This is so spot on. Most ppl know nothing abt ticketing but they tried to get tickets one time for Taylor and now they are all experts\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.For all those that rail against TM what is the better alternative? The answer is one doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exist. While I think verified fan is generally a waste they have implemented some very good programs over the last several years for both customers and artists (seat map, platinum tickets, aisle seats etc). Consumers generally want more choices so if you are willing to pay more to sit in aisle seat or sit up close you now have those choices\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.seat geek for instance is a good secondary site but for a high traffic concert onsale It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the platform I would want to use from artist POV. Aside from most ticketing companies not having the ability to handle high volume onsales you will never have a significant amount of players in primary ticketing business bc most can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford the advances the venues require for exclusivity anyway. I also don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see why when companies like LN and AEG build or buy venues they shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be able to implement their own ticketing system In those venues. Just my perspective as everyone piles on TM.<\/p>\n
Best,
\nJarred\u00c2\u00a0Arfa<\/p>\n
___________________________________<\/p>\n
This is word for word (almost) what I have been telling my friends who are not in the biz for weeks. No one gets it.<\/p>\n
Alan\u00c2\u00a0Stewart<\/p>\n
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Former SVP Marketing for Ticketmaster when Jared was President.\u00c2\u00a0 A few bullets:<\/p>\n
1. For every Taylor Swift tour there are hundreds if not thousands of events with “distressed inventory” meaning sales are soft with plenty of seats available.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s the entitlement for the hot shows that gets fans nuts.\u00c2\u00a0 2M people trying to get 200K tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s a lot of disappointed people.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t see Nike under the microscope for limited edition Jordans and StockX and GOAT are billion dollar resale businesses where Nike gets nil.\u00c2\u00a0 Supply and demand.\u00c2\u00a0 Basic economics.<\/p>\n
2. Every market research study I ever sat in said the same thing… why didn’t you get tickets for the show you would have gone to see by the artist or team or whatever you love?\u00c2\u00a0 I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT IT.\u00c2\u00a0 As you note, discovery is key and Ticketmaster’s marketing is a differentiator.\u00c2\u00a0 Taylor awareness is high.\u00c2\u00a0 Most everything else not so much.\u00c2\u00a0 There are hundreds of events going on tonight in whatever city you live in.\u00c2\u00a0 Huge artists are touring without this hulabaloo\u00c2\u00a0right now and you can still get tickets.<\/p>\n
3. Does Ticketmaster have issues?\u00c2\u00a0 Most definitely.\u00c2\u00a0 But the coat of armor they wear to protect the industry has long been explained by you and others yet falls on deaf ears.\u00c2\u00a0 I often suggested the one “most transparent” thing we could do was show how many seats in the venue were actually available for purchase at the on-sale.\u00c2\u00a0 You can imagine how (not) excited others were to do that.<\/p>\n
Stagger the on-sales for big events, one venue at a time.\u00c2\u00a0 I seem to remember Garth doing\u00c2\u00a0this.\u00c2\u00a0 But then you don’t get the PR about how you broke the internet.<\/p>\n
Mitch Rotter<\/p>\n
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I too was listening to the news today. \u00c2\u00a0It was ridicules. I had a similar argument that you make with my old partner, who was managing Pearl Jam at the time. \u00c2\u00a0The fight was not with TM, it was with the band, agent, and promoter. \u00c2\u00a0TM is just getting paid to take the fall. \u00c2\u00a0Every manager wants 55-70 percent of the gross to the artist. \u00c2\u00a0The higher the income, the higher the commission. \u00c2\u00a0That has never been an equation that has never worked for any promoter, so Amphitheaters were born. \u00c2\u00a0The business for the promoter became to be an “All about the popcorn” model. \u00c2\u00a0Every agent, manager, and artist believes, that because the promoter has their fingers in so many pies, they deserve all of the ticket revenue. \u00c2\u00a0At one point there was an artist asking for 105% of the door. \u00c2\u00a0So when I model financials for any concert, festival, tour, I look at all factors for the client or artist. \u00c2\u00a0It could be argued that with major promoters that there is somewhere in the range of $22+\/ticket off settlement.<\/p>\n
They also did not talk about the ticket company cost of acquisition. \u00c2\u00a0The up front fees from ticketing companies to venues\/promoters can range from hundreds of thousands to millions. \u00c2\u00a0For the last decade I have guest lectured at several universities, mainly in festival and venue management. \u00c2\u00a0When I talk about what is the most important factor in shows today my first 4 slides say, Beer, Beer, Beer & more Beer! \u00c2\u00a0As a promoter it is inconceivable to promote without having a piece of all the ancillary profit centers, just ask any of the few public run buildings left for a settlement. \u00c2\u00a0They share everything. Food & Beverage, Ticket Fees, Merch, Parking, VIP, Suites are all open for discussion, depending on what artist you can bring them.<\/p>\n
I wish these lawmakers would spend more time on deciphering defense spending, rather than showboating for parents of children crying because of a botched on sale. \u00c2\u00a0I agree, the need to brag about how big you are is sad. \u00c2\u00a0I have not heard of any problems with Garth\/Stones\/Maca on sales. And yes, it is expensive to buy a ticket. \u00c2\u00a0It’s expensive to tour. \u00c2\u00a0Where is the outrage for Basketball or Football tickets? \u00c2\u00a0Nowhere. Because there is a market out there for it.<\/p>\n
I agree with all you have said. \u00c2\u00a0Thanks.<\/p>\n
All the best,<\/p>\n
Ken Deans<\/p>\n
___________________________________<\/p>\n
Five points on ticketing:<\/p>\n
1) There are tons of tech companies that are developing the “most innovative” new ticketing platforms. When I speak with their founders, the first question I ask is, “Who on your team has actual music business experience?” The answer is almost always, “No one.” While from the outside, concert ticketing looks ridiculously simple, what these techies fail to realize is that 90% of major venues in the US are under contract with Live Nation or AEG for years, sealed with (often hefty) up-front advances. If your startup is patting itself on the back for that $3 million Seed round raise, good luck on competing with the hundreds of millions these giant corporations are dishing out to secure these exclusive contracts.<\/p>\n
2) You are 100% right that the artist (and their representatives) is where the buck stops with every deal. They approve the contracts – each of which delineates where every penny of income comes from and goes to for each show. They can accept or counter offers, and can negotiate individual terms, if they so choose. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve personally negotiated ticketing and service fees with Fred Rosen, when he ran Ticketmaster, so I know it can be done. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also worked with artists that wanted to squeeze every possible bit of profit from a tour\/show – which I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think is any different from how many deal with their taxes and the IRS (to keep as much as is legally possible).<\/p>\n
3) Concert promoting is typically a risky business with tight margins. Promoters routinely take on millions of dollars in risk – no one ever knows for sure how a show will sell before it goes on sale. There are a number of factors that can shut-down a show or tour in a matter of minutes (pandemic, artist illness or injury, criminal arrest, civil unrest, etc., etc.). Promoters deserve to make a profit, and the fact that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re forced to look to ticket and service fees for it, should be addressed in a more transparent manner. Artists need to acknowledge this, even though they are often across the negotiating table from them when these deals are structured.<\/p>\n
4) Fans are just human. No one wants to overpay, and many seem to think that ticket inventory is unlimited. When artists and their reps are planning a tour, the astute are shooting for filling as many seats as possible, at the highest price, without leaving any empty. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an impossible task, that sometimes results in fans getting the short end of the stick. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure why we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the same backlash with professional sporting events, as those prices are through the roof, with many of the same fees on each ticket, but nowhere near the same level of pushback from the public as we see with music.<\/p>\n
5) There has always been a low-cost, low-tech means to end scalping – simply require a person show an ID and have a wristband secured on their wrist right there. This has worked at Will Call for decades, and with the proliferation of mobile devices and QR codes, attendees could be checked in and wrist-banded during the time it takes for them to wait in the metal detector line. Scalping is allowed\/tolerated because the profits are huge and with cash, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible to follow the money. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve personally experienced major promoters selling tickets to “sold-out” shows (GA and lawn seating make this possible) – remember, even 100 tickets at $100 each is a $10,000 cash profit for a few minutes work in the parking lot.<\/p>\n
In the end, market demand is what drives ticket prices. Artists that offer tickets at a face value lower than what the market will pay create the opportunity for scalpers to actually make more than they do for a show – I know that sounds incredible, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not – imagine a band with 4 members that gets a $250K guarantee and sells out a 10K seat venue. If they can keep costs to 60% (which can be difficult) they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll take $100K out to split. Each member (assuming they split evenly) will net $25,000 before taxes, and (assuming a 37% tax bracket – we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll leave out the state) $15,750 after taxes. If a scalper can make $200 per ticket, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d net more than the drummer if they sold just 79 tickets – without writing, practicing or playing a single note – or paying any tax.<\/p>\n
The problem is not Ticketmaster – or any other ticketing platform. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the public\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recognition that the concert business is driven by market forces and is more “corporate” and “professional” than they can imagine, and that access to performances will come at a price, with profits for all involved – just as it is when you buy an iPhone.<\/p>\n
Music has always been the least expensive\/most accessible form of entertainment. Digital streaming has provided access to millions of songs for free, furthering the idea that music is floating out there for anyone to have.<\/p>\n
Seeing your favorite artist in person has always carried a very unique value proposition – it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to recognize what that experience is really worth.<\/p>\n
-Steve Stewart<\/p>\n
___________________________________<\/p>\n
You are spot on. \u00c2\u00a0 Think of it like this. Ticketmaster just apologized to Taylor Swift for making her more than $300M for putting her concerts on sale in a way that any rational person\/company would not have done and the world blames the company for a fiasco of a ticket sale in a manner her representatives insisted take place.<\/p>\n
In no other industry could this happen. Insane<\/p>\n
Fred Rosen<\/p>\n
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This is so spot on. Most ppl know nothing abt ticketing but they tried to get tickets one time for Taylor and now they are all experts\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.For all those that rail against TM what is the better alternative? The answer is one doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exist. While I think verified fan is generally a waste they have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-52v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19376,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19375\/revisions\/19376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}