Who would have guessed such a thing would happen when ticket-selling giant Ticketmaster and concert promoting giant Live Nation merged to form one giant live entertainment, profit-hungry monopoly?
As the LA Times Music Blog reports, Ticketmaster got in trouble not long ago for steering music fans way from its main website over to a resale site called TicketsNow, where tickets were selling for far above face value—and where tickets were just plain available, unlike Ticketmaster’s main website. Basically, it was scalping, at extremely jacked-up prices. This occurred in New Jersey, and the concerts that brought the issue to attention featured Bruce Springsteen, so they were just asking for trouble. (The masses, for once, were in fact saying Boooo! not Bruuuuuce!) Legal action was taken, and now Ticketmaster isn’t pushing customers over to TicketsNow.
So what’s the new strategy? Instead of doing something of a bait-and-switch, Live Nation-Ticketmaster is going to cut to the chase and simply try to jack up the face value of its most in-demand tickets right from the start. Why play silly games, right?
From the LA Times:
“The minute we had to unlink from our website, that business over the last year has deteriorated,” [Live Nation CEO Michael] Rapino said.
Indeed, he noted that TicketsNow is currently bringing in about $1 million to $2 million annually. That’s down from the $15 million it used to rake in.
Thus, the strategy going forward: “So, whether it’s seat maps, dynamic pricing or just convincing the band that the front row is worth $400, not $100, we’re noticing a great reception by artists worldwide who would like to capture more of the upside, and our first goal is to figure out how to price the house right.”