Live Nation vs Ticketmaster

[dabbler]

For those who weren't aware, Live Nation is formerly Clear Channel Entertainment, and they recently purchased House of Blues who have exclusive venue contracts with Ticketmaster that expire in 2009.

What this could mean is, as House of Blues and Live Nation get into selling tickets, less fee's that we have to pay that go into Ticketmasters pockets. I for one would LOVE to see Ticketmaster taken down from their monopoly, and I'm sure a lot of promoters on here would like the same as the charges they pay on their end are also ridiculous

thoughts?





Variety.com - Live Nation moving toward ticketing



The nation's biggest concert promoter laid out a strategy Wednesday to take further steps into the ticket biz.Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino told the Goldman Sachs media confab in Gotham that the company has "found some great options" that could allow it to get into the ticket biz dominated by Barry Diller's Ticketmaster.
Live Nation has been aggressive at selling other perks to event-goers, such as premium parking passes and VIP packages; it has not, until now, sold tickets to events.
But with talks between the company and Ticketmaster over renewing the pair's long-term deal presumed dead, speculation has increased that Live Nation will look to seize opportunities to move into the ticket biz.
Rapino confirmed that the company wants to play in that arena, saying, "We should be in that business, and the artists want us to be in that business." He also said that the so-called secondary market, dominated by eBay and StubHub, is another area the company can explore.
The company formerly known as Clear Channel Entertainment already owns a host of venues and is responsible for as many as 10,000 live events every year; the ability to sell tickets would give it both greater control over and more revenue from those events.
Observers of the live-entertainment industry have said that the ticket biz is ripe for a shakeup, as sports teams, startups and even bands look to get a piece of the action.
Rapino offered another bit of logic for expanding beyond the events biz. "The middle man has gotten squeezed," he said, referring to the difficulty of attracting consumers to concerts on the one hand, while artists, on the other hand, want more of a cut.
But Diller told investors on Tuesday that new players are misguided to think that the ticket-selling industry is easy to crack; infrastructure costs, for one, make for high barriers to entry.
For his part, Rapino said his company works hard to book acts and attract consumers and needs to capitalize on its effort. "In our business, when you're doing all the hard work," he said, "you've got a lot of sweat equity. The question is, How do we extend our model?"

tickemaster is the worst for fees

[Revolver]

i agree...

though i am not a promoter and only know very little about that side of it all i would rather see the tickemaster service charge moneys go straight back to the promoter. It is they who do the most work anyway.

so,like eddie, i say fuck ticketmaster!

[Revolver]

Originally Posted by alla

tickemaster is the worst for fees

lol...

[cubed]

I deal with Live Nation on a very regular basis, and their buy out of HOB has been extremely smooth.

Live Nation's Vancouver set up is actually the prototype / standard that all other North American Live Nation hubs are being designed around.

There were also talks of Live Nation purchasing a new live venue in Vancouver once Richards closes it's doors; but they've now stepped away from that idea and have chosen us to take over as their premier mid-size venue.

Convenience charge - $9.98?

wtf

convenience for WHO? ha ha ha

[dabbler]

It's not just ticketmaster adding fees to what the customer pays, as a promoter you have to pay exorbitant prices to print tickets only with them, and then you lose a cut of the total ticket price too, and even more again if the customer pays with a credit card too.


(correct me here if i'm wrong avana or cubed or anyone else in the know)

[dabbler]

Originally Posted by Revolver

so,like eddie, i say fuck ticketmaster!

except even he gave in eventually

[Revolver]

Originally Posted by dabbler

except even he gave in eventually

well yes,like i say fuck ticket master but am still forced to buy them cuase i want to see shows and they are the only option for the moment...

he says fuck ticketmaster but is a musician who needs to play for pay and is who forced to play in the venues they have locked down through exclusive contracts..

regardless they went kicking and screaming all the way to us congressional investiagations wich is pretty amazing.

[cubed]

Originally Posted by dabbler

It's not just ticketmaster adding fees to what the customer pays, as a promoter you have to pay exorbitant prices to print tickets only with them, and then you lose a cut of the total ticket price too, and even more again if the customer pays with a credit card too.


(correct me here if i'm wrong avana or cubed or anyone else in the know)

We pay about a $150 set up fee with them for printing and distribution of their regular tickets, but nothing comes off our bottom end for each ticket. We're still getting our "$15" on a "$15 Advance" ticket.

Originally Posted by dabbler

It's not just ticketmaster adding fees to what the customer pays, as a promoter you have to pay exorbitant prices to print tickets only with them, and then you lose a cut of the total ticket price too, and even more again if the customer pays with a credit card too.


(correct me here if i'm wrong avana or cubed or anyone else in the know)

in the past when we have used tm, not only did the customer pay s/c's but we were docked 10%. which is pretty standard.

i think it is great that another company out there is trying to break into the biz. it will either force tm to be competitive or both of them are going to be dickwads and charge huge amounts.

but many venues still hold a contract with tm, so it doesnt really matter if they make new contracts with promoters, cause the venue trumps all.

[dabbler]

well if anyone has the money to compete with Ticketmaster, it will be Live Nation. over 3 Billion gross revenue last year :o

[dabbler]

as Commodore Ballroom is owned by HOB (pretty sure that's true right?) and GM place has exclusive contract with SFX (owned by Live Nation) that means that any contracts for non sport events will be held with HOB/Live Nation and not Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment (which will probably still have the exclusive contract with Ticketmaster) and those will expire in 2009.... prices should get a lot better for a lot of live concerts =)

[Pennywise]

I've always bought off Hob over ticketmaster.

[dabbler]

um what? it's still ticketmaster, HOB was the promoter

[ebbomega]

Yeah, definitely a Good Thing. Top ticket prices for TMBG show this week was $22.50. I paid $30 for mine pre-sale. Freaking disgusting. Probably could have paid less if I just bought tix at the door.

[GSG9]

NOOO long live ticketmaster!!! the owner gives me head every saturday.

[gnosis]

TicketShyster?
TicketBastard?

I'd love to see that blood-sucking organization shrivel up and blow away!

Frosty
(Wants to give money to the show, not the ticket-printers)