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Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

wsj.com

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Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#291

Post by recroad »

I'm glad to see this. I run jumpcomedy.com which provides ticketing/event management services for comedy shows (or pretty much anything but focused on comedy) and this industry is dominated by a few big players that charge exorbitant service fees which customers have no choice to pay because these are exclusive deals.

I've gotten smaller clubs and comics to hop over, and got one big tour to join, but when it comes to the well-known artists, they are contractually bound to go with the big companies. I'm very happy someone is taking action.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#292

Post by bonestamp2 »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #270
BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Affordable tickets requires a way to combat scalping, which in turn butts up against freedom to resell/transfer tickets after purchase. It's a hard game to win whenever scarcity and economics are involved.

Current ticketmaster tickets are electronic and often can be resold only on their system (depending on what the artist/venue has chosen as a restriction). Of course their system could limit the resale prices of the ticket, to the original price or a set percentage above it. They already take a bite of each resale I believe. They have already built the electronic ticketing and transfer system that would allow them to…

Not only does their system make it possible, they teach their "partners" (scalpers) how to buy and sell more tickets, and the fees are usually even higher on those secondary sales, so this is very lucrative for tickermaster (and the scalpers).

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ticketmaster-resellers-las-...

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#293

Post by mtillman »

anthonypasq wrote: post #161
mtillman wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I paid $300 in fees on Sunday for two $365 tickets. Excited to see how this goes.

i would love to see a picutre of you receipt because i frankly dont believe you

Actual prices for golden knights Playoff game 1 (check stubhub right now if you want a proof point): $407.09/ticket x2 because going alone isn’t as fun, and $290.91 in fees. So my numbers above are a bit low from what I actually paid.

Edit: cardinals tix were $135.91ea x2 and $100.09 in fees.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#294

Post by tzs »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #89
CPLX wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your first sentence here is correct. The second sentence is ridiculous. The Obama administration was pro-monopolist basically across the board for eight straight years. The record is pretty easy to understand.

> The Obama administration was pro-monopolist basically across the board for eight straight years. It might be more accurate to say that rubber-stamping mergers maxed-out under the Obama DoJ. Comcast - NBCUniversal (2011) AT&T - T-Mobile (2011) Express Scripts - Medco Health Solutions (2012) Google - Motorola Mobility (2012) Anheuser-Busch InBev - Grupo Modelo (2013) US Airways - American Airlines (2013) Oracle - Sun…

The proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile was cancelled after the Obama DoJ said they were opposed and filed a lawsuit to stop it.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#295

Post by crabmusket »

hervature wrote: post #231
crabmusket wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Empirically, markets with scalpers have lower ticket prices [2] I haven't read the full paper yet, just the abstract, but the abstract talks about ticket window prices. Do they analyse the prices actually paid by the average attendee, which includes prices paid to scalpers? Or am I misunderstanding the term "ticket window"? As a lay person, my gut asks: if scalpers don't cause attenders to pay more overall, then wh…

The scalper is trading volatility (they may or may not sell the ticket for a higher price) for the opportunity of a return. The venue is getting the opposite side of the deal. Guaranteed income now.

But if, on average, scalpers didn't get their payout, then they wouldn't take the risk right? Unless scalpers as a class are economically irrational?

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#296

Post by mtillman »

kimbernator wrote: post #24
dylan604 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You paid nearly $1k for 2 tickets to a show? To me, you are part of the problem as acting as an enabler for these prices to be seen as acceptable.

Seems harsh to blame somebody for simply paying to do something they enjoy when the alternative is just not doing it. Blame the monopoly, not the consumer.

It’s not like there’s another option, which is why the DOJ probably has a case. If you want to attend certain games it’s a) be a season ticket holder or b) pony up to a monopoly.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#297

Post by chefandy »

BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #112
btown wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An artist might want to opt out of this, though. They might think, and reasonably so, that the optics of having affordable tickets - even if they make less overall - is better for their brand identity and long—term benefit. That LiveNation has created a de facto system where they cannot opt out of their price setting is at the heart of the entire matter.

Affordable tickets requires a way to combat scalping, which in turn butts up against freedom to resell/transfer tickets after purchase. It's a hard game to win whenever scarcity and economics are involved.

And this is another area they're part of the problem. Not only do they have a resale platform, they've also been caught placing tickets directly on the resale market.

https://pitchfork.com/news/live-nation-admits-placing-concer...

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#298

Post by fnfjfk »

lolinder wrote: post #212
carlosjobim wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Combatting scalping is the easiest thing ever. Just put the name of the attendee on each ticket and if you want to be nice you can have a buyback period until a certain date before the show, where the venue purchases back your ticket if you can't go.

And then what, check the ID of 50k people at the door?

Yes? They already do this at music venues to card people for putting wristbands or Xs on their hands.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#300

Post by fnfjfk »

busterarm wrote: post #78
seatac76 wrote: post #5

Finally. Between the market dominance via Live Nation and Ticketmaster merge. The venue exclusivity contracts they insist upon. They are a grotesque monopoly.

They are but the DoJ is getting involved 30 years too late. They crushed all of the meaningful competition that long ago. Even breaking the company up into parts wouldn't suddenly fix the industry.

Lots of music venues in NY use an app called "DICE", Eventbrite is also a thing
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