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What Ticketmaster doesn't want you to know: tickets were cheaper for decades
- SunlitCat 2y agoMany things were cheaper for decades and just went up in the last few years. Nothing surprising there!
- eesmith 2y agoThe video points out the prices aren't do to with inflation but with decades of a trend toward monopolization. What you are seeing now in the last few years is with industry consolidation following the same playbook Ticketmaster applied to the music industry since at least the 1990s, to Pearl Jam's dismay. The video summarizes this long history well.
- mytailorisrich 2y agoIncrease in purchasing power and broadened customer base thanks to cheaper transport means that they can increase prices while still filling venues. Tickets are also probably easier to buy now, a few clicks away on your smartphone, which may also widen the customer base while supply remains unchanged. In economic terms tickets are only "too expensive" if they can't find buyers.
- eesmith 2y agoI feel like you are not rebutting the points made in the video but instead making a comment that is at best tangential and at worst promoting a narrow ideological belief which rejects the existence of monopoly power. To start with, who are you quoting with "too expensive"? Second, your analysis does not explain why it is cheaper to fly to Europe to see Taylor Swift on the same tour as in the US. https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-europe-eras-tour-fans-bcf8a207f06fd1f3e17a2f3f3b24dab5 https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-europe-eras-tour-fan... attributes the cost difference due to "restrictions on ticket fees and resales", rather easy of purchasing. Just like in the video.
- mytailorisrich 2y agoI am not trying to rebute anything or to be argumentative so I don't really get your somewhat aggressive tone. Ultimately concerts and events tickets are optional leisure/luxury items and, as I mentioned, we can argue all we want about bad monopolies but as long as the tickets sell it means the price is fine, so why would they be cheaper? It's not an ideological belief about anything or a rejection of anything. This is a natural monopoly anyway. There are no competing Taylor Swift concerts for instance and, at least for popular events the number of available tickets is going to be smaller than the number of people interested and the basic law of supply and demand applies. When we see how prices often still massively inflate on resale it seems to me that official prices could often still be higher if they wanted to but it then becomes a PR issue. We've recently seen that here in the UK with dynamic pricing for tickets to the Oasis reunion. Perhaps they are simply getting more effective, and with fewer qualms, at extracting the best prices possible.
- dastbe 2y agowhiles taylor swift has a natural monopoly on taylor swift, you can always have more venues. and each of those venues could compete on price/margin to court taylor swift and all of the other artists. and for venues that want to compete, there could exist alternative platforms that also compete on price/features. this all could lower prices AND put more money in the artist and venues pockets. ticketmaster ensures this doesn’t happen by controlling the market, so venues that don’t use them get locked out from artists and artists who don’t play ticketmaster only venues get locked out from too much of their audience.
- eesmith 2y agoBecause it's become increasingly clear you aren't actually engaging in the video but have your own axe to grind. The monopoly power discussed was about control over venues and artists, which you seem to completely ignore, to talk about ticket pricing.
- namaria 2y agoSo it's ok to price gauge as long as it's profitable?
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- mytailorisrich 2y agoIt is not price gauging. It is the market price as tickets sell, and people even miss out and are willing to pay even more from resellers/touts. Odd that so many people feel that they are somehow entitled to low prices for something that is totally optional and by its very nature always in short supply.
- namaria 2y agoDenouncing monopoly price gauging is hardly acting entitled and the fact that you affirm so is a win for owning class propaganda.
- acdha 2y ago> Odd that so many people feel that they are somehow entitled to low prices for something that is totally optional and by its very nature always in short supply. This a dishonest characterization of criticism of monopoly abuse of the market. Those fees aren’t going to the artists, they’re highlighting the way competition has been removed from the market. This affects both sides of the equation: it’s not just that ticket buyers have few options but also that bands and venues also have little choice – if they buck Ticketmaster they’ll be shut out of a lot of deals which everyone else would like to happen. It’s hardly entitlement to think that market competition would be better for everyone except Ticketmaster.
- mytailorisrich 2y agoAbuse, again, and you're implying that I am in bad faith, which I am not (also remember the guidelines) I am just discussing and you're ignoring my points. Again, I don't understand the aggressivity here over such a trivial topic...
- navaed01 2y agoThe ticketing market is out of control. I would love to see the government break of ticket master.better innovation to avoid scalping by a company that does not benefit from i. The banning of reselling on platforms that sell the original tickets. Caps on fees I’m a higher earner who loves music and rarely go to stadium size shows because the costs for anything is typically $500+. How does that make any sense? Basic math tells you the margin on a stadium seat is huge. Other factors to consider: More is spent on marketing and promotion than ever before, but the cost of digital marketing is a fraction of marketing costs decades ago - especially with the ability to target fans. The market is willing to bear these higher costs because experience are more valuable to generations today than 20+ years ago. Artists are also complicit to an extent but reasonably so. The market for paid music has collapsed, touring is how you generate revenue as a musician
- ryandrake 2y ago> The market is willing to bear these higher costs because experience are more valuable to generations today than 20+ years ago. What does that mean?
- guitarbill 2y agoIt sure seems that things like concerts, festivals, theme parks, even movies are more expensive than e.g. 20 years ago - though I don't have inflation-adjusted data on hand. If true, people are willing to pay more for these kinds of "experiences", and I'd have to agree with parent. Although I'm not sure if it really is a generational thing. This doesn't mean what Ticketmaster is doing is right, but they are hardly the only ones. E.g. cinemas or theme parks don't use them.
- ryandrake 2y agoI’m specifically curious about how “experience are more valuable to generations today.” I don’t think there’s much difference between today’s generation and past generations in terms of their enjoyment of concerts, festivals, and other live events. Surely Michael Jackson fans in the 90s were as excited to see him as Taylor Swift fans are today, maybe even more so. Michael Jackson, the Stones, U2, Bruce Springsteen, heck, The Beatles: all of these acts’ had super-fans and their tickets had nearly inelastic demand. In their heydays, they could have charged any price and filled stadiums. People in those days demanded “experiences” just as much as people today.
- maeil 2y agoGreat video, though it even understates just how extreme the monopoly is. They kind of show it on the screen as part of the article but the message would've benefited from reading the percentages out loud.
- blackhaj7 2y agoIt’s mad in the US. Beyond just the ticket prices, the booking fees are out of control. I wanted to buy a ticket to a music event and the booking fee was $30! In the UK, booking fees above £5 are considered an obscenity and would put people off buying a ticket. I am surprised more artists don’t refuse to work with ticketing companies who extort customers like this. Seems like an easy way to garner loyalty from fans (beyond being morally right). Although, I imagine - like the healthcare system - the whole food chain (music labels, artists) are all in on the scam
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- TheBozzCL 2y agoYesterday, a friend and I tried to buy tickets for a show. Each ticket was $40. The total came to over $110. That’s nearly the price of three tickets! Thanks for saving us money by making us think twice about buying these tickets, Ticketmaster!
- linotype 2y agoThe problem is even if Ticketmaster is split up, a future administration will allow them to put themselves back together again.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> problem is even if Ticketmaster is split up, a future administration will allow them to put themselves back together again This is in the same category of technically correct but imaginary problem as if I take this medicine I will still eventually die. Or, if I repair my windshield it will one day break again. If it’s a problem, and the solution is better than its cost, it’s worth solving. Even if that doesn’t solve it perfectly forever. I’d like to say perfect is the enemy of the good, but you’re defining perfection so unrealistically as to require disproving the heat death of the universe.
- linotype 2y ago
- intellix 2y agoticketswap have a max markup of 20% and then you can be refunded if you overpay for tickets. I guess the idea is that people start looking there and people naturally use it. The problem is that scalpers will empty the platform and sell em for more on ticket master and everyone is again forced to buy from there. It would be great if artists had a way to force people to use it. Hopefully that's the plan.
- omega3 2y agoI rarely go to ticketed events any longer due to absurd prices. It’s hard for me to understand the obsession with festivals either: expensive, long queues, poor organisation, poor sound quality.
- dvno42 2y agoAt this point, I just won't go to any event where a Ticketmaster/Livenation/etc is involved. They've taken a lot of the joy out of music events for me.
- wodenokoto 2y agoMusicians were also making a lot of money on album sales for decades - to the point where a tour was more of an album promotion than an income stream of itself. So while the industry likes to complain that they are losing income, they’ve figured out that they can make up for album revenue by simply increasing ticket prices.