Last fall, the cave dubbed “Taylorgate” occurred when Taylor Swift enthusiasts clamored for tickets to the Eras excursion to MetLife Stadium and the rest of the country, but sales didn’t even reach the general public.
Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, was the highlight at a U. S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January.
Live Nation Entertainment president and CFO Joe Berchtold attributed the entry of “bots” to the presale of Swift-priced tickets from his formula in November 2022.
Berchtold apologized to the superstar and his fans, “they would do better. “
In the following months, two New Jersey congressional delegates introduced a measure to crack down on questionably priced ticketing practices.
“A fan has to sell a kidney or lend a space to see their favorite artist or team,” U. S. Rep. Bill Pascrell said in a May statement.
Just ask fans of singer Olivia Rodrigo, whose own Guts Tour will take place at Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden four nights in April 2024 and at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center in July.
Last week, enthusiasts signed up for a presale and general sale. To buy tickets, they only had to get a code, but also manage to buy tickets before leaving their virtual shopping cart.
Several enthusiasts have shared their reports on TikTok (Rodrigo’s fan base is young, with Generation Z and Alpha).
One misleading problem: “Charity Platinum” tickets, priced at $840 per seat, before fees, that were seen in stadiums during the tour.
“Ticketmaster’s official Platinum seating program allows market-based pricing (adjusting costs based on source and demand) for tickets, with prices for live events, right down to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold,” according to the pricing mogul’s website.
Long before any additional aftermarket sales, the value of those seats was well above the “$49. 50 – $199. 50 plus taxes and fees” that had been indexed as a diversity of tickets for the Rodrigo Tour. Whether it’s Swift and Rodrigo, or Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen’s Sales in between: New Jersey enthusiasts watched tickets jump from $1,000 to $2,000 per seat and above, the first frantic sales.
As for “Charity Platinum”, it would mean that that part of the value of the ticket goes to charities.
There is no list of the percentage or dollar amount, nor of the charity.
New York musician and venue Clyde Lawrence also testified at the Ticketmaster hearing in January.
He said he’s seen Ticketmaster charge “a 40% or 50% charged fee” to the base ticket price for shows he performed.
Berchtold testified that prices were set through the facilities themselves. He also said that his business style ultimately focused on “artist first. “
Lawrence said his team had directly questioned the sites about the tariffs and that “no one is responsible” for setting them.
“The fact that your band is making six dollars on a $42 bill doesn’t resonate with me first and foremost as an artist,” U. S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said at the hearing.
U. S. Reps. Bill Pascrell and Frank Pallone, Democrats from New Jersey, introduced the BOSS and SWIFT Act in May to crack down on hidden fees and speculative bills (the sale of bills that the store still owns).
A month earlier, the Junk Rate Prevention Act was introduced in the U. S. House and Senate.
This would impose excessive, “hidden and unnecessary” tariffs on consumers and require full costs to be reported in advance.
“When the value of a concert ticket is indexed at $50 and the value nearly doubles at the cash register, it’s bait and change,” U. S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona said in a written statement.
No action was taken on any of the federal budget reform measures at the end of September.
“Standard tickets sold on Ticketmaster belong to our consumers (venues, sports groups or other occasion promoters) who determine the number of tickets to be sold and set the nominal price,” according to Ticketmaster’s website.
Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, is the world’s concert promoter.
As with resale tickets, the entry costs are decided through the seller.
In almost all cases, Ticketmaster adds a service payment (or “convenience payment”) to the face value of the ticket.
This “varies according to the occasion depending on the agreement with each client. “Ticket resale fees are also added.
An order processing fee, once for each order, is charged to offset processing, shipping, and support ticket prices.
“In some cases, Ticketmaster’s fulfillment fee would likely be less than the fulfillment fee. In those cases, Ticketmaster would possibly make a profit on payments for order processing.
One of the fees tied to the venue is the “setup fee. “
These can vary from occasion to occasion and may become larger or smaller over time. “Ticketmaster doesn’t charge the facilities, it collects them for the venues. “
Municipal, state and local taxes are included in the nominal ticket price. In some cases, taxes would possibly be indexed as separate fees.
“The only way to fix festivals in this industry is to split Ticketmaster and Live Nation,” Jack Groetzinger, CEO of SeatGeek, said in his January testimony in Washington D. C.
“LiveNation controls the world’s top artists, hosts maximum major tours, manages ticketing systems, and even owns many venues,” he continued.
“This strength over the entire live entertainment industry allows Live Nation to exert its monopoly influence in the number one ticketing market,” Groetzinger added.
The ticketing platform SeatGeek serves both the number one and secondary market.
Groetzinger also said venues were concerned about wasting Live Nation concerts if they didn’t use Ticketmaster for ticket sales. Berchtold has denied any accusations of retaliation or pressure.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation have controlled about 70% of the price ticket market since the companies merged in 2010, according to a state bill that also seeks to enact initial ticket pricing and full disclosure to customers.
Live Nation Entertainment said the secondary ticketing market is a major factor facing viewers in a fair ticketing bill the company introduced after its Senate hearing.
Other resale platforms have positioned themselves in the first place with this approach.
In a DigitalMusicNews article in February, a StubHub representative told a reporter that “LNE and TM’s ‘Fair Ticket Sales Act’ focuses in particular on regulating the aftermarket and comes with significant reforms to their own practices. “
Part of the proposal focuses on enforcement of the Online Ticketing Improvement Act (BOTS).
Since 2016, under the auspices of the Federal Trade Commission, the BOTS Act aims to prevent price agents from buying gigantic quantities of second-hand tickets and reselling them to interested consumers at inflated prices.
Five years after its enactment, the first enforcement of the law saw three pricing agents forced to pay millions of dollars in fines.
It is also the repression so far.
A coalition of organizations and professionals from the occasion industry developed their own plan that they presented to Congress, called “Fix the Tix. “
The group, subsidized by the National Independent Venue Association, cites a Bloomberg report that ticket resale costs on Stubhub alone have increased by more than a hundred percent since 2019, while the nominal price of tickets has only increased by 10%.
Protecting consumers from counterfeit value bills, price gouging and other deceptive practices, while emphasizing transparency of the value of banknotes, are among the key elements of Fix the Tix plans.
Viewers can also use an electronic form to send to lawmakers, in the form of a modified ticket.
Report a correction ? | ? Contact our editorial team
After Taylor Swift’s prices fell in the fall of 2022, lawmakers in New Jersey and elsewhere looked to Ticketmaster for answers. When Olivia Rodrigo’s pricing was introduced in September for MSG, was an agreement reached?n
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Last fall, the so-called “Taylorgate” cave occurred when Taylor Swift enthusiasts clamored for tickets to the Eras Tour at MetLife Stadium and across the country, but sales didn’t even reach the mainstream.
Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, was the highlight at a U. S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January.
Live Nation Entertainment president and CFO Joe Berchtold attributed the entry of “bots” to the presale of Swift-priced tickets from his formula in November 2022.
Berchtold apologized to the superstar and his fans, “they would do better. “
In the following months, two New Jersey congressional delegates introduced a measure to crack down on questionably priced ticketing practices.
“A fan has to sell a kidney or lend a space to see their favorite artist or team,” U. S. Rep. Bill Pascrell said in a May statement.
Just ask fans of singer Olivia Rodrigo, whose own Guts Tour will take place at Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden four nights in April 2024 and at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center in July.
Last week, enthusiasts signed up for a presale and general sale. To buy tickets, they only had to get a code, but also manage to buy tickets before leaving their virtual shopping cart.
Several enthusiasts have shared their reports on TikTok (Rodrigo’s fan base is young, with Generation Z and Alpha).
One misleading problem: “Charity Platinum” tickets, priced at $840 per seat, before fees, that were seen in stadiums during the tour.
“Ticketmaster’s official Platinum seating program allows market-based pricing (adjusting costs based on source and demand) for tickets, with prices for live events, right down to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold,” according to the pricing mogul’s website.
Long before any additional aftermarket sales, the value of those seats was well above the “$49. 50 – $199. 50 plus taxes and fees” that had been indexed as a diversity of tickets for the Rodrigo Tour. Whether it’s Swift and Rodrigo, or Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen’s Sales in between: New Jersey enthusiasts watched tickets jump from $1,000 to $2,000 per seat and above, the first frantic sales.
As for “Charity Platinum”, it would mean that that part of the value of the ticket goes to charities.
There is no list of the percentage or dollar amount, nor of the charity.
New York musician and venue Clyde Lawrence also testified at the Ticketmaster hearing in January.
He said he’s seen Ticketmaster charge “a 40% or 50% charged fee” to the base ticket price for shows he performed.
Berchtold testified that prices were set through the facilities themselves. He also said that his business style ultimately focused on “artist first. “
Lawrence said his team had directly questioned the sites about the tariffs and that “no one is responsible” for setting them.
“The fact that your band is making six dollars on a bill of $42 doesn’t strike me first as an artist,” U. S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said at the hearing.
U. S. Reps. Bill Pascrell and Frank Pallone, Democrats from New Jersey, introduced the BOSS and SWIFT Act in May to crack down on hidden fees and speculative banknotes (the sale of tickets the store still owns).
A month earlier, the Junk Rate Prevention Act was introduced in the U. S. House and Senate.
This would impose excessive, “hidden and unnecessary” tariffs on consumers and require full costs to be reported in advance.
“When the value of a concert ticket is indexed at $50 and the value nearly doubles at the cash register, it’s bait and change,” U. S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona said in a written statement.
No action was taken on any of the federal budget reform measures at the end of September.
“Standard tickets sold on Ticketmaster belong to our consumers (venues, sports groups or other occasion promoters) who determine the number of tickets to be sold and set the nominal price,” according to Ticketmaster’s website.
Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, is the world’s concert promoter.
As with resale tickets, the entry costs are decided through the seller.
In almost all cases, Ticketmaster adds a service payment (or “convenience payment”) to the face value of the ticket.
This “varies according to the occasion depending on the agreement with each client. “Ticket resale fees are also added.
An order processing fee, once for each order, is charged to offset processing, shipping, and support ticket prices.
“In some cases, Ticketmaster’s fulfillment fee would likely be less than the fulfillment fee. In those cases, Ticketmaster would possibly make a profit on payments for order processing.
One of the fees tied to the venue is the “setup fee. “
These can vary from occasion to occasion and may become larger or smaller over time. “Ticketmaster doesn’t charge the facilities, it collects them for the venues. “
Municipal, state and local taxes are included in the nominal ticket price. In some cases, taxes would possibly be indexed as separate fees.
“The only way to fix festivals in this industry is to split Ticketmaster and Live Nation,” Jack Groetzinger, CEO of SeatGeek, said in his January testimony in Washington D. C.
“LiveNation controls the world’s top artists, hosts maximum major tours, manages ticketing systems, and even owns many venues,” he continued.
“This strength over the entire live entertainment industry allows Live Nation to exert its monopoly influence in the number one ticketing market,” Groetzinger added.
The SeatGeek ticketing platform serves both the number one and secondary markets.
Groetzinger also said venues were concerned about wasting Live Nation concerts if they didn’t use Ticketmaster for ticket sales. Berchtold has denied any accusations of retaliation or pressure.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation have controlled about 70% of the price ticket market since the companies merged in 2010, according to a state bill that also seeks to enact initial ticket pricing and full disclosure to customers.
Live Nation Entertainment said the secondary ticketing market is a major factor facing viewers in a fair ticketing bill the company introduced after its Senate hearing.
Other resale platforms have positioned themselves in the first place with this approach.
In a DigitalMusicNews article in February, a StubHub representative told a reporter that “LNE and TM’s ‘Fair Ticket Sales Act’ focuses in particular on regulating the aftermarket and comes with significant reforms to their own practices. “
Part of the proposal focuses on enforcement of the Online Ticketing Improvement Act (BOTS).
Since 2016, under the auspices of the Federal Trade Commission, the BOTS Act aims to prevent price agents from buying gigantic quantities of second-hand tickets and reselling them to interested consumers at inflated prices.
Five years after its enactment, the first enforcement of the law saw three pricing agents forced to pay millions of dollars in fines.
It is also the repression so far.
A coalition of organizations and professionals from the occasion industry developed their own plan that they presented to Congress, called “Fix the Tix. “
The group, subsidized by the National Independent Venue Association, cites a Bloomberg report that ticket resale costs on Stubhub alone have increased by more than a hundred percent since 2019, while the nominal price of tickets has only increased by 10%.
Protecting consumers from counterfeit value bills, price gouging and other deceptive practices, while emphasizing transparency of the value of banknotes, are among the key elements of Fix the Tix plans.
Viewers can also use an electronic form to send to lawmakers, in the form of a modified ticket.
Report a correction ? | ? Contact our editorial team