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Ticketmaster is a horrible company

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Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#241

Post by Bartweiss »

jarjoura wrote: post #184
Bartweiss wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually is a bit strong, yeah. Here's their ownership map: http://www.livenationentertainment.com/map/venues They do have far more exclusive-license venues than that, though.

That map is only their large stadium sized venues. http://www.houseofblues.com is one of the biggest conglomerates for small size venues, also owned by Live Nation.

Oh thanks, didn't realize that. I saw that their filing cited only their 40 "arenas", but I somehow thought the map was everything.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#242

Post by mi100hael »

pimlottc wrote: post #222
mi100hael wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually they have an exclusive contract for online sales. You can still go line up outside your local arena and buy tickets from the box office just like your parents used to do.

Provided you have the luxury of being able to take the extra time and effort to do so. And by the time you do so (unless you lined up early), you will probably end up with worse tickets than you could have gotten online.

Isn't that still how it worked before TicketMaster existed, though?

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#243

Post by ThaJay »

zdean wrote: post #87
jandrese wrote: post #13

That insurance scam is only reason #8382 not to use Ticketmaster. Of course there is one reason to use Ticketmaster: you often don't get a choice anymore. The Venue box office is a joke, and Ticketmaster has an exclusive agreement for the rest so it's either them or pay even more to a scalper. This is why I go to barely any shows anymore. The ones I do go to are at the one local venue that doesn't use Ticketmaster (W…

"It is a testament to our weak antitrust laws that Ticketmaster has been able to gouge the public for decades with no repercussions whatsoever." Genuinely interested to know what is keeping a nimble new startup from stepping in and blowing this up.

"Genuinely interested to know what is keeping a nimble new startup from stepping in and blowing this up."

I work at a nimble startup so I can tell you exactly why we haven't been able to secure a lot of Ticketmaster's clients.

They are part of a very large umbrella corporation that also owns booking agencies for popular international artists. So when a venue decides to ditch Ticketmaster, they will be instantly unable to book any big names that are almost guaranteed to get sold out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Nation_(events_promoter)

This is one of the most important reasons most of our clients are independent event organizers that will never book mega stars.

Nimble new startups will have to take the market from the bottom up.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#244

Post by FireBeyond »

ascagnel_ wrote: post #240
FireBeyond wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, just like the tales from the NBA Playoffs, etc. Got 200K Twitter followers? Ticket sites will "reach out to the team" to get you seats when they mess up. No? Well, you'll get a "so sad, too bad, credit toward future purchases from us". Also happened (one of the most egregious) - someone bought tickets to the Lakers in what would become, months later, Kobe's last home game. -MONTHS- after the purchase (and when…

> Also happened (one of the most egregious) - someone bought tickets to the Lakers in what would become, months later, Kobe's last home game. -MONTHS- after the purchase (and when ticket prices were now sky high for that game), buyer got an email saying "Sorry, the original seller told us he sold you those tickets by mistake. Here's a refund." That was resold tickets via StubHub, not Ticketmaster. https://news.ycombi…

True, I knew it was a different site, though I was a little vague - "other sites".

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#245

Post by Bahamut »

dublinben wrote: post #203
Bahamut wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because people should spend potentially thousands of dollars just to avoid seeing one artist at a venue using Ticketmaster - this is ludicrous. There were a couple of times I had no choice this year but to go through Ticketmaster because they were the only times when the day & location aligned. I had little choice when booking an Iron Maiden ticket, or a ticket to two Dream Theater shows. I generally avoid Ticketmast…

Ticketmaster is immune to a ticket purchase boycott because of people like you who will go to great lengths to justify why they have no choice but to continue purchasing their tickets.

So the alternative is to spend $1000+ just to avoid Ticketmaster? Yeah, you go do that - you're not going convince many people that this is rational, or going to happen. Most people don't even have that luxury.

Basic economics isn't on your side here, putting the blame on others for the situation that is almost wholly Ticketmaster's fault is laughable and disgusting.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#246

Post by jandrese »

zdean wrote: post #87
jandrese wrote: post #13

That insurance scam is only reason #8382 not to use Ticketmaster. Of course there is one reason to use Ticketmaster: you often don't get a choice anymore. The Venue box office is a joke, and Ticketmaster has an exclusive agreement for the rest so it's either them or pay even more to a scalper. This is why I go to barely any shows anymore. The ones I do go to are at the one local venue that doesn't use Ticketmaster (W…

"It is a testament to our weak antitrust laws that Ticketmaster has been able to gouge the public for decades with no repercussions whatsoever." Genuinely interested to know what is keeping a nimble new startup from stepping in and blowing this up.

There are large barriers to entry in the form of existing interlocked exclusivity agreements. At this point is would be nearly impossible for a competitor to get traction in the large event market.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#247

Post by ryandrake »

pimlottc wrote: post #221
vonklaus wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Patronizing a company diametrically opposed to one's interests is terrible. Disproportionately, music lovers seem to be the first to deride TM but defend why they won't use anything else.

What choice do they have? Music is not fungible. You can't substitute Kanye West for Michael Bublé, or Miley Cyrus for Bruce Springsteen.For most shows, there is only one online option. An increasing number of venues don't even sell advance tickets in person any more, and when it is an option, it has additional costs in time and effort, as well as risk of missing out completely.

The choice is to not participate. Boycotts are not supposed to be easy. This discussion reminds me of the "It's impossible to not use Facebook" arguments.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#248

Post by jfnixon »

ryandrake wrote: post #247
pimlottc wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What choice do they have? Music is not fungible. You can't substitute Kanye West for Michael Bublé, or Miley Cyrus for Bruce Springsteen.For most shows, there is only one online option. An increasing number of venues don't even sell advance tickets in person any more, and when it is an option, it has additional costs in time and effort, as well as risk of missing out completely.

The choice is to not participate. Boycotts are not supposed to be easy. This discussion reminds me of the "It's impossible to not use Facebook" arguments.

Buy the music, not the live performance. A live performance is usually suboptimal because the audience is noisy, the venue's acoustics aren't wonderful, the performers have done the same sets for the last three weeks, and you have to make a significant effort dealing with transportation and the like.

Just buy the music. Cut ticketmaster out, cut live nation's venues out, and listen to a great performance with good acoustics in the comfort of your own home as often as you wish. For much less money.

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#249

Post by jarjoura »

dopamean wrote: post #235
jarjoura wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That map is only their large stadium sized venues. http://www.houseofblues.com is one of the biggest conglomerates for small size venues, also owned by Live Nation.

House of Blues was actually what I was thinking of when I commented. Again though... > one of the biggest conglomerates House of Blues is 10 locations in 9 states.

Hmmm, do you know of a larger small venue group that is owned by a single entity? (or more specially not owned by Live Nation and requires TicketMaster tickets)

Re: Ticketmaster is a horrible company

#250

Post by dopamean »

jarjoura wrote: post #249
dopamean wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

House of Blues was actually what I was thinking of when I commented. Again though... > one of the biggest conglomerates House of Blues is 10 locations in 9 states.

Hmmm, do you know of a larger small venue group that is owned by a single entity? (or more specially not owned by Live Nation and requires TicketMaster tickets)

"Biggest" and "conglomerate" make it sound like something that it is not. There may not be larger small venue groups but if someone told me that there was a large "conglomerate" operating in the small venue space I'd assume it was more than 10 venues.
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