I just bought tickets for a couple $12.00 shows. They each came with about $5.00 in service charges, that would have been more had I not paid cash, and even more if I had purchased them over the Internet. Add to this that they have cut their outlets down just about none. I think we have two in all of Western Wayne and Western Oakland Counties where the bulk of SE Michigan's population is. How can this service possibly not be broken? I think I am going to have to start making plans to figure out when ticket counters at the various venues are open and start picking tickets up there, en mass. TicketMaster doesn't get a piece of that pie do they? If so, then can't call these $12 shows anymore can they? I've always been annoyed at the service fees, but I am shocked. I am having an OUTRAGED moment.
Dirt wrote:How much would the tickets be if you bought them at the venue?
Assuming there is no service charge (I don't even know if I can make that assumption with ticketmaster promoted bands), $12.00. That's the way it's always been when I've shown up the night of a show. The problem is that more and more of the shows I like to see are selling out these venues. The Drop Kick Murphy's last week at a venue that held 1600 people literally had hundreds of people outside asking for extra tickets. This is basically TicketMaster's way of scalping.
I've pre-purchased tickets at venues and had to pay Ticketmaster fees. I've gone to cancelled shows and had them not refund the service charge on a refunded ticket.
Unless there is someone I really want to see, I just won't go if there are Ticketmaster fees. Instead, I to go to local venues day of show (and can just walk home if they're sold out) or see friends' bands.
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LawBeefaroni wrote:I've pre-purchased tickets at venues and had to pay Ticketmaster fees.
That's what I was wondering. That's totally puppies. So the only way to get around that service charge is buy tickets at the counter the night of the event? Someone really, really needs to take ticketmaster down.
Hmm. I purchase advance tickets for things at venues quite often, and I can't ever recall paying a ticketmaster fee.
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Pearljam tried to take Ticketmaster down several years ago. They went to some congressional hearings on the matter but nothing came of it. Yet another "sanctioned" monopoly from the gov'ment.
buying tickets directly from the venue's box office usually lets you circumvent the Ticketmaster fees...i've done it on many occassions. the biggest downside, however, is that means waiting in long lines for events that are likely to sell out quickly...
disarm wrote:buying tickets directly from the venue's box office usually lets you circumvent the Ticketmaster fees...i've done it on many occassions. the biggest downside, however, is that means waiting in long lines for events that are likely to sell out quickly...
IIRC it happened to me at the House of Blues when I tried to pre-purchase tickets.
Box Office Hours:
Aladdin Box Office is open Monday-Saturday 11:00am-6:00pm and also performance nights-one hour prior to showtime. Service charges applicable for all tickets.
EDIT: I did some thinking about it after my HoB experience and I guessed that Ticketmaster charges them for managing ticket availability and thus the box office also has to pay the service charge for each ticket sold. It may vary by venue because some might just keep a seperate allotment for box office sales and give the rest to Ticketmaster to manage. That way they don't have to keep track of each others' sales to avoid over selling.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. Merton MYT
That link doesn't seem like anything is going to change. There was a view where I could see the All-in price for the tickets I was looking at. Just knowing that the tickets are going to be 150% of face value would follow the rule without changing anything.
Such BS. They're not "dumping" anything, only saying that they'll show the price with fees included on the ticket listing so you won't be 'suprised' when you see the actual price at checkout. Of course this now means that it will be less obvious just how much of the final cost is "junk fees" added to the actual ticket cost.
I'm still waiting for someone from LiveNation/Ticketmaster to explain why the service fee they (or any other resale site for that matter) charge is in any way related to the ticket price. Why does it cost them more to provide me with a ticket to the show just because the ticket itself comes with a higher price tag? Fees should be fixed, not a percentage of the ticket cost.
disarm wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 3:31 pm
I'm still waiting for someone from LiveNation/Ticketmaster to explain why the service fee they (or any other resale site for that matter) charge is in any way related to the ticket price. Why does it cost them more to provide me with a ticket to the show just because the ticket itself comes with a higher price tag? Fees should be fixed, not a percentage of the ticket cost.
I guess that I should amend my comment a little bit in fairness to ticket resale sites like StubHub, Vivid seats and others because they're not quite the same as LiveNation/Ticketmaster.
The fee charged by a first-time seller of a ticket should be a fixed cost. If an artist/production/venue wants to charge a high price for their tickets that's their choice, but Ticketmaster charging a fee that increases as a percentage of the price of that ticket is wrong because the cost for Ticketmaster to provide their service has nothing to do with the ticket price.
Ticket resale services are different because they exist solely to profit as a middle-man for resellers. StubHub (or similar) takes a percentage of the ticket price as their fee for service in a way that's agreed upon by all parties using the service. It's like choosing to play poker at a casino knowing that they take a cut because it's easier than finding a backroom game or hosting at home. Both the individual reselling a ticket and consumer purchasing it secondhand have the option to acquire tickets in another way that might not impose the same fees.
Ticketmaster/LiveNation, however, have an unavoidable monopoly on the first-time sale market for most major shows and venues that prevents consumers from acquiring face value tickets in any other way. They impose their percentage-based fee on the initial sale of a ticket just for providing the service when their actual cost of doing business has nothing to do with the ticket price. They've been taking advantage of consumers for decades and regulators have no interest in forcing meaningful change.
disarm wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 3:31 pm
I'm still waiting for someone from LiveNation/Ticketmaster to explain why the service fee they (or any other resale site for that matter) charge is in any way related to the ticket price. Why does it cost them more to provide me with a ticket to the show just because the ticket itself comes with a higher price tag? Fees should be fixed, not a percentage of the ticket cost.
We had a local show my wife wanted to go to this summer that was part of LiveNation's $25 ticket "deal." Two $25 tickets were going to cost me $90. No thanks. I don't claim to be a math genius, but I do know charging someone 80% of their total ticket cost in fees and taxes is BS.
I bought tickets to Miami vs Atlanta MLS through Ticketmaster because Messi and Ticketmaster is the official ticket provider for MLS. Tickets were $145 each, 3 tickets equals $435, after Ticketmaster fees, $535. Then they wanted another $100 to insure them. Fuck that. I decided to take my chances and not get the insurance.
I've heard horror stories on trying to claim the insurance anyhow.
The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.
“PSI [Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations] first wrote to Live Nation/Ticketmaster on March 24, 2023, seeking documents and information in connection with this inquiry,” Blumenthal’s letter continued. “Despite nearly eight months and extensive efforts to obtain voluntary compliance, Live Nation/Ticketmaster has failed to fully comply with PSI’s requests, including refusing to produce certain documents critical to the Subcommittee’s inquiry.”
A Live Nation Entertainment spokesperson told Motherboard in an emailed statement, “Live Nation has voluntarily worked with the Subcommittee for many months, and we’ve already provided over 10,000 documents and held several meetings with staff. The subcommittee is seeking additional information about how artists set prices and venues determine fees, but we do not feel comfortable sharing this information without standard confidentiality measures. Thus far the Subcommittee has refused to provide such assurances, but if and when those protections are in place we will provide additional information on these topics.”
That text from Live nations smells of outright lies and pure stalling mouth service.
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Our community has mostly eschewed Ticketmaster/LiveNation when it comes to concerts and events. I can't even remember the last time I've had to use them. Most of what I see these days goes through eventbrite or some other booking system. Heck, last concert I went to had proceeds going to charity, which I don't think you'd ever see with Ticketmaster.
In a non-ticketmaster experience, I just bought 4 MLB Giants tickets at $20 a pop with no fees for Black Friday. It was so nice. Now if I can find parking that isn't $50, and concessions that don't require a 2nd mortgage.
Six US senators have introduced a new “Fans First Act” to address flaws in the live event ticketing system by increasing transparency in ticket sales, protecting consumers from fake or overpriced tickets, and building accountability measures for bad actors.
The bipartisan bill, brought to Congress by three Republicans (John Cornyn of Texas, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Roger Wicker of Mississippi) and three Democrats (Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Peter Welch of Vermont and Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico), is the latest effort by Congress to combat high and exploitative ticket pricing for concerts and other live events.
...
According to an announcement signed by the six senators, the Fans First Act seeks to improve pricing transparency by requiring all live event ticket sellers and resellers to disclose the total cost of the ticket, including fees, when the fan initially selects a ticket for purchase; a breakdown of the ticket cost; clear terms and conditions of purchase; which seat or section they are selling in order to avoid ticket misrepresentation; and whether or not they are the original seller.
The act would also strengthen the Better Online Ticket Sales (Bots) Act, signed into law in 2016, to further prohibit the use of bots to purchase tickets online, and would impose civil penalties on resellers engaging in illegal ticket sale practices. The bill would create a reporting website for fans to file complaints, to be enforced and monitored by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general. And it seeks to stop bad actors by prohibiting the sale of “spec” tickets which resellers do not yet possess, prevents the use of deceptive websites and bad actors masquerading as legitimate sellers, and requires reporting of Bots Act violations from ticketing companies to the FTC.
I'm ready for something to be done. My daughter is getting to the age where she wants to go to concerts, and the prices are just freaking asinine. I'm talking $200+ for people that have maybe an album or two. I mean come on, there was a time not long ago when I'd consider $200 to be like Rolling Stones level pricing, not some singer I've never heard of.
It seems like post-pandemic the ticket prices have gone absolutely through the roof. It's getting hard to find lawn seats here for less than $75 which is completely insane. And again, this is for artists who are mediocre at best.
It's the natural result of how we get music now (without buying it). Musicians used to tour to boost album sales. Now they tour to make the majority of their income. (ie. bloated ticket prices and merch sales.)
Black Lives Matter
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gilraen wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2024 12:33 pm
Ticketmaster is the main reason I pretty much stopped going to concerts.
They were the exact reason I stopped going to large venue shows. COVID and before that work stress and exhaustion seemed to have finished me off. I plan to get out and see shows again... Once day...
I've noticed high prices are everywhere for concerts now, and it's not just Ticketmaster. Our local multi-day music festival used to be quite affordable, especially if you were buying an all-weekend pass. In the past it hovered between $90-100 per person to attend. Now I notice it's $120 per person, and the lineup hasn't been the most exciting these past several years, and there's nothing terribly exciting about it this year. But wait, there's more! They're hoping to entice out-of-town festival goers by offering a hotel and festival package to the tune of $700 per person. And they're not even using Ticketmaster or Livenation for their ticketing service.
Rumpy wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2024 1:23 pm
I've noticed high prices are everywhere for concerts now, and it's not just Ticketmaster. Our local multi-day music festival used to be quite affordable, especially if you were buying an all-weekend pass. In the past it hovered between $90-100 per person to attend. Now I notice it's $120 per person, and the lineup hasn't been the most exciting these past several years, and there's nothing terribly exciting about it this year. But wait, there's more! They're hoping to entice out-of-town festival goers by offering a hotel and festival package to the tune of $700 per person. And they're not even using Ticketmaster or Livenation for their ticketing service.
The problem with Ticketmaster isn't high concert prices in general (though that is a real problem, as well). It's that if I want to drop $200 on tickets, I'm paying Ticketmaster another $60 for that service. And if the tickets were re-sold (from someone who also already paid Ticketmaster that $60), it's another 10% off what I paid for the re-sold tickets.
The issue IMO is that there is absolutely no connection between Ticketmaster's costs and what they charge. They obviously provide a service, but it's not a particularly good one (from an end-user experience perspective by 2024 e-commerce standards), and is certainly one that has a relatively minimal cost to provide in 2024. If they were doing something amazing to justify that incredibly high fee structure, one would think they wouldn't shit the bed whenever Taylor Swift announces a new tour.
Rumpy wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2024 1:23 pm
I've noticed high prices are everywhere for concerts now, and it's not just Ticketmaster. Our local multi-day music festival used to be quite affordable, especially if you were buying an all-weekend pass. In the past it hovered between $90-100 per person to attend. Now I notice it's $120 per person, and the lineup hasn't been the most exciting these past several years, and there's nothing terribly exciting about it this year. But wait, there's more! They're hoping to entice out-of-town festival goers by offering a hotel and festival package to the tune of $700 per person. And they're not even using Ticketmaster or Livenation for their ticketing service.
The problem with Ticketmaster isn't high concert prices in general (though that is a real problem, as well). It's that if I want to drop $200 on tickets, I'm paying Ticketmaster another $60 for that service. And if the tickets were re-sold (from someone who also already paid Ticketmaster that $60), it's another 10% off what I paid for the re-sold tickets.
Yeah, that's the thing. Just out of curiosity, I went to see how much tickets would be, and I noticed service fees on top of that. For a 4-day festival pass, it's currently $135CAD+$11 Fees. So other services are doing it now too.
I've heard the CEO of LiveNation/Ticketmaster on podcasts. His vision of the future of ticketing for concerts/sports is infuriating and nothing I want any part of. But I can see how he can easily sell the customer knowledge and tracking to venues/performers/teams.
Rumpy wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2024 1:23 pm
I've noticed high prices are everywhere for concerts now, and it's not just Ticketmaster. Our local multi-day music festival used to be quite affordable, especially if you were buying an all-weekend pass. In the past it hovered between $90-100 per person to attend. Now I notice it's $120 per person, and the lineup hasn't been the most exciting these past several years, and there's nothing terribly exciting about it this year. But wait, there's more! They're hoping to entice out-of-town festival goers by offering a hotel and festival package to the tune of $700 per person. And they're not even using Ticketmaster or Livenation for their ticketing service.
The problem with Ticketmaster isn't high concert prices in general (though that is a real problem, as well). It's that if I want to drop $200 on tickets, I'm paying Ticketmaster another $60 for that service. And if the tickets were re-sold (from someone who also already paid Ticketmaster that $60), it's another 10% off what I paid for the re-sold tickets.
Yeah, that's the thing. Just out of curiosity, I went to see how much tickets would be, and I noticed service fees on top of that. For a 4-day festival pass, it's currently $135CAD+$11 Fees. So other services are doing it now too.
That's actually instructive as to how bad Ticketmaster/LiveNation are. Your example is ~8% in fees. My Ticketmaster example is ~30%. Ticketmaster isn't competing, because it doesn't have to.
The event tickets industry is completely screwed up, and it's not just LiveNation/Ticketmaster.
I just bought tickets to a music festival in CT in September, paying $350 for a one-day ticket to see ten bands (including the Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age). Considering the lineup for that day (and that I paid extra for perks such as guarantee space closer to the stage), I don't consider the cost of the ticket to be exorbitant...but then the ticketing company hit me with a mandatory $10 charge to send my ticket in the mail via USPS ($20 expedited UPS also available). One could argue that it does cost them something to mail my pass that is an actual showable pass to access special areas of the festival, but it sure as hell doesn't cost them $10 to send it through USPS, and maybe that should just be part of the cost of the already-expensive ticket rather than a separate charge. At least the optics are better if you don't slap an overcharge for snail mail on during checkout. And to make matters worse? I also bought a parking pass so that me and my 10yo son know that we'll have a place to park within walking distance of the venue (still almost two miles away). The cost? Another $60...plus another $10 fee for them to mail the hang tag to me separate from the event tickets because I couldn't buy both at the same time
This event has already left me with the impression of being one of the biggest money grabs I've ever attended, and that's just the ticket buying process. I know I could have easily chosen not to go, but my son is going to love seeing the Foo Fighters, so this is the price I pay...
Rumpy wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2024 1:23 pm
I've noticed high prices are everywhere for concerts now, and it's not just Ticketmaster. Our local multi-day music festival used to be quite affordable, especially if you were buying an all-weekend pass. In the past it hovered between $90-100 per person to attend. Now I notice it's $120 per person, and the lineup hasn't been the most exciting these past several years, and there's nothing terribly exciting about it this year. But wait, there's more! They're hoping to entice out-of-town festival goers by offering a hotel and festival package to the tune of $700 per person. And they're not even using Ticketmaster or Livenation for their ticketing service.
The problem with Ticketmaster isn't high concert prices in general (though that is a real problem, as well). It's that if I want to drop $200 on tickets, I'm paying Ticketmaster another $60 for that service. And if the tickets were re-sold (from someone who also already paid Ticketmaster that $60), it's another 10% off what I paid for the re-sold tickets.
Yeah, that's the thing. Just out of curiosity, I went to see how much tickets would be, and I noticed service fees on top of that. For a 4-day festival pass, it's currently $135CAD+$11 Fees. So other services are doing it now too.
That's actually instructive as to how bad Ticketmaster/LiveNation are. Your example is ~8% in fees. My Ticketmaster example is ~30%. Ticketmaster isn't competing, because it doesn't have to.
I agree. I'm just glad that I don't have to deal much with Ticketmaster in my area. But you can see its influence has been spreading to other ticketing services.
Add to this that they have cut their outlets down just about none. I think we have two in all of Western Wayne and Western Oakland Counties where the bulk of SE Michigan's population is. How can this service possibly not be broken? I think I am going to have to start making plans to figure out when ticket counters at the various venues are open and start picking tickets up there, en mass. TicketMaster doesn't get a piece of that pie do they? If so, then can't call these $12 shows anymore can they? I've always been annoyed at the service fees, but I am shocked. I am having an OUTRAGED moment.
