This Is Why Ticketmaster ABSOLUTELY SUCKS ($65,000 tickets?!)
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- Опубликовано: 24 май 2024
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This is why everybody hates Ticketmaster! I talk about: Taylor Swift ticket prices on her "Eras" tour, Bad Bunny, Bruce Springsteen and dynamic pricing, Ticketmaster fees, Pearl Jam vs Ticketmaster, the Ticketmaster / Live Nation merger, tickets for the Blink-182 reunion tour, and more reasons that everybody hates Ticketmaster.
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0:00 Intro
1:44 Taylor Swift's "Eras" tour
6:55 "Dynamic pricing"
11:31 Pearl Jam & the Live Nation merger
14:18 What can we do about Ticketmaster? 
Развлечения
Go to squarespace.com/punkrockmba to get a free trial and 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain
I'm glad you have a good sponsor.^^
Iggy's not bored anymore 🙃
Yo Finn I'd come to see your show... got any room on the guest list? ;)
Pearl Jam tried to warn us decades ago.
Yeah and Tickmaster and Congress treated them like dirt. All they wanted was fair ticket pricing for their fans.
My dad saw them play in ‘95 in New Orleans at his college football stadium
But nobody could understand Eddie Vedder 😂
@@msnewsenior do you go to usf lol
Nobody takes Eddie seriously
20 years ago I used to think paying $40-$60 for concert tickets was high.
It still is...
Just 15 years ago, $30 was the norm for a big show. 35, for the best bands, 40 dollars each after fees. I never had to play 100+ out the door for 2 tickets before 2010 unless it was some stadium tour
@@Dan-cj9yg0
What gets me is that Ticketmaster doesn’t even have a phone number for you to call if you have any issues. Like they don’t want you to contact them cause they know they’re screwing you
Yes, ugh. I booked tickets for a band out of state. But because life got in the way, I had no funds to travel when the time came. And at the same time, they later announced that they would tour in my city. Tried to resell or even get a refund with Ticketmaster. But I couldn't do either because the "Event Organizer" didn't allow it. Lost 100 bucks, which isn't a lot in the long run. But I could have used that money to fund for the closer venue... 😐
My real fear is that they're hollowing out the entire fan base for rock music as a culture.
Pragmatic, intelligent young people are literally just gonna seek out new more rewarding hobbies if you price them out of live interaction. The shows are the part of this culture that helps you build up a social life. You take that away, the cool interesting people are just gonna bounce.
DIY shows will probably attract more people in the future. I’d rather see four mediocre local or touring bands for $7 than two great bands for $100.
@@KnivingDispodia You can easily see great bands for cheap though… Blink and Taylor Swift are EXTREME outliers for how much most shows actually are
I'm done with big venues period. I prefer intimate shows where I can actually get down and share the moment with not only other fans on a much more personal level but also the artists themselves.
Why would it be just rock fans?
Live Nation has been buying up small venues too so even that is likely to be ruined by them.
That Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger should not have ever been allowed. Someone really needs to step in and break up the monopoly.
That would be the government but some people will call that "communism" because they don't know what that word means. Lol
@@the0ne809 Also, you know there were politicians that got an envelope full of cash to allow the merger.
I worked in live touring (agency) up until the pandemic hit. It was/is literally impossible to book a proper tour without dealing with Live Nation. it's crazy to see how they can use their position to pressure other promoters and venues into ticket master exclusivity.
@@jpguitar34 that's highly unusual in the US because the corruption in the US is done differently. Never heard of that. Any links?
I remember when the dude who pushed for Medicare plan D. He left Congress and got a job in a pharmaceutical companies 2 months after the bill was passed. Same with his aides. He claimed that it was coincidence. Lol
@@jpguitar34 “envelope full of cash” being campaign “donations”.
I grew up in the 80's and I saw all of my favorite bands in their primes for a price between $15-$25. I refuse to pay $300 to see them again, just for a nostalgia trip.
in 1985 to 2022 inflation calculated. $25 is $69.24.
@@johnwalker7592 Maths and stuff, bro.
Shoot, $300 would be a bargain at today's prices, seeing a big-name act in an arena or stadium.
Not worth it. They’re all old now anyway lol Just stop paying the outrageous prices.
I was fortunate to see most bands I would ever want to see back in the 90s and early 2000s - often times seeing them quite a few times times - so I’m good with those memories. The funniest part is I was able to screw over Ticketmaster myself. I worked in the music industry as an artist/graphic designer. We had state of the art color printers and nice quality papers etc. If I ever had a problem getting extra tickets for friends, I made them myself lol. I did the scoring on the fake tickets (where it rips) with an exacto knife. Never once got caught (this was before they started making them so legit tickets would light up under the light the ticket-takers use). We just sat wherever and moved if someone came to claim the seats haha. Good times. Things are just so rotten now.
Ticketmaster is the literal definition of a monopolization of the market. not only have they raised prices for no reason but on top of that the second a show starts to sell well they raise the tickets price because is a popular selling seat and give it a cool title of "premium seat" which means nothing other then they make it 4x higher.
I'm glad you mentioned that the artists are still benefitting from all of this. Ticketmaster sucks, but the artists love to use them as a scapegoat. They will complain on Twitter while counting stacks of cash. None of them really care.
Blink is $500 each near me, row Q, upper deck, behind the stage. F Blink 182. Cash grabbing grey hairs singing about fart jokes and married to kardashians. Loved them growing up, grew up to hate them.
I wonder how much they get out of this dynamic pricing? What percentage?
Especially egregious in Taylor Swift's case IMO. She knows how rabid her fanbase is and how much they deify her and she has absolutely no qualms with always painting herself as the innocent victim and setting the Swifties loose on other people or businesses. Granted, in this case, Ticketmaster absolutely deserves all of it, but I find her behaviour in general disgustingly manipulative.
@@dennis4534 the percentage stays the same but of course there getting more money the more expensive the price is.
Exactly.
But also, at least as far as dynamic pricing, can you really be upset if people agree to pay $500 to see blink 182 in nose bleeds? If it's not worth it, people won't pay and the dynamic price would drop. But it doesn't because that's the actual value.
There isn't a performer on this planet that I'm willing to go into debt just to see in concert.
Besides government intervention, the only other way is for the fans to refuse to see any live concerts period. The word boycott is thrown around a lot, but that's really what they need. When u hurt TM's and the artists wallet, then they'll do something.
I've seen a single piece gravel serve a greater purpose than people's "word"
It's got to be a good chunk of of people for it to be substantial though.
other option, have a few venues and promoters join in a contract for creating open source ticket sale software, that each venue/promoter can have locally on their server, or the server their site is hosted on
I'm glad Ohio venues are doing everything they can to do away with Ticketmaster using AXS tickets on their smaller venues! Promowest in Ohio made the best decision ever switching to that. Much reasonable prices through them! Hopefully more follow suit!
“Thank God for Ticketmaster! Where would anyone be without them” - is what my 1st year university students will be quoting all week in their essays on how the small local show went big! Thanks for addressing it😄 Back in the 90’s Ticketmaster was the only outlet to buy tickets (or you could buy them from bands who were selling them directly at local shows before their big gig). Even record stores just sold tickets from Ticketmaster right off the till. Really no way out for the little guy.
Wow, I’m getting old. I’m 47, and have gone to an insane amount of shows, but for I completely forgot that I used to drive to Tower Records to get my tickets for shows lol. Literally standing in a physical line, and the sadness when it got sold out before your turn. Man it was so long ago!
The problem is the artists like Springsteen and Blink 182 don't care. As you alluded to in the video, the artists are perfectly fine with ppl getting bent out of shape but counting the $ behind closed doors. When Blink announced their world tour, I read that they are supposedly making somewhere in the range of $30 million each.
The sad part is that Springsteen in going along with these fees is shutting out a lot of his true long-term fans. He had a long history of keeping ticket prices reasonable, but I guess that’s history. Even with the problem of scalping at least a few people could get lucky and get affordable tickets.
It's probably not the artists it's most likely the label and representatives
I like me some Springsteen.... but like Jack White and many other artists I have to put my fingers in my ears when they start talking politics.
Oh yes! I recently watched a german documentary about that topic and they were interviewing a dude who organizes a lot of concerts in Germany. He said he worked with Patti Smith for her last tour and SHE said she wants the tickets to cost 45€ and not more. I guess the situation in Europe may be a bit different but still..
I recall seeing somewhere that blink-182 were getting paid a flat rate though, so they don't get extra money if the tickets sell for more.
Livenation is the promoter, and as the promoter they have the ability to opt in to the dynamic pricing per Ticketmasters website. And because they're in cahoots with Ticketmaster, they are of course going to do it.
I always feel dirty whenever I'm trying to get a ticket to a show and Ticketmaster is the only place selling them. It's why I always prioritize looking for alternatives such as the venue's website. But Ticketmaster is basically doing what I like to call the Michael Eisner effect by jacking the prices up because they know people really wanting to go to the show will pay whatever price they ask, just like Eisner knew would be the case with Disney World.
I totally did read the "what I like to call the Michael Eisner effect" in the Defunctland's Kevin Perjurer voice.
Man I remember my mom bitching about ticketmaster in the 90s. She wanted to go all out one year for Christmas and get Mamma Mia tickets for the family and some friends, about 10 tickets I believe. They were over $100 each face value and when she went to purchase them physically at the ticketmaster office, the fees added up to over $300 on those tickets. You can imagine her ire when she got home.
With the Spiritbox tour upcoming, I was VERY happy to be able to get VIP tickets through a separate front than directly Ticket Master. They ended up being as inexpensive as some of the regular tickets that were being sold for the same show (all Gen admission). It's a load of shit that this one company has so much damn power though.
Same for me, be there in Cleveland for VIP and I feel it is solid deal for what you get
@@SJPace1776 perhaps I'll see you there!
Man you guys have no idea do you. Ticketmaster and live nation own literally hundreds of other companies including almost all vip access.
If McDonalds starts to charge 100 bucks for a burger, just don't buy it. The fans could solve this problem at the drop of a hat, but they tend to be quite stupid when it comes to their idols.
Well now also imagine McDonalds was the only food available. You'd rather pay the 100 bucks than starve, yeah? Hell you'd pay 500. That's the situation here, and sadly the solution isn't as simple as boycotting it. The best solution imo would be to start your own restaurant.
@@destructionman1Sorry but, no, that's not the situation here, at all. Ticketmaster is not a monopoly of food suply, or water, or medical care, or anything remotely like that. A bunch of pampered, overpaid entertainers is not essential for your well being.
@@dr.juerdotitsgo5119 I need music for my mentally retarded health 😁
I haven’t given money to Ticketmaster in like 10 years. Clearly I’m in the minority tho.
@@dr.juerdotitsgo5119 if shows stopped selling tickets they would be forced to lower prices to be competitive again. right now Ticketmaster is basically the only ticket available in some areas. I love shows and been to hundreds. But i cannot bring myself to pay more than 50.00 for GA to a 3 or 4 band show. i have a few local venues that dont use ticketmaster that i go see the smaller touring bands for 20-30.00 and usually get a better experience.
I'm grateful for small venue shows that use sites like AXS. Sucks being priced out of the big bands like Blink or Metallica though, even seeing Phish at the Garden is getting more difficult every year.
While I agree with you. dunno why anyone wants to go fucking see blink/metallica/phish... as you age your voice tends to change.. after ALL these years. no matter what, they'll never sound as they once did... So whats the point? just go to small gigs with new artist and don't get stuck in the past.
@@johnwalker7592 I'm going to ignore your point in regards to grouping phish in with that argument, but also not everyone cares if bands they like aren't in their prime, they just want to see their favorite bands. You can see new bands and old bands
@@johnwalker7592 Blink 182, Metallica, and Phish sounds like a cursed blunt rotation
LA Live in Los Angeles uses AXS for every event, even including big shows and games at Staples Center. It's nice that even if I want to see Muse or go to a Kings game I don't have to use Ticketmaster.
AXS isn't immune to this garbage. I saw Heilung in September and the ticket was $55 but after all the fees they tacked onto it (one was an "Internet processing" charge) the final cost ended up being $81. I hated it, but the show was incredible, so that made being gouged hurt a little less.
The only way to fight against them, is to not go to shows, we have to resist the temptation to see our favorite artists, it’s the only way to really show them that they can’t keep doing this.
Every show sells out anyway
Absolutely agree!!
Just don't go to lame shows like Taylor Swift. I saw Helmet and KoRn last year and it was amazing and I paid less than $50 bucks!
A communist revolution might be a better idea
@@leadme2thebliss21 I saw them too, it didn’t cost that much which was surprising
I just bought front of stage tickets for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Vienna for roughly 130 EUR a piece. Via Ticketmaster. Obviously, there are some regulations in place in Europe that prevent them to go overboard with prices.
I got tickets for Ayreon in the Netherlands, through Ticketmaster and was somewhat surprised that I wasn't getting ripped a new one, but you have that right - there must be some sort of consumer protection laws in the EU that prevent this kind of predatory practice.
They use demand pricing, probably got them cause was not very high demand.
I went for general admission for a band with nothing close in marketing then RHCP and general admission tickets were a thousand dollars.
A good way to check it is, try a more popular artist see if tickets are the same.
Czech here, same story. Depeche Mode, Prague, standart standing ticket is around 69 Euros and super ultra VIP ticket is 197 Euros. Looks like the problem is not actually Ticketmaster (at least not here in Europe)...
@@User-54631 Maybe in America, but we do have laws here. The upcoming Metallica tour tickets are from 120€ to 560€.
@@User-54631 I am buying concert tickets here in Europe all the time. The most expensive one was like 400 EUR. The VIP pass for a big 4-day-festival with loads of international bands.
As someone from outside the US this problem is really hard to understand. I mean, I paid $100 (110.000clp) for the lollapalooza chile 3 day pass. That includes blink
Also, sport tickets in other countries are a lot cheaper too. Like, top Premier League soccer teams in England, the best tickets are under 100. That's like the average mid range ticket for a good team in the US. The best being 5x that
I remember wanting to see Relient K in to 2010's and saw a $30 convenience fee on Ticketmaster. I thought, "You know playing it really loud on my stereo is kind of the same thing, right?"
Your last point hits hard, it seems the artists totally know what is happening and play dumb. They can make ticketmaster the punching bag while they run off with the money (along with ticketmaster). The Taylor Swifts of the world need to be more honest.
This whole thing is so wild to me because i live in Europe and i got the blink-182 tickets through ticketmaster for 74 dollars with all the fees included
Yeah the EU seems to care more about consumers than the US
Awesome video. Thank you Finn for shining light on this Ticketmaster disaster and educating us. You answered all the questions I had about this whole situation.
Quick story - I bought my parents 2 tickets to a Broadway show in NYC for $115 each. On Ticketmaster each ticket had a fucking $100 convenient fee. So $215 total just for buying them online!!! I walked up to the actual theater window in Manhattan on Broadway and purchased the exact same seats without the fee. It’s criminal what they do!!
Sounds like the US needs more regulation. Here in the Netherlands the watchdog slapped all of them ticket platforms with the unfair trade practices law a few years ago. This is mainly due to the fact the service fees were not included in the ticket price, people got caught off guard because if this and had to buy them at higher prices then they expected. Now you will see the fee included in the price everywhere.
I recently bought a ticket through ticketmaster for Lamb of God + Kreator. The fee was 4,40 on a ticket price of 45,40. I don't think they would dare ask more here for the service, the watchdogs know what the service roughly costs and what margins are acceptable.
Also we have our shitty buisness call out tv show.
And the Consumers Union.
So yes shitty practices get the shit called out on em and slapped where possible.
There are small bands touring that are often better than many of the big-name acts, but too many people are too lazy to explore newer artists, and especially to take a chance on someone they haven’t heard before. But Live Nation still gets a lot of fees from many of the small venues as well, so it is pretty hard to avoid dealing with them.
Glad you got to post this. I was worried Ticketmaster took this down on Tuesday haha
Agreed. Nobody wants the government to choose winners and losers but when there’s an abusive monopoly, they need to step in.
my guy complaining about the soaring prices when, in fact, was the "free market" that allowed tickemaster to turn into the behemoth it is today
The government definitely doesn’t need to step in. Pressure major artists to use other platforms to set up shows and sell tickets. Support local artists more. Literally just stop using ticket master and they go away.
If your actually concerned I’m sure someone already started a movement to “ban” ticket master. You can just jump in to their boat and help out.
@@countdrocula8852 it’s not that easy. Ticketmaster has an effective monopoly and exclusive partnerships with many of not most major venues. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to get people to boycott Ticketmaster, a boycott of TM is a boycott of every artist who works with them, which is just about everyone. We’d have to destroy the live music industry to bring TM down that way.
There was a pierce the veil show not too long ago in my state and everyone was pretty p*ssed off because of how viral the band is going on tiktok, their tickets are way more higher from back then because of that but the main problem is people are buying tickets only to stay half way through the set because they don’t actually listen to the band.
I was shocked as hell that the 2 day Metallica tickets were only $140, and that's for 2 shows. I figured the cheapest tickets were gonna be like $600
I had the SAME reaction. Not interested in the tour at all but I’m glad people who are don’t have to pay 1000$ for both nights like I thought
@@A7X31610 exactly.
Where are they located tho? Ones I saw were almost in the sky box
@@Stephen_Eee sec 446 row 3 at the SoFi in Los Angeles. Not the best seats but not horrible. $193 total with service fees. Not bad because if I make it to both shows, that's less then $100 a show
@@tleeg74 that's not bad at all
I saw the writing on the wall way back in 1994 with the Eagles Hell Freezes Over reunion tour and the public backlash for their ground breaking high ticket prices . I pretty much stopped attending major stadium concerts after 1996 in favor of small music venues and festivals but sadly (of course) these shows along with the major events took a massive hit from the COVID 19 pandemic that will likely take a long time to recover.
1. Ticketmaster is continuously used as a scapegoat. Artist OPT IN to the dynamic pricing which allows for them to make more profit and they opt in to the percentage of platinum tickets that are sold as well. An artist can choose to have neither. 2. Venues are responsible for a lot of the fees you see on your ticket sale not Ticketmaster mandating fees. Most of the fees are split between tons of people in the process are not all given to ticketmaster. Source (Worked for multiple ticket brokerages and the TM+ Resale network)
I remeber at like 13, it was a cool idea that we could buy a ticket then print out a barcode to go to a show. Then a couple years later I noticed my $40 was actually a $12 ticket with fees and now, do ever possible to buy tickets directly from a venue. Unfortunately it's limited what venues and shows I can go to
It certainly does suck that only rich people can go to these shows now. I remember paying 100 for Tool tickets over 10 years ago and that was like pushing the boundary for me.
I miss going to concerts. I've not been since before Covid (Green Day was the last show I saw, and it was amazing!) and now I cannot justify those prices. Maybe it's time to get back into local bands and small clubs. Those are really hit and miss though.
I’m grateful I grew up in a time where seeing my favorite band tickets were like $5, $10, $20 etc… I seen so many bands and not have my wallet take a hit.
The most I dropped on tickets was for $500 total to see Pearl Jam for me and my husband. I been chasing them for years and I didn’t care how much the tickets was.. I just needed to see them.
These days..I’ll be damn if I’m paying Ticketmaster.. I can’t believe they are trying to charge you $2 to print a ticket in your own house. That’s bullsh*t…
It’s all greed and I think because everyone was on lockdown for so long the ones at the top of Ticketmaster what’s to get paid… As long as people continue to pay these prices TM won’t drop it. Everyone would want to take a L on seeing their fave and save their money.
Where did people buy tickets before consolidated things like Ticket Master? At the venue?
@@walvegasgunsandoutdoors At the venue or at record stores like Tower Records. In Europe they had small booths, say at a train station, that just sold tickets to events.
@@walvegasgunsandoutdoors
What ^ he/she said. There were many a day that even if you went early to stand in line that tickets would be sold out within a minute, so nearly everyone in line would drive home bummed out and sulking. It hit more when that happened in person than simply trying to buy tickets online in the comfort of your home and not having luck lol.
Thank God in Europe we don't have this gross problem, ticketmaster is still the main ticket seller for big artist but prices don't get stupidly expensive.
Also in NZ and aus we use ticketfairy for a lot of events now, hope to see them become a thing in the states they're infinitely better to deal with as an organiser, artist, and punter
I can remember seeing Firehouse and Tesla at Jacksonville Memorial back in like 1991/92 for like $17, Warped Tour 95-2001 for like $20-$30, the First Family Values Tour for like $20-$30 on the floor, and so many more for around $25 in arenas. I mostly listened to punk growing up so most of the shows I went to besides the previously mentioned, were at a little underground venue in Jacksonville Florida called Milk Bar. Most of those shows were $8-$16 and I’ve seen Blink there at least 4 times. Hell, I can remember having to go to a Record/CD store or Caribbean Connectionto get tickets for shows and they would be from Ticketmaster 😂
"I generally prefer the free market to work things out"
Ticketmaster is a great example of what a "free market" leads to.
You're almost there!
Oof, gotta work on your listening skills my man. You’re almost there!
Capitalist-punks, will never understand this.
@@ThePunkRockMBAslay
The free market is defined as "an economic system in which prices are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses." Ticketmaster is just what happens when one business gets a little too big, and suddenly it's more profitable for every business to join ticketmaster or leave the market. That's just a part of the free market. But semantics aside, I think everyone agrees that companies like Ticketmaster need to be broken up to allow healthy competition so prices can be reasonable.
I always think of that line from The Simpsons, "And to think Smithers, you laughed when I bought Ticketmaster. 'Nobody is gonna pay a 100% service fee'".
I stood in line in the snow recently to save $20+ in fees (times 2). I've even passed on buying tickets due to the fees as the tickets were already hit highs that were too much.
Proud of you Finn 💪 killing the game man
I feel like we are on the verge of a new wave of trust busting similar to what we saw in the 1900’s.
I really hope that's the case since it's getting scary to see monopolies now in every industry and no one doing a damn thing about it
@@randomtinypotatocried I'll play Monopoly with you, bro.
in chicago, most small venues are now using ticketmaster or axe[?] to broker their tickets. the face value of a converge ticket was $15 after all the fees the price was over $40. there was even parking fee even though the venue didn't have parking lot. i'm not paying $40 for a show.
I saw Depeche Mode in 1994. I paid $17 for my ticket. Really good seat too. Adjusted for inflation. That same tickett should cost $34 today!
I sure hope Swifties help sort out this mess with Ticketmaster like they did with Spotify
Bro not only this, if you resell tickets on Ticketmaster, they send you a tax stateament for the proceeds! I will dance naked in the streets with everyone once this most corrupt of institutions goes down.
I was at that Pearl Jam show at Constitution Hall in DC. To this day, it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Neil Young and L7 performed too.
Working on a ticketing service !!!
But its very hard to get vanues
Great Video as usual.
If y'all want to shake your fists at the entertainment industry monopolies for their ever-increasing profits on what you could call "frivolous" spending, wait till ya hear about the stranglehold of utility monopolies, making big profits on water and electric bills. Personally, id rather see nationalization of utilities before government intervention on ticket sales companies lmao. But that's just my opinion.
major upside of not being into normie music: tickets to the shows i go to aren't expensive
I bought tickets for a now sold out show taking place in Chicago at Wrigley Field. I was surprised to still have to go through Ticketmaster!
It seems like outside of the US, a lot of the major ticket retailers are only authorising resale of tickets through companies like Tixel, which in turn only allows for a 5% or 10% discrepancy on the resale price and thus taking away a lot of the incentives for scalpers while giving no reason for these stupid demand charges.
The charges being higher in total than the original cost of the ticket is something that seems to be uniquely American as well, here in Australia our worse ticketing agent for charges, Ticketek still charges handling fees and such bullshit, but that usually tops out at 10% of the ticket price.
I found this channel by mistake and I don’t even listen to rock of any kind. I’ve watched almost all of these videos. Great content.
This is why I will always sneak into an event hosted by Ticket Master first before buying a ticket whenever possible.
I saw AFI in October and my ticket was around $40 (small venue, not TM). I wanted to see them in March (TM event, bigger venue), but the tickets were $500min.
That's the thing, part of this is the major venues part. Why can't they just use another ticket source?
Twice this years, I saw my favorite country artists. The tickets were not sold through Ticketmaster. The 1st show the artist sold tickets through thier web site. The 2nd show was in my hometown, and the tickets were sold locally
I may have missed you saying it, but a lot of other industries start having investigations on monopolies when one company dominates so intensely. I can't remember ever hearing Ticketmaster being approached in that way, but it seems logical that they would be because they almost do monopolize the live event world.
@ghost mall let's team up, you do that and I'll do some magical incantations and we'll see if maybe something helps
@ghost mall the latter 200%. I agree nothing happens if nothing happens, I'm in my mid-40s and I've become rather cynical at the lack of motion.
They were investigated when they merged with live Nation, there is footage of ticketmater executives testify to congress about their business and primarily existing to be the figurehead to direct your hatred at, while the labels and artist get more money.
It think it’s hilarious that people pay this outrageous prices just to go to a show and be on their phones the whole time . 😂😂😂
It's not hilarious. It's infuriating. I went all the way to Canada to see Paramore and all I could see was phone screens.
It was an all-ages show and I think most of the kids in the pit had their parents buy them tickets. Most of the elder millenials sat in seats because I guess they knew that's where people would actually be watching the show.
Mergers affect so many industries. When there is no competition not only do consumers suffer but employees do too. They have no bargaining of being able to go to a company that would treat them better(higher wages, opportunities to advance, benefits) to force employers to treat people the way they deserve. It’s going to end up killing some industries in the process of keeping the rich comfortable
Watching the TS ticketmaster fiasco was like deja vu for me from the BTS LA and Vegas shows. I went to both🤪 they were my first concert buying experience for a big venue show since NIN a few yrs ago and it was NOT like this. NOW, I did try to get NIN tix THIS year and it was a comple fail, I couldn't even get in on the presale 😠. I would like to point out that BTS most expensive tix were their gold vip sound check tix that were just under $500 which I kno is not cheap but in comparison to that kind of tix for someone who is comparable it's a bargain. BTS doesn't to dynamic pricing either and the scalping done by ticketmaster themselves was just criminal, after the presales ended w/ nothing left available for general public. I love the Bangtan boys and I went in ready to give them my money but I refuse to buy scalpers tix, all those thousands of dollars r not even going to the artists. They even got to my AFI, the tix for their Sing the Sorrow anniversary show where less than $100 but AGAIN by the time they went to general sale they went into the $1000s😔
I wanted to see Muse in Vegas but the damn tickets were too much. I am limited to just a few select concerts a year now if that.
That's why I stick with lesser known acts. They usually have more energetic shows at more intimate venues, and for cheap. 99% my favorite concerts have been ones I've paid less than $20 for, and the most forgettable shows were from the highly popular artists at larger venues.
@@StreetHierarchy still service fees suck. Last time I went to buy tickets for Blue October, they were $25 and then $20 in service fees. wtf.
If tickets are 500 bucks I'm limited to just a select concerts a lifetime!
@@billherrera6386 🤷🏾 last show I went to was free...
@@StreetHierarchy sure. When I was in San Diego, I won tickets all the time. Where I live now, I dont have that opportunity.
*'Murica!*
Can agree. Had a personal experience the other day with a Sold out show and front row seats
Yep, I agree they should be forced to use other platforms. Or, you can get really niche with the artists/music you listen to and go to the smaller venues and buy the tickets directly from them. I like smaller venues/shows anyway. Sept - Nov I went to a festival and 4 shows all for under 400, and 90 percent of that was the festival.
Im the lead UX designer for a company that develops dynamic pricing models and you got that aspect right on the money. I think that it does suck that people get priced out but you have to think about it from the artists/venue point of view. If you could have the perfect price for all your seats and could maximize your revenue and not leave any money on the table, you would do it.
For large artists this typically fucks the consumer over more than usual as demand is unusually high and those artists are already making tons of money. Plus the software allows users to set floors and ceilings of their choosing. So taylor swift for example, could set a ceiling of $150 if she was concerned about having more fans of varying socioeconomic backgrounds at her shows. She doesn't do this because the incentive is to make more money. Taylor swift is effectively an inelastic product like oil or water. You can basically charge whatever you want and people will buy it because the demand is so high it is non responsive to supply.
The real issue here is one of incentive structures, in the framework of our economy, if there is a legal incentive (and for larger corporations sometimes enough illegal incentive) to make money, they will act on that incentive. If one could change incentive structures to where lower prices bring some benefit to the artist and or the venue they would do it.
Now for smaller artists like metal bands and hardcore bands, every extra dollar of revenue makes a big impact. This is where dynamic pricing can actually help artists who need it. A bands ticket price going from $10 to $20 to meet demand doesn't really affect how many people can go see them however their revenue just doubled.
Dynamic pricing is an interesting development for sure and I see how it can be both good and bad. The real issue is when you have inelastic products and no regulation in place to prevent price gouging. Thats my 2 cents. Great video Finn!
Well said! The answer is more competition
" If one could change incentive structures to where lower prices bring some benefit to the artist and or the venue they would do it. "
That doesn't make any sense unless you are suggesting some kind of authoritarian government overreach on concerts.
If people want to be morons and pay this money that's on them. Taylor Swift tickets are not necessity to live and the only thing these large artist care about is $ and Ticketmaster does a good job at lining their pockets. Ticketmaster is a scapegoat so that the venues can actually charge more without it being obvious and exists so that you hate them for expensive tickets instead of the venue and artist. No one besides the gullible fans who pay this want any change in the structure.
@@vlcthefish I was just using that statement to illustrate that people follow incentives. Also ticketmaster isnt there to function as some patsy for these artists to save face lol. They provide the pricing service, thats their goal. Also these artists actually could make more money by hitting the supply side of things. If for example taylor swift played 10 shows in one city, prices would decrease dramaticlly because the supply increased. Also large cities could create even larger venues to alot for more cities. The demand wont fluctuate for artists like her unless the commit career suicide like kanye west so the supply needs to be adjusted.
@@ThePunkRockMBA Thanks! I also think the answer is to increase supply. If the artist were to play more shows in one city they would be able to maximize the revenue of that market while also decreasing the prices of their shows. I wonder if they dont do this because artists dont want to be on the road that long or some other reason. Id like to think that their managers have considered this.
@@williamfernandezart Incorrect. From article on how services fees actually work; “In most cases, a significant portion or a majority of those service fees get paid to the venue or the promoter of the event you’re buying the ticket for, It's another revenue stream. As much as Ticketmaster or AXS or SeatGeek is the one charging the consumer that fee, they're doing it as a vendor on the behalf of the venue.”
The face value for tickets stays artificially low and people get angry at Ticketmaster but keep paying the fees, so everyone keeps making money with only Ticketmaster taking the PR hit (which is fine, they've been doing that for years). If you actually think Ticketmaster is keeping 100% of the service charge then I have a beach front property in Nevada to sell you. Ultimately the artist makes more money in the end as does everyone but everyone got fooled into thinking that it was Ticketmaster's fault when in fact everyone's pockets like Taylor Swift benefit from the service charges
The insane pricing and just the way Ticketmaster handles as a business is a reason why I tend to go to more heavier and cheaper shows. I literally just saw SeeYouSpaceCowboy for like $25 and got a chance to mosh, stage dive, crowd surf, etc. Much more fulfilling
I'm glad you mentioned supply and demand. The goal of any tour is to sell the most tickets for the highest price. What I honestly don't get is why people blame Ticketmaster for high ticket prices?
Like you said, they charge those outrageous ticket prices because someone is willing to pay. If they charge any lower then more tickets will be demanded than available and it becomes a game of early-bird-gets-the-worm. That's how scalpers happen.
What I DO get though is the fees. I agree when it comes to the fees Ticketmaster can charge those fees because they can. They are an effective monopoly in that sense and monopolies require government intervention.
good point on the scalpers. People always forget that if Ticketmaster doesn't gouge you, the scalpers will. Government regulations have always failed to find a solution.
@@RJ_Groot because government shouldnt find a solution. Ticketmaster is just as bad a middleman as the scalper.
most times monopolies only exist because of laws and government intervention. IE see lobby groups.
¡El problema es el capitalismo!
Yeah, the comparison I would make is to the Super Bowl. People basically seem to accept that tickets to the Super Bowl by their nature are going to be expensive and hard to get, but for some reason they think bands and artists who can seemingly get Super Bowl levels of interest are supposed to keep ticket prices down for some reason.
finn, that's why we go to shows and not concerts - also venues commonly reserve tickets like if its a show level band.
like seeing converge for 128 sucked, but what sucked most was converge seeing 16$ out of that transaction... we just idk i think we have to invest more in our local venues and the underground scene
Also it seems crazy to me that prices are this high considering only back in 2017 I paid $70 for a stadium show to see Slayer in Denver with Napalm Death, Anthrax, Testament and Lamb of God
Ticketmaster aren’t stupid. Any reasonable person knows the prices these tickets are getting to are absolutely ridiculous and they know they’re getting that high yet choose to do nothing. If anything it proves their algorithm for dynamic pricing is flawed and should be set with limitations but again they choose to do nothing. The best thing we can do as consumers is keep bringing negative attention towards these actions. I would say stop going to the shows but that’s a really tough thing for some of us. We get our catharsis at these shows and we know how hard it is going without them. I also feel like the artists would also suffer as ticketmaster would likely blame it on the artists inability to sell tickets at least up to a point. This is the downside of allowing monopolies to take form, you are forced into unreasonable consumer treatment. You guys have it way worse in the US I really feel for you guys.
Honestly I can see ticket prices getting so out of control that eventually people are just going to stop buying tickets. As the saying goes "products are only worth what people are willing to pay". So at some point this will get so ridiculous (it already is but I would say even more so) these massive venues will be half full with only the rich people who can afford the price participating. This is my hope anyway considering our government is filled with the same kinds of people running Ticketmaster and other massive conglomerates so nothing will ever get done on that end. It's really up to us the consumers not to put up with it anymore.
I set a number In willing to pay for a band. Many have surpassed those numbers so it pushes me to seek out newer or lesser known acts.
I was lucky to get blink tickets for 150€. Not in the front, no nosebleed seats, so still kinda expensive, but moderate if you compare it to other prices.
First time watching you really enjoyed the Video keep up the good work
Well, Blink-182 was my my favorite band back in the day, and by the time I had extra money for concerts they were gone. I've seen every other favorite band of mine, but not them. Knowing Tom will jump ship again I saw this as my only opportunity. So Ticketmaster won. Bought tickets for two friends, my wife, and me....Definitely the most expensive concert I've paid for, but I have no regrets. I'd never do it again though, and something needs to change.
dude, literally same situation with me. I loved this band but never had the money to go see them and now that I do, this shit is happening. I did it, and I'm glad I did, but there's no fucking way I'm doing it again. I think I'm going to go to small shows from now on.
Who would have thought Swifties would be the best thing to happen in the music industry in years? Pretty cool guys, I knew you were trouble (see what I did there?)
After having to go into a lottery for Cure tickets two days ago, I got in and got my tickets in my cart (three with handicap accessible seating for my girlfriend)...the next screen began spinning and didn't stop for two hours. I finally hit the back button, and my tickets were gone. This problem with Tickemaster is still going on, and I'm getting so sick of it I can't even enjoy the show when I get there knowing what I had to go through to get them. Had to finally settle for lawn tickets at a different venue, for which I paid three times what I used to. I'm too old for this shit and I'd rather watch shows in a small club with a door charge anyway. Live music on this scale will be deader than the record industry in the next couple of years.
Some stagehand unions have contracts with the venues as well and they are on the side of ticketmaster because it provides more work for the venue.
Unpopular opinion but I feel like what's partially responsible for the dystopian future we live in is the fact that streaming got huge and fans stopped paying for music. The industry scrambled to find the missing money and this is the scam they came up with. On one hand I get it, artists should be paid well, and on the other hand I saw Nirvana for $32 in 1993 (purchased through Ticketmaster, so that is the crazy inflation we're talking about, imagine that price today) and monopolies are supposed to be illegal. The fact that anti-trust legislation hasn't kicked in is testament to our politicians being completely purchasable.
You started hot then fizzled at the end. Lars was right. Napster changed and ruined the industry. When even the smaller end of bands were selling 100k albums ticket prices for shows were cheap. But now because no one pays for music (few exceptions , but let's stop pretending our 10 bucks a month actually counts) bands rely on ticket prices and merch.
I bought Exhumed tickets for this December 15th in Santa Ana, they came through Live Nation and they didn't even offer an ability to print a ticket, which sucks because I like to save them.
was looking through an old scrapbook with my niece and nephew and their eyes popped out when they saw some of my old ticket stubs with prices like $10-$20. the best one was the extreme radio “our big concert” stub from 1998. cost me $22 to see fuel, bad religion, powerman 5000, stabbing westward, crystal method, the offspring, and blink-182 in las vegas.
I always thought Stabbing Westward was a sweet name for a band
I went to an obscene amount of shows when I was younger, especially while working in the music industry, and I kick myself so much for not keeping all my stubs. I only have a few. So dumb of me. I’m starting to get old now (47) where some bands I’m not sure if I saw them or not lol.
Wonder what the change in the video was I'm gay
The last show I wanted to get tickets for I was on ticketmaster. Sitting there. #16 in the queue! And, we're off. Sold out. No more tickets. Jumped back in line. #30, minutes later - sold out! So, all the tickets were sold in the pre-sales I guess. Well, the venue is less than a mile a way, so I ran down, stood in line, got 3 tickets. They had lots of tickets, far from sold out. The show still isn't sold out a month later. Yet, I've talked to others who have gotten on ticketmaster for this show - sold out. Now, these are 79.50 tickets. I did find them on one odd looking website for $500-$1000. So, next time I go to the venue. I also saved $20 per ticket in fees. (Also, this is for Robert Plant & Alison Krauss).
I saw Paolo Nutini tonight in Glasgow for £350 for two tickets because the only options were tickets in ‘bundles’ with a hotel stay. I saw just as big artists at the same venue in Glasgow for £45 back in 2007-2012.
The ad that popped up on this video was for SeatGeek lol
I used to go concerts all the time in my late teens/early 20s for like $50. Good shows too. I don’t even bother anymore. I’ll just have my own concert everyday on my way to/from work.
It wouldn't be too hard to cobble together a tour in non-Ticketmaster venues but only at the theater and club sized venues. I will not include AXS venues because their fees are equally onerous to Ticketmaster. Here are many examples of viable non-TM and non-AXS venues throughout the NYC area ;
Historical non-profit theatres that don't get booked much (Tarrytown Music Hall, Paramount in Peekskill, Mayo PAC in Morristown, Union PAC in Rahway, Palace Theatre in Stamford, Ridgefield Playhouse, etc). Also there are plenty of opera houses, symphony halls, and Broadway style theaters that could handle a live band.
There are all the Independent Rock Clubs like Debonair in Teaneck, The Chance in Poughkeepsie, The Space in Westbury, Le Poisson Rogue in Manhattan, Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn
Major League Baseball has their own ticketing platform so baseball stadiums are an okay option if you need a stadium sized venue.
I couldn't get tickets to Muse because I clicked the presale email as soon as I got it and most of the seats were already sold out. Then I got booted and it told me the link was already clicked and wouldn't let me back in. The next day when the tickets actually were on sale to general public the tickets were triple the price for awful seats.
can agree on that though that happens on reselling sites like Stub hub when tickets are scarce all the time. similar to when an Automaker can't make enough of one model to fulfill demand and premiums are put on models take for example a fully loaded Cadillac CT5 V Blackwing costs nearly 115,000 where as for ex a 2005 Cadillac Deville Touring sedan with certain options would be $52,000
Yes! Finally. Thanks for taking this suggestion, Finn!
glad this is being more widely discussed these days but sad that it took this long. i've been a concert junkie my entire life but have stopped going all together with how ridic fees have become.
I think the best thing this video offers on the subject is a possible solution to the problem. There are a few videos now that only serve to get one's blood boiling about livenation/ticketmaster monopoly outrage without any ideas on how to fix the it!
Really hope dynamic pricing stays out of most UK gigs. It isn't great here, but nothing like the horrendous greed in the US. While they aren't great, at least we have some competition with other ticketing sites like SeeTickets, AXS and Ticketfactory in the UK who get an allocation of tickets and help to keep them somewhat honest with their pricing. I only use Ticketmaster if I can't get tickets through anyone else now.
I had to check this video cause recently I was trying to get tickets for Mastodon + Gojira + Lorna Shore, great line-up but it´s crazy they were charging +$20 in fees! And I was complaining the main ticket platform in my country charges around $4 in fess LOL
The Canadian band the "Tragically Hip" was sold out in seconds for their last tour; and the prices were INSANELY INFLATED after the scalpers got ahold of a huge number of tickets-- and the site subsequently crashed..
I started to go to a lot of concerts in 1980. We had Ticketron which was located in a record store in a shopping plaza. The night before a show would go on sale you would have 20-50 kid's partying outside hoping for a front row seat when the tickets went on sale in the morning.
Looking at my old stubs the big bands between 1980-85 charged between $5.00-$14.50 & that is what you paid. In today's money that's about $12-$25. All tickets cost the same no matter where your seat was.
And for the club's it would cost ya pretty much $5 all the time.
I only see band's that play small venues & never pay more than $40. It just goes against my principles to pay astronomical money for any band!!
They just did the same in Mexico City this weekend.
I mostly buy my concert tickets over Eventim, so far the prices have been okay for me, as an example, I paid 85.50€ +5€ shipping and + a little bit of money for an optional ticket insurance, so still less than 100€ in total to see Iron Maiden live this year in Germany