Live & Touring

2 Dirty Little Secrets Of The Ticketing Biz

As the Live Nation Ticketmaster merger winds its way through the approval process both in the U.S. and Europe, two very dirty little secrets are coming to light that music industry insiders have known for years, but have chosen to ignore.

1. KICK BACKS – A large percentage of the heinous fees that Ticketmaster adds to each ticket does not go to pay the company's overhead. It is paid as a kickback to the promoter, the venue or both.  In exchange for signing with Ticketmaster exclusively, the promoter and venue get $1-$3 of each ticket. .

2. FANS NEVER GET THE BEST SEATS – 15 – 20% of the best tickets are withheld by the venue or promoter for insiders and to be re-sold on the secondary market on sites like StubHub.  If the show is hot, the percentages can be even higher.  And with the purchase of  resllerTicketsNow, Ticketmaster is both encouraging and promoting the practice.

These two facts of ticketing life were mentioned in passing at the recent Congressional hearings., but no one, even those that question the merger, seems ready to address them.

Bruce Houghton on 03/04/2009 in Live & Touring | Permalink | Comments (5)
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5 Comments

  1. Hi Bruce
    Proof read someone you need blogg this. My brain going trying to read crazy going!
    “And with the purchase of TicketsNow, Ticketmaster is both encouraging and promoting from the practice.”
    “It is paid a kickback to the promoter, the venue or both.”
    “two very dirty little secrets are coming to light that music industry insiders have known for year but chosen to ignore.”
    Outside of that, keep up the good work.
    Tricky

  3. bruce,
    def solid points.
    on #1 — keep in mind that ticket fees often also go back to the artist and/or artist management, not just the venue/promoter — which might be considered a diff. kind of kickback.
    on #2 — there are some legitimate uses of the 10-20% holds, as artists often reserve a percentage of the house for fan club or direct-to-fan pre-sales. you might be referencing other kinds of holds outside of the artists’ holds. not sure. but it’s important to understand that these holds aren’t always going to auctions.
    -whit
    whitperson.com
    livemusicblog.com

  4. Hi Bruce
    “Typing in my sleep”. I like it – let’s write it.
    You’re like my 16 year old son – programming iPhone apps and Flash sites til 4:00am then up at 7:00am and off to school.
    How do you do it?
    Really enjoy the posts – Tricky

  5. Not only that but I suspect Ticketmaster was instrumental in getting the “Building Facility Fee” added to all the Ticketmaster purchases.

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