Yes, Ticketmaster is a real company. It is one of the largest ticket sales and distribution companies in the world. Ticketmaster provides ticketing services for many large venues and events. It sells tickets online, by phone, and at box office outlets.
What does Ticketmaster do?
Ticketmaster acts as a ticket distributor and marketplace. It provides ticketing services for concerts, sports games, theater shows, and other live events. Ticketmaster has contracts with many venues, promoters, bands, sports teams, and theaters to sell tickets to events. It sells these tickets through its website, mobile apps, phone centers, and retail outlet locations.
Some of the key services and functions of Ticketmaster include:
- Serving as the official box office for many venues
- Selling tickets online to events at all Ticketmaster partner venues
- Offering phone and retail ticket sales for events
- Providing ticket resale/exchange services through its TicketExchange platform
- Offering special presales and VIP packages for certain events
- Providing ticket delivery and will call pickup services
- Partnering with clients to market events and boost ticket sales
Essentially, Ticketmaster handles all aspects of ticket sales, distribution, and fan management for its entertainment clients. It serves both the venues/promoters who want to efficiently sell event tickets and the fans who want to easily buy tickets.
What events use Ticketmaster?
Ticketmaster sells tickets to a wide variety of live entertainment events. Some of the main events and venues that use Ticketmaster for ticketing include:
- Concerts – Large concerts by major pop, rock, country, R&B, and other musical artists use Ticketmaster to sell tickets. This includes arena concerts, stadium shows, amphitheater shows, and festival concerts.
- Professional sports – Major pro sports leagues like the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS, and NASCAR use Ticketmaster for ticket sales to their games. The company tickets events at stadiums, arenas, racetracks, and other large venues.
- Theater/performing arts – Many Broadway shows, touring theater productions, dance performances, orchestras, and operas use Ticketmaster ticketing.
- College sports – Numerous college athletic programs and conferences work with Ticketmaster as their ticket provider.
- Comedy shows – Stand-up comedy tours and comedy festival events often use Ticketmaster ticketing.
- Family shows – Things like Disney on Ice, the Harlem Globetrotters, monster truck rallies, and other family-friendly shows partner with Ticketmaster.
- Local venues – Smaller music clubs, theaters, and other local venues in certain cities may use Ticketmaster for their ticketing too.
Across all of these live entertainment categories, Ticketmaster provides ticketing services to hundreds of venues and promoters around the world. It sells over 400 million tickets per year across 29 countries.
What are the major Ticketmaster brands?
Ticketmaster has several different brands and services under its live entertainment ticketing umbrella. Some of Ticketmaster’s major brands and platforms include:
- Ticketmaster – The core Ticketmaster website and app that allow customers to search events, check seating charts, and buy tickets.
- TicketExchange – A resale marketplace where fans can safely buy tickets from other fans or resell their own tickets.
- TIX – A more discounted, no-frills ticketing site that offers lower fees and prices.
- TicketWeb – A self-service ticketing platform for smaller venues and promoters to sell their own tickets.
- Stage Tix – Special ticketing services for theater and performing arts events.
- PAC Manager – A ticketing system for arts centers, museums, zoos, and other similar attractions.
- Ticketmaster for Business – Corporate ticket sales services for employee and client entertainment.
Ticketmaster has acquired or merged with many of these other ticketing platforms over the years to expand its services across different live entertainment categories and markets.
What are Ticketmaster’s fees?
In addition to the face value ticket prices set by event holders, Ticketmaster charges various fees on each ticket purchase. These fees help fund Ticketmaster’s ticketing services and often get passed back to venues as well. Some standard Ticketmaster fees include:
| Fee Name | What It Covers | Fee Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Service fee | Ticketmaster’s operating costs | Typically 12-25% of ticket price |
| Order processing fee | Fulfillment costs per order | $5.95 per ticket order |
| Delivery fee | Email or mail delivery | $2.50+ per ticket |
| Facility charge | Money passed to the venue | Varies by venue |
There are sometimes additional fees for things like ticket insurance or special VIP packages too. The many fees lead some consumers to complain about hidden costs on Ticketmaster. But they are necessary to fund the ticketing services.
Does Ticketmaster have monopolistic practices?
Some consumers, politicians, and activists have accused Ticketmaster of monopolistic practices in the live entertainment ticketing industry. Critics argue that Ticketmaster uses anti-competitive tactics to dominate ticketing for major concert venues and teams. Some common anti-trust criticisms of Ticketmaster include:
- Exclusive long-term venue contracts – Ticketmaster locks down exclusive, long multi-year contracts with venues/teams to be their sole ticketer.
- Acquisitions of competitors – Ticketmaster has acquired competitors like Ticketron and Paciolan to eliminate competition.
- Bundling/tying practices – Venues must use Ticketmaster’s other services to get access to its powerful ticketing platform.
- Predatory fees – Critics claim Ticketmaster’s high fees stem from lack of competition, not costs.
- No viable competitor – There is no real major competitor today that has Ticketmaster’s reach and inventory.
Ticketmaster maintains that it does not have an illegal monopoly and its success is driven by superior technology, services, and capabilities. But watchdog groups argue its dominance severely limits consumer choice and drives up prices in live entertainment ticketing.
Who owns and runs Ticketmaster?
Ticketmaster is a wholly owned division of global entertainment and ticketing conglomerate Live Nation Entertainment. Here are some key facts about Ticketmaster’s current ownership and leadership:
- Parent Company: Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV)
- Key Executives:
- Michael Rapino – President and CEO of Live Nation Entertainment
- Joe Berchtold – Chief Financial Officer of Live Nation Entertainment
- Greg Economou – Commercial Leader of Ticketmaster
- Sally Williams – General Manager of Ticketmaster North America
- Headquarters: Beverly Hills, California
- Key Locations: Additional major offices in New York City, Nashville, Orlando, London, and Stockholm
- Ownership History:
- Founded as an independent company in 1976
- Merged with Live Nation in 2010
- Part of Live Nation Entertainment since the merger
So in summary, Ticketmaster is currently part of Live Nation, the world’s largest live entertainment and ticketing company. It operates as a division within that larger global enterprise.
How much revenue does Ticketmaster generate?
As one of the largest players in live event ticketing, Ticketmaster generates billions in annual revenue. According to its parent company’s financial reports, here are Ticketmaster’s revenue figures from the last 3 years:
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2020 | $6.4 billion |
| 2021 | $3.25 billion |
| 2022 | $3.62 billion |
The sharp decline in revenue from 2020 to 2021 was the result of the COVID-19 pandemic grounding live events for much of 2021. However, as event attendance picked up again in 2022, Ticketmaster’s revenues have been rebounding. The company predicts further revenue growth in 2023 as entertainment activity continues to recover further on the post-COVID live event rebound.
Conclusion
In summary, Ticketmaster is a large and real ticketing company that provides ticket sales, distribution, and related services for live entertainment events and venues. It sells hundreds of millions of tickets per year across concert tours, pro sports, theater, and other events. Ticketmaster uses exclusive deals and acquisitions to maintain dominant ticketing market share. But its position also draws significant criticism from those who allege the company engages in monopolistic and anti-competitive practices. As a division within Live Nation Entertainment, Ticketmaster continues working to expand its ticket inventory and services across the live entertainment sector around the world.