Ticketmaster fees have become an unavoidable part of buying tickets for many live events. The fees can add a substantial amount to the base ticket price, often 25% or more. With Ticketmaster controlling a large percentage of major venue ticket sales, it can be difficult for consumers to avoid these fees when buying tickets from the primary market.
What are Ticketmaster fees?
Ticketmaster fees go by several different names but they all serve to increase the final ticket price paid by the consumer. Some of the common Ticketmaster fees include:
- Service fee – This fee covers Ticketmaster’s operating costs and profits.
- Order processing fee – Charged per ticket for each order.
- Facility charge – A fee passed on to the venue.
- Convenience charge – For the convenience of buying tickets online or by phone.
- Delivery fee – For tickets delivered by mail or mobile device.
The exact fees charged can vary based on the event, venue, and method of purchase. The fees are additive, so a single ticket purchase can incur multiple fees that quickly add up.
Why does Ticketmaster charge so many fees?
Ticketmaster defends its fees as necessary to cover the costs of operating its platform and services. However, critics argue the fees extend well beyond recouping reasonable expenses and serve to pad Ticketmaster’s profits. There are a few key reasons Ticketmaster charges so many fees:
- Market power – As one of the largest primary ticket sellers, Ticketmaster faces little competition or incentive to lower fees.
- Captive audiences – Popular live acts partner exclusively with Ticketmaster, leaving fans no primary market choice.
- Venue contracts – Many major venues grant Ticketmaster exclusive rights to handle all ticket sales.
- Opaque pricing – Breaking out fees separately makes base ticket prices appear lower.
- High order volume – The extremely high order volume generates massive profits from small per-ticket fees.
Essentially, Ticketmaster takes advantage of its market position and exclusive venue deals to charge fees that customers have little choice but to pay if they want tickets.
Are Ticketmaster fees avoidable in the primary market?
Avoiding Ticketmaster fees entirely is very difficult if you want to buy tickets directly from the venue or event organizer (known as the primary market). Here are some ways fees can potentially be avoided or minimized when buying primary market tickets:
- Buy directly at the venue box office – This avoids online and delivery fees but may have longer lines and limited ticket availability.
- Use a fan club presale – Popular acts sometimes offer fee-free presales through their fan clubs.
- Look for ticket lotteries or other promotions – Some events offer fee-waived tickets through ticket lotteries or special promos, but these are very limited.
- Find a non-Ticketmaster event – Not common for major concerts and sporting events, but smaller venues may use other ticketing companies.
None of these options are guaranteed to avoid fees and may have other limitations. For highly popular events, Ticketmaster and its fees often seem nearly impossible to circumvent when buying directly from the source. This leads many fans to seek alternatives on secondary markets instead.
How feasible is avoiding fees by buying tickets on secondary markets?
Secondary ticket marketplaces like StubHub and Vivid Seats offer an alternative avenue for buying tickets while potentially dodging some Ticketmaster fees. Here are some things to know about trying to avoid fees by using secondary markets:
- Prices are inflated – Resale prices on secondary markets are almost always marked up well above face value.
- Sellers may still pass on fees – Sellers often tack on shipping, service fees, and their own commissions.
- Fewer consumer protections – Secondary marketplaces offer fewer protections compared to Ticketmaster.
- Tickets may not be valid – There is a risk of fraud and tickets being invalid or unusable.
While secondary markets let buyers avoid some Ticketmaster fees, the trade-offs often make them more expensive in the end. The inflated prices, extra seller fees, and fraud risks mean buyers rarely escape unreasonably high fees one way or another when using secondary ticket markets.
Are there any truly reliable ways to buy tickets fee-free?
Unfortunately for consumers, there are no truly foolproof methods to secure major event tickets without paying fees well above face value. Some options like fan club presales and ticket lotteries provide limited opportunities for primary market fee waivers. But outside of those rare opportunities, paying substantial fees remains an inevitable part of buying tickets to popular live entertainment. Some strategies that may incrementally reduce fees include:
- Purchasing ticket packages or VIP offerings – Thesebundles sometimesinclude feesin the overall pricing.
- Buying season ticket packages – Teams and venues sometimesoffer fee reductionsto season pass holders.
- Looking for promotional discounts – Checkingfor special presales orsaleswith rebatesthat partially offset fees.
The reality remains that for in-demand events, buyers have little leverage to force Ticketmaster or secondary sellers to bring down or eliminate fees. Fans longing to see top artists and teams on tour or in their home stadiums remain at the mercy of a system designed to extract maximum revenues through fees at every turn.
Is it realistic that high ticket fees will decline in the future?
Hoping for lower Ticketmaster fees in the future is likely wishful thinking without major changes in the live events industry. A few factors that entrench the current high-fee dynamics include:
- Ticketmaster’s entrenched market dominance – They control the platforms for a huge percentage of major venues and shows.
- Venues and teams benefit from fees – Those partnerships mean venues actually profit from Ticketmaster’s fees.
- No competing models – No competitor has managed to gain scale with a radically lower-fee model.
- High demand for top acts – Fans swallow high fees rather than miss seeing their favorite performers live.
Unless competitors find ways to successfully disrupt and provide fundamentally different ticketing models at scale, Ticketmaster and other major sellers have little incentive to lower fees. New laws regulating ticket fees might potentially help in theory, but have yet to be enacted in practice.
Could tickets issued via NFT blockchain technology reduce fees?
Some believe crypto-based systems like NFTs (non-fungible tokens) could potentially revolutionize ticketing by eliminating intermediaries like Ticketmaster. In theory, issuing tickets as blockchain tokens tied to buyers’ digital wallets would remove layers of fees and scalping bots. However, several obstacles remain for NFT ticketing including:
- Immature technology – NFT platforms lack capabilities to handle massive live event demand.
- Unregulated markets – NFT secondary markets could easily replicate scalping and high fees.
- Consumer adoption – Mainstream users may struggle with blockchain technology for ticketing.
- Venue cooperation – Venues may resist overhauling existing ticket infrastructure and deals.
NFT ticketing shows promise to reduce fees down the road, but remains highly experimental and unproven at this time. It will take major strides in infrastructure and adoption before it could challenge the dominance of Ticketmaster and other conventional ticketing players.
Will up-and-coming artists offer more opportunities for fee-free tickets?
Less-established artistsfocused on building their fanbases will sometimesoffer fee-free or”pay whatyou want”tickets for certainshows. However, once artists achieve mainstream popularity and success, the financial incentives push them towards standard high-fee ticketing:
- Higher revenues – Big artists and their management want to maximize touring revenues.
- Venue demands – Established venues expect ticketing handled through major providers like Ticketmaster.
- Promoter arrangements – Promoters handling major tours also utilize the major ticketing platforms.
Emerging artists may provide more fee-free access while building an audience. But over time, nearly all successful artists gravitate towards standard ticketing practices focused on revenue over affordability and access. Only the most fiercely independent artists seem able to resist those pressures and continue offering some fee-free options for loyal fans.
Could greater transparency around fees help reduce them?
In theory, requiring ticketing companies to clearly break out and explain each fee rather than lumping costs together could put pressure on them to justify high fees. Potential benefits of detailed fee transparency include:
- Public scrutiny – Attention and backlash from openly disclosing each fee could deter extremes.
- Consumer outrage – Anger over clearly broken-out fees printed on each ticket might spur action.
- Class action risks – Detailing fees could make litigation over alleged gouging more achievable.
However, fee transparency laws face obstacles gaining traction politically. And even implemented, their impact could be limited. Ticketmaster and other sellers thrive on consumer desperation for tickets regardless of fees. Transparency alone may do little to curb venues’ and sellers’ appetite for service charges that enhance revenues.
Does avoiding scalpers help reduce fees?
In theory, selling tickets at face value cuts out the excessive markups charged by scalpers and secondary resellers. But major ticket sellers like Ticketmaster have themselves become expert scalpers. Primary ticket prices are often set artificially low, only to be inflated dramatically again by layers of fees. This model allows Ticketmaster to capture both the initial sale and secondary markup. The reality is fans gain little cost advantage buying from primary sellers versus secondary scalpers. Both models bake in heavy fees padding profits at the buyer’s expense.
Could a critical mass of consumer boycotts impact fees?
Organizing mass boycotts of events with the highest fees has potential to apply public pressure for change. But the feasibility of impactful boycotts faces hurdles:
- Difficult coordination – Rallying enough fans to a cause is challenging.
- Easily replaced – For top shows, boycotters can simply be replaced with other buyers.
- No sacrifices – Many feel attending desired events is worth high fees.
- Lack of alternatives – Viable lower-fee options at scale don’t exist currently.
Without alternatives, Ticketmaster and venues feel little threat of mass defections even from loyal fans. And sacrificing a special event over fees will remain unacceptable to many. While organized efforts raise awareness of issues, transforming awareness into lower fees has proven difficult so far.
Conclusion
The unfortunate reality is that substantial fees have become an unavoidable part of buying tickets to prime live entertainment events. Ticketmaster’s entrenched industry dominance, incentives aligned with venues, and lack of competitive disruption leave fans with little leverage to change a system optimized for revenue over affordability. Until systemic shifts in business models or regulations occur, buyers will remain largely stuck absorbing painfully high fees simply for the privilege of seeing top artists and teams in person.
Die-hard fans longing to see their favorite performers live or cheer on their team in person have proven willing to pay almost any price regardless of fees piled on top. While this persists, and venues and sellers continue profiting massively from those fees, expectations for meaningful reductions remain muted in the foreseeable future. Avoiding the fees completely or bringing them down in a major way will likely take disruptive new technologies, businesses, and policies not yet on the horizon.