo and decided I'd be better off being unemployed. Both companies in the early days were out there to scam people and make as much money as possible by strategically ignoring claims and driving costs down. One is less visibly scammy than the other now and that's the one you're all complaining about. They know what they will get away with.

The whole ticketing space is run by narcissistic assholes who should be in jail.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#140

My horror story of Ticketmaster; I recently bought standing-room-only tickets on short notice ( I reached out to support for assistance, and after several days of wasted time and run-around, they finally sent my issue to their engineering team saying they'd get back to me in 5 business days. Keep in mind I said I bought these tickets a week before the event, and they'd already wasted a few days giving me the run-arou…

> I attempted to charge back the purchase since they did not provide what I paid for (tickets I could sell), and they fought me and won somehow. This has happened to me twice now (though not with TicketMaster) and I was 100% in the right, and I lost. When I mentioned it on HN I was met with a lot of doubters. I think something has really changed regarding chargebacks.

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