A California invoice is taking purpose on the US’s largest ticket vendor, whose place of dominance of the market has usually left concertgoers pissed off on the costs and availability of tickets.
As famous by writer Pat Garofalo, the SB 829 invoice launched to the California senate in February seeks to undercut a key part of Ticketmaster’s monopoly: exclusivity.
The ticket gross sales big, owned by Reside Nation Leisure, dominates an estimated 70% of the ticketing market and over 80% of the share for main live performance ticket gross sales within the US. By its personal admission, Ticketmaster normally indicators 5 to seven-year exclusivity offers with live performance venues, although the agreements can typically exceed 10 years.
SB 829 would ban these sorts of offers. As the summary for the laws states: “This invoice would prohibit the operator of an leisure facility and a major ticket vendor from coming into right into a contract that gives for the first ticket vendor to be the unique ticket vendor for the operator of the leisure facility.”
The bipartisan invoice, sponsored by Republican Scott Wilk and Democrat Laura Friedman, would deal a heavy blow to Ticketmaster and Reside Nation’s enterprise mannequin. With the previous promoting tickets, and the latter dealing with live shows and artists, venues usually have little selection however to make offers with each corporations—or danger being reduce off altogether.
“Venue operators should take note of the very actual risk that Reside Nation Leisure is not going to route excursions by way of their venues if they don’t choose Ticketmaster as their major ticketing service supplier,” alleged one lawsuit filed in California towards the 2 corporations in 2022.
The invoice is presently set for a state senate appropriations committee listening to on Might 8. Quartz has reached out to Ticketmaster and Reside Nation for remark.
Troubles with Ticketmaster, from Pearl Jam to Taylor Swift
Reside Nation purchased Ticketmaster in 2010, effectively forming a monopoly. Its latest bungling of ticket gross sales for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, which kicked off in March, generated public outrage, congressional scrutiny, and legislative pushes to sort out Ticketmaster’s dominance within the business.
However disputes with Ticketmaster date again to 1994. That yr, alt rock band Pearl Jam canceled its summer time tour when it found the corporate was slapping on a service cost far above their requested cap of $1.80. The group lodged an antitrust grievance towards Ticketmaster. Pearl Jam in the end misplaced its campaign, with the Justice Division closing its investigation on July 5 that yr.
“Getting attacked by a celebrity rock band is quite a bit like being accused of kicking your canine: There’s a basic presumption of guilt till confirmed harmless,” Ticketmaster stated in an announcement to Rolling Stone on the time. It added: “Fortunately the information had been on our aspect, and we prevailed.”
Pearl Jam determined to forgo Ticketmaster for its tour in 1995, a call that reportedly value the group thousands and thousands of {dollars}. It in the end canceled its tour within the US on account of issue discovering venues.
Reside Nation is raking in document earnings
Yesterday (Might 4), Reside Nation reported a document $3.1 billion in first quarter income, up 73% from the identical quarter final yr. It introduced in $2.3 billion in live performance income, marking an 89% leap yr on yr. The corporate has already offered about 90 million tickets in 2023.
A part of the leap in income is probably going on account of pent-up demand following years of covid restrictions.
“For the primary time in three years, all of our markets are totally open. The frequent theme we’re seeing around the globe is that reside experiences are a excessive precedence for followers,” Reside Nation stated in a press launch.
The corporate is promoting tickets for a number of the greatest acts occurring tour this yr, together with Beyoncé, Harry Types, P!NK, and Kalis Uchis.
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