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Joined 5 months ago
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Cake day: June 23rd, 2024

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  • Source/disclaimer: I work for an LN-partnered independently owned venue, so I’m likely to be very biased.

    Live Nation/Ticketmaster is definitely a monopoly AND ticket prices are definitely gouged.

    However, from what I’ve heard with many people in the industry, the current antitrust suit isn’t likely to change anything. Partnered/independently owned venues will still use Ticketmaster. Live Nation venues will still use Ticketmaster (unless they’re forced not to).

    Additionally, most people that are complaining about prices don’t know that Live Nation typically has little say in the set ticket prices. The artist and/or their tour management sets them. And if people buy them, the prices stay the same (or go up, with the recent dynamic pricing fiasco). If not, the price is discounted.

    Tickets aren’t even LN’s primary source of revenue. It’s food and beverage sales, which are also gouged. (Profit margins of 80-90% per item)

    LN will continue to blame scalpers (or brokers, the politically correct industry term), which is partially the truth. While this is something I’m not fully aware of, LN has done some things to bring the prices down brought on by brokers. One of them is platinum seating. The most expensive tickets that get resold on ticketmaster are typically purchased by LN and then resold at the “normal” price. Yes, LN is losing money doing this, but it’s something they can use to cover their ass in the DOJ suit.

    Another thing that several people have already mentioned is the cost of production is MUCH higher than it used to be, especially for stadium shows.

    I don’t even go to shows myself anymore because of how ridiculous the prices are. We can only hope the DOJ suit does something.