Ticketmaster’s chokehold on the live entertainment industry

Benjamin Jacobs and Clare Gibb / V Mag at UVA

Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny grossed over $435 million on his latest tours in 2022, “El Último Tour Del Mundo” and “World’s Hottest Tour,” setting the world record for ticket sales in a single calendar year. Yet, shockingly, the general admissions section for his final concert at Aztec Stadium in Mexico City reached a dismal half capacity. 

With unprecedented demand to experience the “King of Latin Trap” perform live, a lack of ticket sales was not the culprit. Ticketmaster, the sole company responsible for selling tickets and admitting fans throughout both tours, was confirmed to have rejected over 1,600 fans with valid tickets, and many others fled the line after the guards at the gate became violent. Additionally, numerous fans unknowingly purchased fake tickets they believed to be associated with Ticketmaster. The company blamed the incident on their system reading valid tickets as fraudulent. 

This is hardly the first controversy regarding Ticketmaster’s poor treatment of consumers. In 2022, notable artists like Taylor Swift and Zach Bryan publicly challenged the company following experiences with similarly exploitative behaviors directed towards their respective fanbases. Ticketmaster’s monopolistic ownership over the concert industry allows them to take advantage of the demand for live entertainment with grossly inflated prices and poorly-run operations. Yet the company continues to garner incredible amounts of consumers — even with an inadequate user experience.

Most fans simply don’t have an option aside from Ticketmaster. Artists and venues under contract with Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, are forced to sell tickets through their platform. Because Live Nation is the world’s largest live-event production company, ticket sales for practically every large-scale music venue are under exclusive contracts with Ticketmaster.  Since fans have limited access to alternative avenues, they cannot escape the Ticketmaster monopoly. 

Created in 1976, Ticketmaster has ruled over ticket sales for decades. The company eliminated ticket processing fees for venues and artists through a surcharge added onto the base fee of tickets. While this is great for venues, who avoid ticket handling fees, fans are left to pick up the bill. 

By the mid-1990s, the company was responsible for almost 80 percent of ticket sales worldwide, sparking concerns regarding a monopoly. However, these concerns went unaddressed, allowing the company to amplify their reign over the industry.

More recently, Taylor Swift fans were outraged when Ticketmaster’s website crashed in 2022 during the presale for tickets to Swift’s “The Eras Tour.” Millions of fans flocked to the website with presale codes, and they were met with wait times of up to eight hours and grossly inflated prices. While some dished out upwards of $500 for tickets, others waited in the queue for hours only to be left with an empty shopping cart. Swift publicly denounced the company after the incident.

“I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand, and we were assured they could,” Swift said in a 2022 Instagram story. “It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.” 

Ticketmaster combines its poor treatment of consumers with an inability to combat ticket scalpers — brokers who purchase hundreds of tickets then resell them at a steep price. While Ticketmaster publicly denounces scalping, fans continue to be exploited by ticket brokers since the company has been unsuccessful in providing sufficient preventative measures. 

Ticketmaster’s power over the entertainment industry partially stems from their merger with Live Nation to create Live Nation Entertainment in 2010. At the time, Live Nation was the leading company responsible for concert productions, offering an expansive list of services. 

Together, the companies have seen even more success — Ticketmaster was responsible for 77 percent of worldwide ticket sales in 2022.

Despite this financial success, Ticketmaster has faced government pushback for numerous violations. Recently, Ticketmaster came under fire again when an antitrust class action lawsuit was filed by their investors in 2023. This lawsuit was fueled in part by public backlash from Taylor Swift fans after the 2022 incident. 

As the ongoing lawsuit continues, Live Nation Entertainment has yet to receive punishment for their actions. With highly anticipated artist tours taking off in 2023 and beyond, the fate of fans balances on the company’s ability to efficiently sell tickets. 

As artists continue to be disappointed by Ticketmaster, some have attempted to offer shows without the use of the platform. In December 2022, Grammy-nominated country musician Zach Bryan announced his spring tour would be held without the use of Ticketmaster. Tickets were sold through a smaller scale competitor sales platform AXS, and they were not eligible to be resold above market value. 

Bryan then bolstered his statement with the surprise release of an EP titled, “All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster.” While his rebellion against the system was notable, it was not enough for substantial change. With the release of tickets for his 2023 tour, Bryan announced his return to Ticketmaster. He apologized to fans, but he explained it was not sustainable for his career to avoid the platform. 

“All my homies still do hate Ticketmaster but hard to realize one guy can’t change the whole system,” Bryan tweeted Sept. 5. “It is intentionally broken and I’ll continue to feel absolutely horrible about the cost of tickets in an unfair market.”

While it makes headlines for individual artists to protest the platform, their personal rebellion alone is not enough to combat the conglomerate. This has remained true since Ticketmaster’s origination. 

Solutions to Ticketmaster’s overarching power in the music industry are not straightforward. A handful of artists cannot be martyrs for change, and it is unlikely that fans will boycott the platform their favorite artists are under contract with. Unfortunately, fans that are mistreated by Ticketmaster are quick to blame the associated artist or venue rather than the company. This stems from a lack of general knowledge about the company’s scope of operations. It is imperative that consumers of live entertainment understand the expansive power of Ticketmaster in order to advocate for change. 

Ultimately, Congress must take actions towards dismantling the conglomerate. It would be virtually impossible for other another company to substantially offset the balance of Ticketmaster’s billion dollar enterprise with the current system in place. In the meantime, fans, venues, and artists will continue to feed the system because of the incredible appeal of live entertainment. Without intervention, Concert fanatics will have to continue paying fees and tolerating an insufficient system if they want to see their favorite artist perform live.