Ticketmaster gets fined 4.5 Million USD for misleading ticket prices.

[Metaldestroyerdennis]

My problem with the whole situation is that there's a difference between artists selling tickets for $500 or $1000 and Ticketmaster buying its own tickets for $500, jacking them up to $1000, and selling them to consumers direct. They are literally the scalpers in this case and there's nothing anyone can do because they are a monopoly.

 

[bostjan]

The majority of consumers don't care enough to make a stance on something like this, it's a total luxury and if you ask someone to protest and not see their favorite band(s).

I'd argue if you poll a random middle class fan of any major act, if they'd pay up to 1k to see their favorite band the amount of people who say they would is surprisingly high. Especially major stadium selling pop acts.

I think once you start charging like 2 - 3k for tickets might be the point when the shit hits the fan, but people are paying insane amounts for tickets right now and muttering under their breath about it.

Maybe Ms. Half a Billion Net worth should start an initiative and take business away from Ticketmaster and sell the Swifties tickets to her shows directly on her own platform. I'd be surprised if she couldn't get industry support over starting her own platform even on the positive press alone.

Yeah, we are in agreement.

In order for scalping to be a worthwhile endeavor, the tickets have to have some special value above their list price. That's why a new game console will launch with a sticker price of $x and still easily sell on ebay for $ 2x or even $ 3x. But if a scalper buys a console for $x, and then cannot sell it for the intended markup, they still have a console that is worth some monetary value. So there's a risk, but it's not nearly the risk a scalper takes with tickets, because, once the show starts, the ticket rapidly drops value down to zero by the time the show is over. Now, if you think about a scalper sophisticated enough to develop a bot to snatch up bulk tickets, they are sinking a lot of cost in time, resources, and cash - all over the expectation of turning a profit off of resale. That's a lot of risk. We cannot control people and expect them to stop buying tickets from scalpers.

But in an economic game of this sort, you can observe the behaviour of the "players" and draw conclusions. Say there is a show, and the face value of an average ticket is $500. Say that there are 20% combined taxes and fees, so it costs the buyer $600 to obtain a ticket. A scalper programs a bot to snatch up 20 tickets for $12k. If that scalper sold zero tickets, they would be out the $12k plus the time required to program the bot and whatever else it took to make the bot competitive enough to snag desirable tickets. So, there must be a very high profit expectation to take that sort of compound risk. For instance, you could have a literal gold mine and I doubt you'd find many people willing to buy it sight unseen for $12k with the hopes of turning a profit after putting in a significant amount of labour and operating cost.

Maybe the intrinsic value of that ticket really is more like $5k. So, if artists start charging $5k per ticket, people grumble, but still buy the tickets and then the scalpers either sit out the show or take the bait and lose money... or, maybe the scalpers take the bait and still make money and just drive the prices up even higher! I just know that I'm never spending $5k on a ticket to see anybody.

To your other point, though, I don't know if TSwift sinking a bunch of money into starting her own ticket broker is going to solve the problem at hand. It depends. For example, IF the site launches, and the firewall ends up being worse than Ticketmaster's, then bots still come in and end up grabbing even more of the tickets, and then it'd be really bad press for her and also a bad time for the fans. Maybe Swift would personally make a stand and say "no tickets to big corporations," but it might likely not happen, if Swift is beholden to those big corporations for sponsoring her concerts, sponsoring her songs getting airplay, etc. Ultimately, that's the thing that makes Taylor Swift a better money-making machine at doing music than Vladimir Bozar or whatever super-talented musician 99.999% of people never heard of.

 

[Jonathan20022]

I wouldn't even spend $100 to see anyone, I love music as much as the next fucking guy but I couldn't stomach the prices to see Mayer when I was in college nevermind now when the music is infinitely worse. Double digit ticket prices or else I'm gone.

 

[Sermo Lupi]

I wouldn't even spend $100 to see anyone, I love music as much as the next fucking guy but I couldn't stomach the prices to see Mayer when I was in college nevermind now when the music is infinitely worse. Double digit ticket prices or else I'm gone.

Amen. I've seen dozens of shows in my lifetime and I don't think I've ever paid over £100 a seat. Only time I even got close to that limit was tickets for a box to see the orchestra at Royal Albert Hall. RAH tends to be affordable anyway; the average price I've paid over the years is like £50-60 vs £30 for most other UK venues.

Why anyone would pay $1000 a ticket--or even half that--to see some pop act lip-sync to pre-recorded music at a sports stadium (some of the worst venues, acoustically) is beyond me. I try not to look down at pop music fans but they certainly give me plenty of reasons to.

 

[bostjan]

I try not to look down at pop music fans

Why?

Ahem, I mean, umm, uhh, neither do I.

And when I had first read that it was $5k to see Bruce Springsteen, my first thought was "He's not that bad; I'd endure a couple hours of him and his fans for $5k," before realizing that they want you to pay the $5k.

Naw, I'm too much of a music snob. I'd rather pay to go see LaBrie sing over a 1990's prerecorded track of screechy high notes that only dogs can hear than watch Mariah Carey pantomime singing over a 1990's prerecorded track of screechy high notes that only dogs can hear.

 

[Wiltonauer]

When I think of all the fun I could have with $5k compared to one concert, no, I’m not going to do that in my foreseeable lifetime. Honestly the idea of going to some poorly designed stadium packed with as many zombies as can possibly fit, not being able to move or see what’s going on without a telescope, and paying hundreds of dollars for it, is a non-starter. Ain’t comin’ to your cattle call, cowboy.

 

[tedtan]

Yeah, for $5k I can buy all of the songs I want to hear from that artist, go on a nice vacation, and listen to the songs over and over until I’m sick of hearing them.

 

[MFB]

Yeah, for $5k I can buy all of the songs I want to hear from that artist, go on a nice vacation, and listen to the songs over and over until I’m sick of hearing them.

Hell, not just you, but your whole family too!

 

[nightflameauto]

Holy shit.

My wife and I went to Dancing with the Stars at one point, which is the most expensive live event I ever went to, and for both of us is in a private booth, the hotel, and meals, it was like $750. I'd never, in a bazillion years, pay $1k+ for any live act, even if the hottest performers of your sexual preference (inclusivity is important, see) were offering blowjobs to patrons for free in the parking lot after.

When you have to weigh whether you spend the money on a custom built guitar or a single show by a geezer rocker that arguably never really rocked to begin with? No.

I don't know, man. I feel like the larger live venues have sorta turned into yet another class warfare tactic. If you're big enough to draw to an arena sized venue? Apparently you no longer need "the little people" as fans.

 

[PiggySmallz]

I love live shows as much as anyone else here, but I am absolutely not paying $2k for a ticket to any show.

Lol at 5k for Springsteen. If people want to that's fine, inflation is very real and there are people who are willing to spend that. Even if i was very wealthy I'm not dropping money like that to be surrounded by thousands of other people sweating on me and not being able to see the stage or hear the band all that well.

That being said no one should give a whole hill of a shit about what I think

 

[wheresthefbomb]

when I had first read that it was $5k to see Bruce Springsteen, my first thought was "He's not that bad; I'd endure a couple hours of him and his fans for $5k"

I'd do a lot for $5k but that's pushing it

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I would rather pay 5k to have Dave Davidson play springsteen covers as jazz standards than actually listen to Springsteen.

 

[nightlight]

I paid about $100 in 2012/13 to see Slayer live in India. My favourite band, but if the ticket was more, I wouldn't/couldn't have gone.

That's what I like Slayer for. Coming to a third world country and delivering the goods. Fabulous concert, they did it all. And there were 1000s of people there, maybe 10,000-20,000. The whole show must have netted about a $1-2 million in total.

Heck, $5k for a concert is a lot of money. I couldn't afford it. Plus, you could get a Diesel VHX, or a Mayones Regius Core, or a Made in Japan Strandberg for that cash. I could also buy a used car for that amount out here.

I do get it though. At some point of time, influencers told the world that "experiences" were worth more than monetary possessions. And a lot of people bought in, because the influencers' are always all expenses paid for, nothing to worry about. But everybody else needs to be seen at the same place.

I'm just so poor that the monetary possession is the experience. I have $5k liquid cash, I'm investing it on assets. Other than the fact that I'm poor, it makes much more financial sense.

Makes me sick though, thinking the next time I see Slayer after they come out of retirement, the ticket standard prices have gone up to $1000 and I can't go.

 

[CanserDYI]

LMAO Ya'll, I bought my home for $5k cash.

 

[TedEH]

LMAO Ya'll, I bought my home for $5k cash.

Are you missing some zeroes, older than I would have thought, or own a time machine?

 

[bostjan]

LMAO Ya'll, I bought my home for $5k cash.

Where, Toledo? Did you pay them $5k or did they pay you $5k?

I almost bought a house in Detroit for $5k once. I though, "how bad could it be?" and "shit, there are apartments just over a block away that cost that much per month to rent!" The house wasn't even that bad. Now, I think the city is literally paying people to live in houses in that same neighbourhood. Houses listed for $2-3k, and the city will pay you $5k to buy the house and then fix it up to a liveable standard, but then, you are contractually obliged to actually reside there. I'm sure it sounds like a joke to people on the East and West coasts, but yeah, the midwestern cities that aren't Chicago will pay you to move there. And wages in Detroit are not bad - there's also plenty of work. So, I'm sure, on paper, it looks like a stupid good deal. But then you are actually there and you realize that the entire city somehow smells uniformly like diesel fuel and unwashed butts, that there's this paranoia just hanging in the air, and that so much totally random shit happens on a daily basis, that it's just not worth it.

Are you missing some zeroes, older than I would have thought, or own a time machine?

Keep in mind:
1. Real estate in the USA is about 1/2 the price of equivalent Canadian real estate.
2. Also real estate value is inversely proportional to the distance between the real estate and the city of Detroit.
3. Also, US dollars, not CAD.

I'm half kidding. But whenever I see Canadian real estate prices, I'm always doing double takes. I don't know how anyone can afford to own a home there.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Where, Toledo? Did you pay them $5k or did they pay you $5k?

I almost bought a house in Detroit for $5k once. I though, "how bad could it be?" and "shit, there are apartments just over a block away that cost that much per month to rent!" The house wasn't even that bad. Now, I think the city is literally paying people to live in houses in that same neighbourhood. Houses listed for $2-3k, and the city will pay you $5k to buy the house and then fix it up to a liveable standard, but then, you are contractually obliged to actually reside there. I'm sure it sounds like a joke to people on the East and West coasts, but yeah, the midwestern cities that aren't Chicago will pay you to move there. And wages in Detroit are not bad - there's also plenty of work. So, I'm sure, on paper, it looks like a stupid good deal. But then you are actually there and you realize that the entire city somehow smells uniformly like diesel fuel and unwashed butts, that there's this paranoia just hanging in the air, and that so much totally random shit happens on a daily basis, that it's just not worth it.

They were doing that in certain parts of West and North Milwaukee...if you know you know. Houses less than a block from where I work for $1. One. Dollar. Still not worth it. Every coworker I know who gave it a shot were out within five years, maybe half saw a penny and I don't think any got the place remotely livable by even Rust Belt standards.

 

[CanserDYI]

Here's the story I've told a thousand times, tried to condense into a few sentences:

My wife and I before kids, growing weed in back room. Using ghetto rigged lights, one lamp fell and caught back room on fire. I call landlord who is a firefighter coincidentally, and he immediately asks if I want to buy the home, which I laugh and say no. We are sent to hotel via Red Cross and while we are there my wife says "I feel awful, we should go clean up that house for him [landlord]." We go back to the house and while cleaning up, we both look at each other and without hesitation we both stammer something along the lines of "Do not let that man back in this house." and "Dude the house looks fantastic for just going through a house fire" and yeah, we never let him back in the house, and got a $50-$75k house for $5k and put $5k into repairs and have been living rent free since about 2016.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Here's the story I've told a thousand times, tried to condense into a few sentences:

My wife and I before kids, growing weed in back room. Using ghetto rigged lights, one lamp fell and caught back room on fire. I call landlord who is a firefighter coincidentally, and he immediately asks if I want to buy the home, which I laugh and say no. We are sent to hotel via Red Cross and while we are there my wife says "I feel awful, we should go clean up that house for him [landlord]." We go back to the house and while cleaning up, we both look at each other and without hesitation we both stammer something along the lines of "Do not let that man back in this house." and "Dude the house looks fantastic for just going through a house fire" and yeah, we never let him back in the house, and got a $50-$75k house for $5k and put $5k into repairs and have been living rent free since about 2016.

If this isn't The American Dream nothing is.

 

[BlackMastodon]

he immediately asks if I want to buy the home

This is the funniest fucking reply to "hey man, we just accidentally set your house on fire."