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Internal emails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, FTC says

arstechnica.com

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Re: Internal emails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, FTC says

#71

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Atlas667 wrote: post #67

I don't understand why people can't make the logically necessary step to conclude that capitalism promotes cartels because there are profits to be made in cartels. Capitalism always results in monopolies and cartels. This was known 100 years ago and it is still true now, just not as publicized. I wonder why...

> This was known 100 years ago and it is still true now, just not as publicized. I wonder why

Economics education in America sucks. (Along with civic, legal and other education. Not for cynical reasons, but because we treat schools as job centres and day care.)

The housing debate reflects a base inability to grasp supply and demand. The antitrust debate, market failures.

Economics takes a modicum of effort to grasp. In the TikTok world, it’s easier to justify laziness by spouting nonsense about economics assuming everyone is rational or whatnot. (This confers a massive advantage to those who know what they're talking about. And perhaps this is part of what's driving the elite disparity in American today. Renters will happily protest for their landlords against new developments.)

Re: Internal emails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, FTC says

#72

Post by shipman05 »

shermantanktop wrote: post #39
galaxy_gas wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is also what I am experienced. In the music festival world, there is a TM subsidiary, In the same venue you can see fees differ by dozens of percent based on who the Artist, the ones known for being good people are much lower even if the base ticket price is identical

So TM is just the stooge doing terrible things that the artist wants to do, but would prefer someone else take the heat for it? All while the artist engages fans as their parasocial friend, who would never do them wrong? That's cynical enough for me to want to believe it.

There's an episode of Your Favorite Band Sucks that details a lot of how this works, and that's the picture they paint.

Unsure how accurate it is, but the guys who do the show have a lot of experience in the music industry.

You can find it on YouTube: Ticketmaster Sucks - Your Favorite Band Sucks Podcast

Re: Internal emails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, FTC says

#73

Post by leakycap »

jnsie wrote: post #69
leakycap wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe not this _exact_ outcome but largely yes I suspect they did. Sorry, this simply isn't the case. Before TM, the best available ticket was whatever the vendor you were dealing with had in their inventory. TicketMaster was started by 3 people who wanted to make the process of getting the "best available" ticket easier than going to all the disconnected ticket-sellers and finding out who had the best ticket. The…

> Now they'll slowly die or be replaced quickly by something better like an AI ticketing system. I highly doubt it. The merger with LiveNation made them much more than a ticketing service. They now also handle artist management, concert promotion, and venue ownership. In fact "Live Nation-Ticketmaster maintains "monopoly control" over the top 100 amphitheaters and 100 arenas worldwide" [1] [1] https://www.economiclib…

What part of "now they'll slowly die" is discounted by the charts you linked showing they're currently alive?

Internet Explorer had something like 99% of the web browser market in 1999. It... slowly died.

May TicketMaster follow suit if they continue their greed.

Re: Internal emails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, FTC says

#74

Post by [deleted] »

quickthrowman wrote: post #36
leakycap wrote: post #4

Hard to care what happens to a company like TicketMaster. As you build your company, ask yourself how they ended up like this. Do you think the founders had this outcome in mind when they started (everyone hating them and seeing them as an evil money grab)? They probably started with a different ethos. A good reminder that what we do can change - we need to instill our values into the basics of everything we build, o…

I go to a few concerts a year and enjoy them, but the only Ticketmaster concert I’ve ever been to was last year. I paid $115 each (with fees!) for good floor seats to see Weezer, Dinosaur Jr, and the Flaming Lips in 2024. The multi hundred or multi thousand dollar event tickets are insane, I’d never pay that much for a concert. I am lucky to have local independent music venues (First Avenue in Mpls, they own a few lo…

[deleted]

Re: Internal emails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, FTC says

#75

Post by will4274 »

yard2010 wrote: post #15
pavel_lishin wrote: post #6

We bought $700 tickets to see a show we really wanted to see, but ended up being unable to make it. We tried selling it on Ticketmaster, where you can in theory set your own price, or accept their "best offer". Our best offer was somewhere in the neighborhood of $150, and given that it was the night of the show, we accepted it. We paid $54 per ticket in "processing fees" when purchasing, and paid $50 in more "process…

Their whole business is based on bullying, dark patterns and ripoff, they either go out of business and become homeless or turn out to be the next president of the united states.

> turn out to be the next president of the united states

From the site guidelines:

> Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes.

Re: Internal emails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, FTC says

#76

Post by billylo »

bobthepanda wrote: post #37
pavel_lishin wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, the shows are great. But the ticket purchasing experience is only slightly better than a root canal, and is typically more expensive.

It's hard to sympathize with the experience between scalping, which is bad, but also now there's all sorts of priority queues for people with various levels of pay-to-play which are pretty distasteful. AMEX presale, cell carrier presale, etc. all feels terrible. And the show is fun but my local arena renovated within the last decade and now feels like an airport terminal with all the tiered lounges, ripoff concession…

FIFA world cup has been selling opportunities for Right-to-buy. Monopolistic behavior.

Re: Internal emails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, FTC says

#78

Post by prmoustache »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #6

We bought $700 tickets to see a show we really wanted to see, but ended up being unable to make it. We tried selling it on Ticketmaster, where you can in theory set your own price, or accept their "best offer". Our best offer was somewhere in the neighborhood of $150, and given that it was the night of the show, we accepted it. We paid $54 per ticket in "processing fees" when purchasing, and paid $50 in more "process…

What kind of show sell $700 tickets? Does that include an escort?

Re: Internal emails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, FTC says

#79

Post by jnsie »

leakycap wrote: post #73
jnsie wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now they'll slowly die or be replaced quickly by something better like an AI ticketing system. I highly doubt it. The merger with LiveNation made them much more than a ticketing service. They now also handle artist management, concert promotion, and venue ownership. In fact "Live Nation-Ticketmaster maintains "monopoly control" over the top 100 amphitheaters and 100 arenas worldwide" [1] [1] https://www.economiclib…

What part of "now they'll slowly die" is discounted by the charts you linked showing they're currently alive? Internet Explorer had something like 99% of the web browser market in 1999. It... slowly died. May TicketMaster follow suit if they continue their greed.

Why the disingenuous response. What I linked was an article entitled "New Report Exposes Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s Monopoly Control of Top Arenas and Amphitheaters Worldwide". The fact that they monopolize venues strongly discounts your suggestion that they will "slowly die or be replaced quickly by something better like an AI ticketing system".

Re: Internal emails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, FTC says

#80

Post by dfxm12 »

prmoustache wrote: post #77

There would be no scalpers if people weren't buying tickets to scalpers. The answer is easy. Don't buy crazy expensive tickets.

The answer is easy. Don't buy crazy expensive tickets.

I think this is a knock on effect of wealth inequality. People on here are talking about buying $700 tickets. My first thought is that the price sounds insane, but my second thought is to recognize that some folks have way more disposable income than I do. So $700 might be just another night out for someone else...

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