Thank you for explaining this. I recently tried to buy tickets at Madison Square Garden for The 1975, a band that shouldn’t have sold out MSG in 15 minutes, but that is exactly what happened, before my eyes while I was trying to get tickets. I was baffled and deeply disappointed. I like them enough to pay face value for tickets, but not enough to pay hundreds of dollars on the secondary market. I thought it was simply bots and scalpers buying the tickets but now realize Ticketmaster is in on the scam. How depressing that an average person can no longer afford to see most live acts. I recently went to see Billy Bragg at a smaller venue. He’s a die hard socialist, so I’m sure he willfully refuses to work with Ticketmaster. Bought tickets at face value for a reasonable price, no drama. I wish more acts would look out for their fans like he does.
Dude I have seen the Stones twice nosebleed seats back then were 15 bucks. Now they are geriatric and me, too. I am so glad for my cheap seat memories. LoL
This is always the problem when companies get too large. They become monopolistic ventures. Judd, I had no clue that it was this bad. Only because prices are so high in general, I just don't go out to see bands anymore. It's not worth the hassle, the cost to park, eat and anything else in addition to the ticket. Hell, I've seen beer sold at $9 per cup! But this? This is capitalism run amok.
My critical thinking skills are sound, which is how I recognize your inexpert trolling. Keep wriggling Frank. You're a fraud but unfortunately for you, not at all lovable. Merely fraudulent.
Naw. I hire people with good critical thinking skills. You would never get the job. You are an emotive bot of leftist drivel from you media feeds. Clearly you have a lot of unresolved childhood issues. Therapy should be high on your list of needs.
And I am most certainly lovable. Big family and big circle of friends and we hug it out all the time. You too can get there if you work on it. Remove those prickly thorns of victimhood.
As always, you're spouting more garbage Frank. GIGO! You are untruthful and untrustworthy hence, I don't care what you claim. You sir are a troll with trollish ways. I'm the victor and have never claimed victimhood anyway. That would be your purview. I remember you whining about how "the left is so rude." Top your self and be done with it eh?
In any case, you have received all the consideration you'll get from me today. More than you deserve or will ever earn.
Wow! Thanks for this, Judd. I sort of knew what was going on but this is stunning. That Amy Klobuchar, one of my Senators here in MN, sure has a lot of energy to be involved in many “supporting the public” issues. And you, Judd, should be very proud of the great service you perform. Thank you!
Tickermasters horrific service alone demonstrates its monopolistic position. They sold me a concert tix one time that a venue said was sold out when I attempted to enter and then Ticketmaster refused to give refund.
American Express (AE) investigated my refund request and said Ticketmaster agreement allowed therm to not issue refund even though no product / service was rendered! I told AE they needed to choose ' either lose a profitable longterm cardholder or give me my refund. I'm still a happy AE cardholder 10 years later and have not been to a concert that require a Ticketmaster purchase since!!! BREAK IT UP!!!
I have not been to a concert since before the pandemic but I did not know it had gotten this bad. Concert tickets need to be treated like travel. Several websites compete with each other & consumers get a better price. I don't understand how a super competitive industry like live entertainment doesn't have its equivalent of expedias & kayaks. Get Live Nation/Ticketmaster execs in front of Katie Porter and her whiteboard. She'll destroy them.
I paid scalper prices and fees to see Hamilton on Broadway. (I’m embarrassed to admit how much I paid, but it was worth every penny.) I wanted to take my son to see the national touring company in Columbus, but the fees were exorbitant and I just couldn’t justify subsidizing the scam again. I told my son if he wanted to see Hamilton, he would need to go to the box office to buy tickets. So he did. No fees; no drama (except on stage.)
If seeing a performance means paying Ticketmaster, I won’t go. But Ticketmaster doesn’t care. As long as enough other people are willing to pay, they will keep gouging audiences.
Thank God I seldom do this. I saw plenty of really great Rock shows as a young adult when it was cheap, saw some great Broadway shows in theaters. What a greedy mess Fees and all entertainment has become and Ticketmaster has a main stake in it
We should have enough bipartisan support to pass legislation that strengthens anti trust rules and also mandates government bureaucrats to take action. Want to bet that Commerce officials bought and sold shares in advance of this buy out?
Ticketmaster has been a huge ripoff for years. everyone who wants to see a concert or event at a reasonable price should write their US senators and demand antitrust action on this company immediately.
I have also stopped buying tickets to any live shows or events. The cost and fees are outrageous. There is no competition, and scalping is big business. Scalping used to be a crime. It should be a crime.
As a lifelong lover of concerts this has been the bane of my enjoyment of concerts for such a long time. Not to leave behind the fact that dynamic pricing is a shitshow and the virtual waiting room is a piece of junk. That's on top of maddening and non-transparent fees and the monopolistic nature of their business!
I haven't gone to many shows over the past few years for this exact reason. Just bought tickets for blink-182 in 2023 and paid $179 per ticket. Seats on the lower bowl were going for $500 and I thought I was on a resale site. Nope. Direct link to ticketmaster/live nation and the fees were outrageous too. The absolute last seat in the arena was going for $75 to sit in the very last row.
Thanks for this, Judd. I’m so sick of Ticketmasters GOUGING fees! I have actually been so frustrated with their prices that I’ve often decided NOT to buy tickets for a performance or event I very much wanted to see. Ticketmaster seems to be able to rip us off for a very simple service that costs next to nothing to provide. It makes me suspicious that some politicians must be profiting from their sleazy business practices in order to cast a blind eye to the harm they are doing both consumers and performers. Talk about mafioso practices!
An examination of the history of Ticketmaster’s acquisitions and mergers leads to the inevitable conclusion that antitrust laws are largely meaningless; and that holds true whether the administration is Republican or, as in this case, Democratic. Given Ticketmaster’s track record, that the Justice Department permitted this merger to proceed (albeit adding almost laughable conditions) remains a mystery.
Thank you for explaining this. I recently tried to buy tickets at Madison Square Garden for The 1975, a band that shouldn’t have sold out MSG in 15 minutes, but that is exactly what happened, before my eyes while I was trying to get tickets. I was baffled and deeply disappointed. I like them enough to pay face value for tickets, but not enough to pay hundreds of dollars on the secondary market. I thought it was simply bots and scalpers buying the tickets but now realize Ticketmaster is in on the scam. How depressing that an average person can no longer afford to see most live acts. I recently went to see Billy Bragg at a smaller venue. He’s a die hard socialist, so I’m sure he willfully refuses to work with Ticketmaster. Bought tickets at face value for a reasonable price, no drama. I wish more acts would look out for their fans like he does.
I don't even try to go anymore. Not after paying $125 each to see Yes from the nosebleed seats.
Dude I have seen the Stones twice nosebleed seats back then were 15 bucks. Now they are geriatric and me, too. I am so glad for my cheap seat memories. LoL
Right! I remember seeing Bowie at the Allstate Arena for something like $35 each!
This is always the problem when companies get too large. They become monopolistic ventures. Judd, I had no clue that it was this bad. Only because prices are so high in general, I just don't go out to see bands anymore. It's not worth the hassle, the cost to park, eat and anything else in addition to the ticket. Hell, I've seen beer sold at $9 per cup! But this? This is capitalism run amok.
So government refuses to enforce anti trust laws and it is capitalism's fault? Coginitve dissonance much?
You can't even spell the word cognitive properly, useless fraud. Covfefe much?
cognitive
[ kog-ni-tiv ]SHOW IPA
See synonyms for cognitive on Thesaurus.com
📙 Middle School Level
adjective
of or relating to cognition; concerned with the act or process of knowing, perceiving, etc. :
cognitive development; cognitive functioning.
of or relating to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning, as contrasted with emotional and volitional processes.
So you are a Google spelling expert lacking critical thinking skills. At least there is that.
Nice to see you starting the first steps in understanding your malady.
My critical thinking skills are sound, which is how I recognize your inexpert trolling. Keep wriggling Frank. You're a fraud but unfortunately for you, not at all lovable. Merely fraudulent.
Naw. I hire people with good critical thinking skills. You would never get the job. You are an emotive bot of leftist drivel from you media feeds. Clearly you have a lot of unresolved childhood issues. Therapy should be high on your list of needs.
And I am most certainly lovable. Big family and big circle of friends and we hug it out all the time. You too can get there if you work on it. Remove those prickly thorns of victimhood.
As always, you're spouting more garbage Frank. GIGO! You are untruthful and untrustworthy hence, I don't care what you claim. You sir are a troll with trollish ways. I'm the victor and have never claimed victimhood anyway. That would be your purview. I remember you whining about how "the left is so rude." Top your self and be done with it eh?
In any case, you have received all the consideration you'll get from me today. More than you deserve or will ever earn.
Wow! Thanks for this, Judd. I sort of knew what was going on but this is stunning. That Amy Klobuchar, one of my Senators here in MN, sure has a lot of energy to be involved in many “supporting the public” issues. And you, Judd, should be very proud of the great service you perform. Thank you!
Tickermasters horrific service alone demonstrates its monopolistic position. They sold me a concert tix one time that a venue said was sold out when I attempted to enter and then Ticketmaster refused to give refund.
American Express (AE) investigated my refund request and said Ticketmaster agreement allowed therm to not issue refund even though no product / service was rendered! I told AE they needed to choose ' either lose a profitable longterm cardholder or give me my refund. I'm still a happy AE cardholder 10 years later and have not been to a concert that require a Ticketmaster purchase since!!! BREAK IT UP!!!
I have not been to a concert since before the pandemic but I did not know it had gotten this bad. Concert tickets need to be treated like travel. Several websites compete with each other & consumers get a better price. I don't understand how a super competitive industry like live entertainment doesn't have its equivalent of expedias & kayaks. Get Live Nation/Ticketmaster execs in front of Katie Porter and her whiteboard. She'll destroy them.
I paid scalper prices and fees to see Hamilton on Broadway. (I’m embarrassed to admit how much I paid, but it was worth every penny.) I wanted to take my son to see the national touring company in Columbus, but the fees were exorbitant and I just couldn’t justify subsidizing the scam again. I told my son if he wanted to see Hamilton, he would need to go to the box office to buy tickets. So he did. No fees; no drama (except on stage.)
If seeing a performance means paying Ticketmaster, I won’t go. But Ticketmaster doesn’t care. As long as enough other people are willing to pay, they will keep gouging audiences.
I’m with you on paying scalper prices to see Hamilton a few years ago - 100% worth it.
Thank God I seldom do this. I saw plenty of really great Rock shows as a young adult when it was cheap, saw some great Broadway shows in theaters. What a greedy mess Fees and all entertainment has become and Ticketmaster has a main stake in it
We should have enough bipartisan support to pass legislation that strengthens anti trust rules and also mandates government bureaucrats to take action. Want to bet that Commerce officials bought and sold shares in advance of this buy out?
Ticketmaster has to be in the top 3 on the Most Hated American Brands leaderboard by now, right?
Ticketmaster has been a huge ripoff for years. everyone who wants to see a concert or event at a reasonable price should write their US senators and demand antitrust action on this company immediately.
And this was long before they purchased LIVENATION. https://fee.org/articles/pearl-jam-vs-ticketmaster-a-holy-war-on-reaiity/
I have also stopped buying tickets to any live shows or events. The cost and fees are outrageous. There is no competition, and scalping is big business. Scalping used to be a crime. It should be a crime.
As a lifelong lover of concerts this has been the bane of my enjoyment of concerts for such a long time. Not to leave behind the fact that dynamic pricing is a shitshow and the virtual waiting room is a piece of junk. That's on top of maddening and non-transparent fees and the monopolistic nature of their business!
I haven't gone to many shows over the past few years for this exact reason. Just bought tickets for blink-182 in 2023 and paid $179 per ticket. Seats on the lower bowl were going for $500 and I thought I was on a resale site. Nope. Direct link to ticketmaster/live nation and the fees were outrageous too. The absolute last seat in the arena was going for $75 to sit in the very last row.
Thanks for this, Judd. I’m so sick of Ticketmasters GOUGING fees! I have actually been so frustrated with their prices that I’ve often decided NOT to buy tickets for a performance or event I very much wanted to see. Ticketmaster seems to be able to rip us off for a very simple service that costs next to nothing to provide. It makes me suspicious that some politicians must be profiting from their sleazy business practices in order to cast a blind eye to the harm they are doing both consumers and performers. Talk about mafioso practices!
An examination of the history of Ticketmaster’s acquisitions and mergers leads to the inevitable conclusion that antitrust laws are largely meaningless; and that holds true whether the administration is Republican or, as in this case, Democratic. Given Ticketmaster’s track record, that the Justice Department permitted this merger to proceed (albeit adding almost laughable conditions) remains a mystery.
Someone was paid off or otherwise "influenced" perhaps?