Ticketmaster, SeatGeek Commit To All-In Pricing After 'Junk Fees' Criticism (hollywoodreporter.com) 67
Live Nation and its ticket selling arm Ticketmaster made commitments Thursday to show customers the full price of tickets, including fees, up front. From a report: This announcement came as President Biden invited private sector companies to the White House Thursday, following his calls for federal agencies, Congress and private companies to cut down on junk fees. SeatGeek, which serves the primary and secondary ticketing market, another meeting attendee, also promised to roll-out features this summer that make it easier for customers to see the full price. Live Nation committed to showing the all-in pricing for ticket buyers who attend shows at the more than 200 Live Nation venues at festivals. The company also said it would give customers the option to receive all-in upfront pricing for other tickets sold on Ticketmaster. [...] This follows several months of scrutiny by fans and lawmakers on Live Nation and Ticketmaster following issues with the sale of Taylor Swift tickets in November.
US Congress Could Change That (Score:5, Interesting)
GOP portions of US Congress want to derail an Obama-era rule requiring airlines to publish "all in" seat prices.
https://www.thestreet.com/trav... [thestreet.com]
So the faux outrage by some in US Congress over entertainment seat pricing and demanding "all in" pricing going forward is VERY SUSPECT.
Re:US Congress Could Change That (Score:4, Insightful)
I mean all it'll do it just hide how much bloat there is in the prices.
Re: US Congress Could Change That (Score:2)
I hope it doesnâ(TM)t come to pass. In Canada we had seen flight prices and then at the end of the process would find the price was 300%. Thankfully they pushed for all inclusive prices.
Now if they would only separate âoesuper economyâ and âoeeconomyâ up front when it comes to baggage allowance.
Fuck em (Score:1, Flamebait)
If people are upset at the exorbitant ticket prices they need to stop buying them. That is the easiest solution to this problem, but because it's so easy it won't be done.
Since TicketMaster has a virtual monopoly on tickets, the only way to hurt them is to not buy their product.
The complaint isn't the prices (Score:5, Insightful)
I see a ticket online for $200 bucks each. It's insane, but I save and work extra shifts and tell my family we're going to the show. Then I check out and it's $250 bucks a ticket because of $50 of non-disclosed fees.
I'm pissed, but I've already schedule time off work (which wasn't easy) the kids are expecting to go. So I suck it down.
That's market manipulation of the sort that breaks capitalism. And there's tons of that stuff going on all over the place for literally everything. Without gov't interaction you will get scammed out of every penny. And even if you're somehow so big brained that you're not, everyone around you will and that affects *you*.
It's like we all forgot the phrase "never let a sucker get an even break". I'm so tired of explaining the basic concept of civilization to people online....
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No, I understand it's about the nickel and diming going on and not being told about it. My point was that the ticket prices are too high to begin with, and these "extras" make it even worse. So in addition to complaining about the hidden "fees", people are also complaining about the high prices, partially as a result of the "fees".
Thus, the only way to deal with the issue is to stop buying tickets. The sooner this happens the sooner TicketMast
Re: The complaint isn't the prices (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe by advertising the real price up front it may make it less appealing to charge stupid high prices to start with. Maybe not, if people keep on paying them.
JC Penny tried that (Score:1)
It was a disaster [cnn.com]. The single biggest in retail history and one they have never recovered from.
Psychological tricks work. We know this. The solution isn't to say "tough luck loser, be smrter". It's to ban manipulative practices that we know break the free market.
Otherwise you don't have a free market, because part of a Free Market is giving consumers the information they need to make informed decisions. And if we don't have a free market, well
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Right, so we're going to coordinate a 300 million person boycott of practically all live entertainment for weeks or months until LiveNation lowers their prices? If they controlled say 10% of venues I could see this working, but they have exclusive contracts of practically all major venues in the country.
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Thus, the only way to deal with the issue is to stop buying tickets. The sooner this happens the sooner TicketMaster goes under and the local venues can start doing the ticketing with more reasonable prices.
I don't think you're fully aware of the difference in scale between David and Goliath, here.
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The venues would go under before TicketMaster does. They have exclusivity contracts, so they can't just jump to another ticket selling service. If the US govt would take anti-trust action against those contract terms, we'd have something much better.
Are you a capitalist? (Score:2)
You're just trying to shift responsibility for a societal problem onto individuals because, well, I don't know why. The
Re:Fuck em (Score:4, Insightful)
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Musicians have a good deal of say over how their tickets are sold. There's increasing resistance among performers towards Ticketmaster, too, but it takes time.
Re:Fuck em (Score:4, Insightful)
Unfortunately for the musicians, they need a place to play; and guess who went through and signed contracts with Ticketmaster / Live Nation for all events? The event venues.
The musicians very often have no say in who is selling the tickets, and what shitty practices that entails.
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Unfortunately for the musicians, they need a place to play; and guess who went through and signed contracts with Ticketmaster / Live Nation for all events? The event venues.
The bigger venues, yes. There are many smaller venues that Ticketmaster won't bother with (and that won't bother with them).
The musicians very often have no say in who is selling the tickets, and what shitty practices that entails.
Nobody is forcing the musicians to only, ever play the big venues. That's their choice, when they value their personal income more than anything else, especially the fans. If the artists refused to perform at venues that use Ticketmaster, the venues would find another way to sell tickets.
My own personal favorite artist is 100% independent, recording in her home studio, selling mp3s (an
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Neither is continuing to do business with Ticketmaster (and their in-house scalpers).
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(Does Ticketmaster have a monopoly on Gorge Amphitheater ticket sales too?)
It wouldn't surprise me. After all, they have basically all the venues in Portland from the Moda Center right down to the smaller venues like the Crystal Ballroom / Roseland Theater / Revolution Hall. They own the ticketing at Hayden Homes Amphitheater in Bend too.
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People aren't stealing their music anymore. They found a better deal. Streaming services are paying pennies in royalties but offer a price consumers like. Music theft has gone corporate again.
Musicians gotta eat (Score:2)
Musicians gotta eat too, and by boycotting buying tickets, you're also starving musicians.
Don't boycott buying tickets, just boycott buying tickets FROM TICKETMASTER.
There are thousands of bands that aren't supergroups playing in giant arenas and sellling tickets for hundreds of dollars each; how about supporting some of your local bands, and some of your local concert venues, where it costs you maybe as much as a $5 cover charge?
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Buying the band's merchandise (t-shirts, beanies, sweaters) is another great way to help support the bands, especially if it's off their direct website.
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"Musicians can't make money off record sales"
Why not? Does it cost too much for musicians to produce and distribute music? Or is it people don't value music like they used to and won't pay for it?
"it used to be the live gigs were just promoting the record sales"
I find it odd that fans will pay $200+ to see a show, but won't pay $20 for an album.
"Seems like invoking the antitrust laws to mandate..."
So you want to bring the federal government into this so musicians can make more money and someone else makes l
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Monopolies:the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.
There are no music monopolies anymore. Who controls the control and supply of music? It is amazingly cheap and easy to self create, publish and provide content for free or for sale to the entire world via iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, or your own personal web site. Gone are the days you have to get a contract from a major publisher, bribe radio stations to have your music be heard, or be forced to sign yo
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As you say, they have a virtual monopoly on tickets so you would have to almost entirely forgo live entertainment. It's not like you have the option of seeing your favorite band at another non-ticketmaster venue across the street.
Unfortunately, that's not going to have any impact on Ticketmaster
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As you say, they have a virtual monopoly on tickets so you would have to almost entirely forgo live entertainment.
Only if you're committed to seeing relatively well known (or massively popular) acts. There's plenty of small time, local bands who perform at local venues that Ticketmaster wouldn't deal with if they ever heard of them, and some of them are very talented.
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Obviously, many people would rather feed more money to people who are already rich beyond counting, like Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift, than to support a local band who look for open mic nights when they're not working their day jobs.
I'm sure the wealthy superstars appreciate it, too. As does Ticketmaster, and their in-house scalpers who charge a thousand bucks for a $200 ticket.
Your mother must be proud of you.
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I was wondering if I should address that. There are of course shows at local bars and the such, but that's not a substitute for bigger shows and seeing groups that you might like.
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Some of those local groups are groups I might like. But I'll never know if I spend all my money on scalped tickets for Taylor Swift.
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As you say, they have a virtual monopoly on tickets so you would have to almost entirely forgo live entertainment.
I'm OK with that. Going to a concert is the musical equivalent of going to see a movie in a theater - and they both suck.
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There's always the people like you that show up in these threads. "Stop liking what I don't like"
Why? (Score:2)
They get bought up by the scalper sites and marked up before normal people can buy them so what's the point.
We'll be a good monopoly (Score:4, Funny)
So they make their public-facing pricing practices less visibly deceptive, while getting to keep their stranglehold on the market that causes ridiculous prices in the first place. Sounds like a great deal for Live Nation.
And of course, they'll be meeting up with Joe Biden, who gets to claim he moderated and mediated and both-sidesded his way into solving the problem.
Biden isn't a God King (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't like it? Tough. Elections have consequences, and odds are you voted for this back in 2016. Stop voting for complete corporate tools, show up to the Democratic Party Primary so we can weed them out there (the GOP is a lost cause) and we can bloody damn well fix this.
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Elections have consequences, and odds are you voted for this back in 2016.
The odds are actually that a random voter did not vote for this back in 2016. Because electoral college.
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Joe would have been, maybe not dead last, but very low down on my list in a ranked choice vote. There is a personal overhead cost to participating in additional elections, no matter how easy they make it. The real solution isn't voting in a primary, it's ranked choice voting. A voter won't have to register with any particular party, and neither will a candidate.
Soooo (Score:1)
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Well, that defeats the purpose though. Consider:
1. LiveNation basically locks up all major venues in ticket sales contracts.
2. LiveNation and Ticketmaster are the same entity, for all purposes.
3. LiveNation really loves their junk fees, but there's a little bit of a spotlight on that right now, so they have a few of their outlets just roll it all up into a final price instead of putting the hammer to you when you push the "checkout" button.
4. Other LiveNation properties that aren't in the spotlight will co
Why just Tickemaster? (Score:5, Interesting)
There needs to be some blanket laws that ANY fee that can't be declined is illegal. This 'fees' bullshit is everywhere. The worst I've seen:
Cable company: Broadcast fees. Uh, that is your entire business.
Hotels: Resort fees. Yes, I'm staying at your resort. That's what I'm paying for.
UPS/Fedex: Fuel surcharge. Yes, you are a transport company that uses fuel.
Just about ANY ticket purchases has a 'convenience fee', despite that fact that there is no 'inconvenient' option to purchase the tickets. Even mundane tickets like high school football games or movies.
Re:Why just Tickemaster? (Score:4, Informative)
despite that fact that there is no 'inconvenient' option to purchase the tickets
I thought I was being clever a while ago. I skipped the whole Ticketmaster bullshit for a Twins game and wandered my ass down to the box office to buy tickets, yeah, there was something stupidly equivalent to the "convenience fee" charged there too. I'm sure it was called "hahahahaha! You thought you wouldn't have to pay this" fee.
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My favorite part was years ago when they would send you paper tickets through the mail for free, but they charged a $14 "convenience fee" for digital tickets you printed yourself.
Always charge extra for reducing your own cost! LOL!
Promises, Commitments (Score:2)
HA-HA we all got suckered again. Just now! Don't let the moment pass without acknowledging that you did everything you could possibly do. Welp! Land of the wha? Home of the pist.
This part is troubling. (Score:5, Insightful)
The company also said it would give customers the option to receive all-in upfront pricing for other tickets sold on Ticketmaster.
Will that option be easily implemented by the end-user, or will it be a, "Please log in, then click twenty-seventy three eighty times through this menu, this submenu, this user preference panel, go to the bottom, find this pixel on the lower third of the screen, that moves based on time of day and date, and is a barely contrasting color to the background........" type of option? Because that tends to be what these types of companies end up doing when smacked by the government and told they need to be "more up front."
Corporate Speak Translated to English (Score:3)
ticket vendors: "We'll show you the all-in price, including all fees."
translation: "We're not ELIMINATING any of the fees, we're just going to show them to you up-front. The tickets won't be any cheaper."
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We are altering the deal. Pray we do not alter it further, and enjoy the show!
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They hide the price because they know people will not pay, that means they would need to lower the prices.
they count on people going through the whole process and then since they committed, the consumer will keep going. If the consumer saw the price was actually 2x what it was shown as they might not have bought, or looked for a different event.
ticketing is the worst (Score:4, Insightful)
Peachy. But not nearly enough... (Score:2)
It should goddamned well be mandated under truth-in-advertising and fraud law that the prices displayed to the customer (or prospective customer) IN ALL CASES be inclusive of all taxes, service fees, surcharges, et cetera. If businesses want to be pissy about it and include a breakdown itemizing taxes and government-mandated surcharges fine. But any price increase that is not legally mandatory and they just add for increased revenue, deception or sheer bloody-mindedness (Here's looking at you, Ticketbasta
Ticketmaster must be DESTROYED (Score:2)
Sound familiar? (Score:2)
Every story about this company makes me think of Rick and Morty [wikipedia.org], Raising Gazorpazorp [fandom.com] (s1e7):
Rick: Well obviously Summer it appears the lower tier of this society is being manipulated through sex and advanced technology by a hidden ruling class. Sound familiar?
Summer: Ticketmaster.
Additional Fee (Score:2)
We are providing you with the all-in cost of the ticket including the $8.99 all in ticket pricing fee.
Ticketmaster sucks. The absolute worst. You can't even buy tickets from them anymore, the scalpers buy everything and charge you quadruple.
tipping (Score:2)
It's called a monopoly (Score:1)
They should do this for airlines! (Score:1)
Refunds (Score:2)
The option of obtaining a refund when an event significantly changes (such as a key band member getting sick or injured and needing a substitute) is higher on my priority list than this. Most people won't care and will still go and enjoy the show. In some cases I'd rather have the option of returning the tickets due to a show no longer being what I paid for, especially since reselling is a gamble. Spending $400 on tickets I no longer want but am stuck with, which would require another $600 in travel and