How Ticketmaster Destroyed Live Music - More Perfect Union

[TexasTowelie]

Ticketmaster is destroying live music. Their scam fees now cost as much as 78% of a ticket. They control the events, the venues, even the artists. There’s a movement pushing the Justice Department to take on their monopoly. Cory Doctorow breaks it down.

[randr]

1. I went to a Dylan concert this year requireing Ticketmaster purchase

I am glad I have seen hundreds of concerts in my life. Never will I go to a Ticketmaster event again.

[yankee87]

2. Ticketmaster always sucked

They sucked forever. The fees always were outrageous.

[Dustlawyer]

3. Used to go to a lot of concerts with my wife. We always got tickets in the reserve section that had

seats instead of on the grass hill. Overnight those tickets would be sold out already when the tickets went on sale despite us getting access a day before the general public due to our frequent purchases. Those tickets we used to get would all be on sale on the resale market at grossly inflated prices. This monopoly took away our main entertainment option and we have not been to a concert in years.

[groundloop]

4. Ticketmaster lets scalpers purchase tickets & re-sell them at a huge markup through Ticketmaster

It's come out that certain preferred customers (i.e. scalpers) have early access to tickets through the Ticketmaster site. They then resell those tickets, again on the Ticketmaster site, thus giving Ticketmaster a windfall while consumers get screwed. They're pure evil and should be stopped.

[BradBo]

5. If it needs change is certainly won't be the Repugs that change it.

[Auggie]

6. I've been to one major concert in my adult life ...

and it's because of Ticketmaster. I won't support the rip-off.

If I want to see live music I go to small local clubs.

[Warpy]

7. I've been calling them "TicketBastards" for decades

Venues and concert producers are the ones who did this, taking the easy way out by going exclusively through TicketBastards instead of selling at least a percentage of tickets at the box office. That made things cheaper and easier for them but screwed over the prospective audience by allowing TicketBastards to set any price they wanted to.

I've heard people blaming the sports teams, the bands, the theater production, the stadiums and whatever for years. It's not them. It's TicketBastards.