Ticketmaster has become almost synonymous with buying tickets for live events like concerts, sports games, and more. As the world’s largest ticket sales and distribution company, they sell tickets on behalf of event organizers using their powerful platform and extensive partnerships. This has led to Ticketmaster controlling a huge percentage of major event tickets, effectively establishing a near monopoly in the primary ticket market. Their dominance has often been a source of frustration for consumers who have no choice but to pay high fees when buying through Ticketmaster. So why does this company have such a stranglehold on live event ticketing, and is there any way we can get rid of them?
How did Ticketmaster get so big?
Ticketmaster was founded in 1976 as a means to centralize and computerize ticket sales. In its early days, it mainly sold tickets for local venues and promoters. This began to change in 1991 when Ticketmaster partnered with promoter Live Nation. Together, they began signing exclusive agreements with major venues and sports franchises, shutting out competitors.
In 2010, Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged into the world’s largest live events company called Live Nation Entertainment. This gave Ticketmaster unrivaled access and control over much of the live event ticketing market. Today, Ticketmaster sells tickets for over 500 major arenas, stadiums, festivals, and venues across the US.
Additionally, Ticketmaster has been aggressive in acquiring various ticketing platforms and secondary market ticket exchanges. This includes their 2008 acquisition of TicketsNow, one of their main Ticket resale market competitors.
They have also expanded internationally and serve over 30 countries globally. This extensive reach and integration across live events has been a key factor in Ticketmaster’s continued dominance over the primary ticket market.
Ticketmaster’s exclusivity deals make competition difficult
A major challenge in rivaling Ticketmaster is their exclusive long-term contracts with major venues, sports teams, and promoters. Ticketmaster typically signs multi-year exclusive agreements to be the official and only primary ticketing service for that client. They leverage their vast resources and capabilities to secure these coveted deals.
This makes it extremely hard for competitors to make any headway. Even if a competitor builds superior technology and services, they simply have no inventory to sell since so many major tickets are locked up in Ticketmaster contracts.
These exclusivity deals also give Ticketmaster tremendous negotiating power over venues and teams. Since these clients have no other ticket service alternative, they are forced to take whatever deal and fees Ticketmaster insists on.
This lack of competition and cost pressures has allowed Ticketmaster to impose higher fees on ticket buyers to boost their profits. Fans have grumbled for years about exorbitant Ticketmaster fees that can sometimes exceed the base ticket price itself.
They are integrated across live events
Another formidable advantage is Ticketmaster’s entrenched role across live events. Their ticketing platform is deeply integrated with many major venues’ internal systems for gate security, access control, sales analytics, and more.
Moving to a new ticketing provider would be massively disruptive since it would require redoing all of these vital interfaces and hardware. Their proprietary technology and databases also give Ticketmaster powerful real-time data on ticket sales, attendance, and customer demographics that venues depend on to improve future events.
Essentially, Ticketmaster has become the backbone technology enabling large-scale live events to function smoothly. Their substantial infrastructure investments and specialized expertise serve as high barriers to venues abandoning them for unproven competitors.
Consumers have limited ticketing options
The lack of consumer choice is another reason why Ticketmaster maintains dominance. For major concerts or games, fans have no option but to purchase through Ticketmaster since they are the exclusive seller. Even if outraged by fees, fans cannot take their business elsewhere when tickets are only available on Ticketmaster.
Government regulators have examined Ticketmaster over antitrust concerns due to their outsized market control. However, they have not been accused of violating laws since venue and promoter contracts are mutually agreed upon rather than imposed. Ticketmaster can argue they are not blocking others from competing for exclusive deals.
Though unpopular, Ticketmaster’s high fees and restrictive terms are technically legal as the cost of them securing so much elite ticket inventory. Until consumers have more primary market options or boycott events, Ticketmaster has little incentive to reduce fees or relax restrictions.
Some upstarts are challenging the status quo
Despite the daunting obstacles, some companies are attempting to take on Ticketmaster’s supremacy.
Secondary ticket market StubHub offers ticket resales between fans, sometimes at prices lower than Ticketmaster. AXS provides primary ticket sales for Anschutz Entertainment Group’s portfolio of venues. SeatGeek, a search engine for tickets, is moving into primary sales.
However, none have made substantial dents in Ticketmaster’s position yet. The sheer amount of exclusive contracts they have locked up gives Ticketmaster control over 60-70% of major live event primary tickets in the US.
Smaller venues and festivals often use independent or upstart ticketing platforms. But even they may eventually get acquired by Ticketmaster once they reach a certain scale. For example, Ticketmaster bought Front Gate Tickets and Universe to boost their presence in festival ticketing. As live events continue recovering from COVID impacts, expect Ticketmaster to aggressively protect their dominant standing through further exclusivity deals and strategic acquisitions.
Blockchain ticketing aims to decentralize the industry
Some technologists and event organizers believe decentralized blockchain ticketing could disrupt Ticketmaster’s control. By selling virtual tokenized tickets on a blockchain, middlemen like Ticketmaster can potentially be removed.
Smart contracts automatically control ticket access, transferring, and pricing via an open distributed ledger. This allows peer-to-peer exchange of tickets between fans without centralized oversight. The transparency and security of blockchain tickets also reduces fraud and scalping issues.
However, blockchain technology faces immense practical and regulatory hurdles currently in becoming a feasible ticketing solution for large-scale events. Ticketmaster also has ample resources to lobby against unfavorable blockchain ticketing laws or develop their own blockchain solutions. They already invested in blockchain company UPGRADED.
While innovative, decentralized blockchain ticketing still seems far from mass adoption currently. But it does represent an emerging paradigm shift that could slowly loosen Ticketmaster’s grip long-term.
Regulators may need to step in
Barring a major technology disruption, Ticketmaster’s entrenched position may be too formidable to overcome through normal free market competition. Their extensive exclusive deals and vertical integration make it almost impossible for rivals to gain any foothold.
This lack of consumer choice and unchecked market power is why many have called for regulatory involvement. Government antitrust action broke up monopolistic companies like Standard Oil and AT&T when competition failed to do so.
Some have proposed banning Ticketmaster from signing new exclusive long-term venue contracts. Others call for spinning off their secondary resale divisions to reduce conflicts of interest. Strict fee caps could also be enacted.
However, regulatory intervention is notoriously slow and often ineffective against wealthy powerful corporations. Ticketmaster will fight tooth and nail against any measures threatening their business model or profitability. Their deep pockets and connections afford them major lobbying influence.
Barring a major scandal or consumer revolt, Ticketmaster’s dominance may be too entrenched to easily dismantle through regulatory means alone. But it is an avenue worth monitoring as public frustration toward their fees and restrictions continues mounting.
Consumers must pressure venues, teams, and promoters
Ultimately, the key to ending Ticketmaster’s stranglehold is reducing their exclusive contracts at the source. As long as major venues, sports teams, and promoters keep agreeing to restrictive deals, Ticketmaster retains control.
These are rational business decisions for clients to maximize profitability and minimize risk. But it comes at the expense of consumer choice and satisfaction.
Fans can try pressuring their favorite venues, artists, and teams through petitions and boycotts. If these clients see public sentiment turning against Ticketmaster substantially, they may be persuaded to go with other ticketing options or demand less restrictive contracts. Even high-profile artists like Bruce Springsteen have criticized Ticketmaster’s practices.
Widespread sustained consumer action and buy-in is difficult but not impossible to achieve nowadays through social media. Fans have significant collective power to influence the ticketing ecosystem if they strategically target the venue and promoter decision-makers enabling Ticketmaster’s continuing domination.
Conclusion
In summary, Ticketmaster retains a virtual monopoly over primary event ticketing due to its entrenched exclusivity deals, vertical integration, technological infrastructure, and limited consumer options. Rival startups and blockchain ticketing have not yet made a major dent. Barring an unforeseen collapse or regulatory breakup, Ticketmaster’s supremacy looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future. The best chance for change comes from consumers applying pressure on venues, promoters, and teams to open up ticketing alternatives. But Ticketmaster will fight tooth and nail to protect its long-held dominant position. Until their exclusive contracts stranglehold is broken, fans will remain stuck with Ticketmaster’s high fees and restrictions for major live events.