Has anybody done anything about ticketmaster yet?

[holden j caufield]

They add about 7 charges on top of each ticket price. It's getting way out of hand.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Didn't stubhub buy them out?

correction : Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged

 

[BeauJangles]

Isn't Ticketmaster involved in a huge lawsuit centering around driving people to higher-priced tickets?

I got caught up in this when Bruce came to Boston -- http://www.rollingstone.com/ro...st-live-nation-merger/

Basically, Ticketmaster tried to charge us 3x what the tickets cost even though the company itself still had tickets on sale.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Love the "convenience" charge

 

[KB]

Planet Money had a great podcast on this: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money...conomics_of_ticke.html

Basically ticketmaster pays millions of dollars to all of the venues for the rights to sell their tickets. They pass off this "bribe" by passing it on to the customers who pay the extra fees because they are desperate to see the show. Its all legal and very clever.

 

[Ns1]

LiveNation has actually been doing pretty decent promos lately.

 

[Kelemvor]

I never use them. I'll go out of my way and drive to the venue to purchase tickets before I'll ever use Ticketmaster.

Yes they are a scam and a monopoly. There are a few tiny little companies (itickets.com) that try to compete but have no chance.

 

[JS80]

Don't hate Ticketmaster, hate the lazy artists who give their business to these fuckheads.

 

[Train]

Originally posted by: JS80
Don't hate Ticketmaster, hate the lazy artists who give their business to these fuckheads.

The artists dont have a choice, its the venue.. you want to play at a big stadium? You take thier ticketmaster only policy or go find some dive bar to play in.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

It's ok, I bought football tickets the other day and here were the charges:

$65 x 4
$4 BS processing fee x 4
+ $5 BS phone fee
+ $5 BS mailing fee (otherwise will-call or print them)

We don't use ticketmaster either. Oh and this was over the phone so obviously not an online order....

I'm sure Ticketmaster is a lot worse. I bought musical tickets for Wicked in SF and I paid some outrageous fees. $99 per ticket is not going to be $200 for the event for 2 people. It's gonna run closer to $250.

 

[mugs]

Can you avoid the ticketmaster fees by buying at the venue's box office?

 

[aceO07]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
It's ok, I bought football tickets the other day and here were the charges:

$65 x 4
$4 BS processing fee x 4
+ $5 BS phone fee
+ $5 BS mailing fee (otherwise will-call or print them)

We don't use ticketmaster either. Oh and this was over the phone so obviously not an online order....

I'm sure Ticketmaster is a lot worse. I bought musical tickets for Wicked in SF and I paid some outrageous fees. $99 per ticket is not going to be $200 for the event for 2 people. It's gonna run closer to $250.

Ticketmaster is the reverse. They charge you for the convenience of printing them online. 😛 OR you can wait for it to be mailed to you, 1 day before the show.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Train

Originally posted by: JS80
Don't hate Ticketmaster, hate the lazy artists who give their business to these fuckheads.

The artists dont have a choice, its the venue.. you want to play at a big stadium? You take thier ticketmaster only policy or go find some dive bar to play in.

Not all venues have exclusives with Ticketmaster. But yes, they do have monopolistic practices.

But in the end it's still the artists' fault. They let this happen. Sure Pearl Jam tried to sue them once for antitrust, but the status quo remains because 99% of artists would rather get their guaranteed cut of revenue (this is the key here) than become a ticket selling business. And they achieve this by outsourcing their promotion to LiveNation (who recently merged with Ticketmaster) who will offer the band a defined amount of money for the rights to promote the band. It's the whole manufacturer to distributor to retailer relationship, but with a monopoly.

It's sick, and it's stupid. Unfortunately this is a model that is impossible to beat.

 

[imported_inspire]

I bought tickets to a Swell Season concert in Chicago and the 2 tickets cost me $60, but after all the fees, I paid $80+ - it's fucking insane and it needs to stop.

 

[pray4mojo]

drive to the venue and purchase the tickets.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: pray4mojo
drive to the venue and purchase the tickets.

That's not always an option.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: pray4mojo
drive to the venue and purchase the tickets.

That's not always an option.

Exactly

I thought the same thing and many places you can ONLY buy from ticketmaster.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: pray4mojo
drive to the venue and purchase the tickets.

That's not always an option.

Exactly

I thought the same thing and many places you can ONLY buy from ticketmaster.

Not even that, sometimes you just can't get to the venue during box office hours or it's just too far away.

Now I'm not saying TM shouldn't charge convenience fees or what not; I'm saying that I shouldn't have to bend over and be raped by them when buying a $15 concert ticket (and end up paying almost double).