3 ms·

Ticketmaster's a very vertical monopoly, if you go with anyone else then a ton of venues simply will not work with you. If you open a venue that works with anyo

Ticketmaster's a very vertical monopoly, if you go with anyone else then a ton of venues simply will not work with you. If you open a venue that works with anyone besides Ticketmaster then you won't be able to book any acts that do work with TM, which is "pretty much fucking everyone". There's a lot more to this, Doctorow and Giblin's recent book "Chokepoint Capitalism" has a couple of chapters that examine this whole setup in great detail. https://craphound.com/chokepoint/2022/09/27/twitch-does-a-chokepoint-capitalism/ https://craphound.com/chokepoint/2022/09/27/twitch-does-a-ch...

wolpoli 4y ago
This is where free market fails, and to fix this, government would needs to outlaw these types of exclusive agreements.
- ISL 4y ago
  If they do it in an egregiously anticompetitive way, it is already outlawed.
- theturtletalks 4y ago
  I can’t believe they went after Microsoft for IE, but all of this is fair game. It regulatory capture and it’s rampant in every industry.
  - aj7 4y ago
    We’ve had 50% Republican administrations. Regulatory capture is their technology as they can’t pass anti-competitive legislation, no matter how much they are bribed.
- BoiledCabbage 4y ago
  People need to stop calling inherent flaws in unregulated capitalism, "regulatory capture". Unregulated capitalism has flaws - this is one of them. Vertical monopolies are a huge issue period.
francisofascii 4y ago
But the acts don't have exclusive rights with TM, do they?
- zwkrt 4y ago
  It’s complicated. Live Nation is a promoter. For those of you not in the industry a promoter is basically like a mini VC that funds a tour or a live event. The promoter invests the capital necessary to put on the show and in turn gets to dictate what the ticket prices will be where the show will be what acts will be performing together and who will sell the tickets. So if Taylor Swift promoter for her to her is Live Nation than the answer is no she does not get to choose the venues.
AlanYx 4y ago
What I don't understand is how this doesn't fall afoul of US antitrust legislation, especially the rules on tied selling?

wolpoli 4y ago

This is where free market fails, and to fix this, government would needs to outlaw these types of exclusive agreements.

ISL 4y ago
If they do it in an egregiously anticompetitive way, it is already outlawed.
theturtletalks 4y ago
I can’t believe they went after Microsoft for IE, but all of this is fair game. It regulatory capture and it’s rampant in every industry.
- aj7 4y ago
  We’ve had 50% Republican administrations. Regulatory capture is their technology as they can’t pass anti-competitive legislation, no matter how much they are bribed.
BoiledCabbage 4y ago
People need to stop calling inherent flaws in unregulated capitalism, "regulatory capture". Unregulated capitalism has flaws - this is one of them. Vertical monopolies are a huge issue period.

francisofascii 4y ago

But the acts don't have exclusive rights with TM, do they?

zwkrt 4y ago
It’s complicated. Live Nation is a promoter. For those of you not in the industry a promoter is basically like a mini VC that funds a tour or a live event. The promoter invests the capital necessary to put on the show and in turn gets to dictate what the ticket prices will be where the show will be what acts will be performing together and who will sell the tickets. So if Taylor Swift promoter for her to her is Live Nation than the answer is no she does not get to choose the venues.

AlanYx 4y ago

What I don't understand is how this doesn't fall afoul of US antitrust legislation, especially the rules on tied selling?