Ticketmaster passes go, collects more than $200
David Perez
Issue date: 10/23/09 Section: Opinion
Ticketmaster takes advantage of its customers by tacking on high fee prices onto its original ticket prices and a merger with Live Nation would create a monopoly in the music industry.
Consumers spend what little disposable income they do have on concert tickets, but these days music fans need to save a lot of money because of the rise in facility, convenience and charity charges.
Tickets for a large concert can be easily obtained at much better prices right before the show from scalpers or online at sites like ebay or craigslist. It seems a little sketchy at times, but you usually get a good price that is based on the amount a consumer is able to spend. Taking this route to purchase tickets is frowned upon, but even Ticketmaster has found a roundabout way of using scalping to its advantage.
One example of such greed took place last February when Bruce Springsteen fans were forced onto Ticketmaster's resale marketplace TicketsNow. Interested parties thought that they were buying tickets from Ticketmaster directly, but found out later that they had been charged a ridiculous amount for tickets.
They called it a system glitch when "The Boss" called them out, but oddly enough the only tickets that were sold through said glitch were reserves for the band, industry people and radio station giveaways.
Live Nation has many artists under contract, including Madonna and Jay-Z. These artists are hugely popular and get all of their recording and promoting done through the same company.
The amount of money that these artists bring in can potentially make it so that all of the smaller concert promoters can be forced out of business.
There needs to be some kind of legislation passed to help with competition and to ensure that one mega-company does not maintain all of the power in the industry. Ticket prices are already expensive and a merger will only allow prices to climb even higher.
Companies this large lose interest in their customers and just look to create a larger profit margin for themselves. Shows are supposed to be an outlet for fans to be able to experience a direct translation of their favorite music.
But when money becomes the biggest concern it takes away from the experience and people need this outlet in life. Music is the soundtrack for life and the people deserve to be able to experience it at a reasonable price.
Consumers spend what little disposable income they do have on concert tickets, but these days music fans need to save a lot of money because of the rise in facility, convenience and charity charges.
Tickets for a large concert can be easily obtained at much better prices right before the show from scalpers or online at sites like ebay or craigslist. It seems a little sketchy at times, but you usually get a good price that is based on the amount a consumer is able to spend. Taking this route to purchase tickets is frowned upon, but even Ticketmaster has found a roundabout way of using scalping to its advantage.
One example of such greed took place last February when Bruce Springsteen fans were forced onto Ticketmaster's resale marketplace TicketsNow. Interested parties thought that they were buying tickets from Ticketmaster directly, but found out later that they had been charged a ridiculous amount for tickets.
They called it a system glitch when "The Boss" called them out, but oddly enough the only tickets that were sold through said glitch were reserves for the band, industry people and radio station giveaways.
Live Nation has many artists under contract, including Madonna and Jay-Z. These artists are hugely popular and get all of their recording and promoting done through the same company.
The amount of money that these artists bring in can potentially make it so that all of the smaller concert promoters can be forced out of business.
There needs to be some kind of legislation passed to help with competition and to ensure that one mega-company does not maintain all of the power in the industry. Ticket prices are already expensive and a merger will only allow prices to climb even higher.
Companies this large lose interest in their customers and just look to create a larger profit margin for themselves. Shows are supposed to be an outlet for fans to be able to experience a direct translation of their favorite music.
But when money becomes the biggest concern it takes away from the experience and people need this outlet in life. Music is the soundtrack for life and the people deserve to be able to experience it at a reasonable price.
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