Artists have relied on Ticketmaster for decades to sell tickets to their live events and concerts. However, with Ticketmaster’s high fees and controversial practices, many artists are exploring alternatives to sell tickets directly to their fans.
What is Ticketmaster?
Ticketmaster is a ticket sales and distribution company that has contracts with many of the major venues and artists to sell tickets online and at retail outlets. They have a dominant position in the primary ticket sales market. According to some estimates, Ticketmaster sells over 70% of the primary market tickets for concerts and live events in the US and Canada.
Ticketmaster provides ticketing services for concerts, sports events, theater shows, and other live events. They sell tickets through their website and mobile apps as the exclusive seller for their venue and promoter partners. Consumers pay additional fees on every ticket purchased from Ticketmaster.com, which can add more than 25% to the base ticket price.
Why do artists use Ticketmaster?
There are several key reasons why artists have relied on Ticketmaster:
- Established infrastructure – Ticketmaster has contracts with major venues and promoter companies across North America and Europe. They have an established infrastructure for selling tickets online and at retail outlets.
- Large consumer reach – With over 60 websites in 30 languages around the world, Ticketmaster can expose an artist’s event to millions of potential fans who know Ticketmaster as the go-to place for tickets.
- Analytics and sales data – Ticketmaster provides event organizers and artists with data and analytics on ticket sales, helping them understand their fans and shows.
- Convenience – Historically, Ticketmaster provided a convenient way to outsource ticketing rather than build infrastructure. Their exclusive deals removed the logistical challenges of direct ticket sales.
Essentially, Ticketmaster solved a transactional problem for venues, artists, and promoters. It streamlined the cumbersome process of selling tickets directly with its technical infrastructure and global reach. As Ticketmaster’s market dominance grew over decades, they became the default option.
What are Ticketmaster’s fees and controversies?
While Ticketmaster provides a useful service, they have long been criticized for their high fees and controversial practices:
- High service fees – On top of the ticket price, consumers pay a processing fee to Ticketmaster on every ticket which can add 25-30% to the total cost. These fees are largely profit for Ticketmaster.
- Dynamic pricing – Ticketmaster uses dynamic pricing algorithms that frequently adjust prices based on demand. This leads to higher costs during peak sales periods.
- Hidden fees – Critics argue that fees are often hidden until late in the purchasing process, surprising consumers with higher than expected charges.
- Captive ticketing – Some venues and Ticketmaster have exclusive contracts that force consumers to use Ticketmaster. This captive ticketing limits competition in the marketplace.
- Secondary ticket market – Ticketmaster owns secondary reseller sites like GetMeIn and Seatwave where tickets are resold at higher prices. This secondary market costs fans more money.
In short, while Ticketmaster provides a valuable service, they have been able to get away with unpopular policies due to their dominant market position and exclusive venue deals. This has angered many consumers and artists over the years who want more affordable access to live entertainment.
Why are artists looking for Ticketmaster alternatives?
The growing frustrations with Ticketmaster’s fees and policies have led many high-profile artists to seek alternative ways to sell tickets. Some reasons artists are looking at other options include:
- Lower fees – Artists want to avoid Ticketmaster’s high processing fees which increase costs for their fans. Direct ticketing services generally have lower fees.
- More revenue – By avoiding Ticketmaster’s cut, artists stand to earn significantly more per ticket if they can handle direct sales.
- Control – Direct ticketing allows artists greater control over ticket prices, scalping protection, and the fan experience.
- Fairness – Some artists have fairness objections to Ticketmaster’s practices and want a sales process that is more transparent and fair.
- Relationship – Direct sales allow artists to build a deeper relationship with fans.
Essentially, artists resent sharing revenue with Ticketmaster when viable technical alternatives now exist for direct online ticket sales. Advancements in ticketing technology have made it much more feasible for artists to handle ticketing themselves.
What are some Ticketmaster alternatives for artists?
There are a growing number of ticketing platforms artists can use as lower-cost alternatives to sell tickets directly to fans. Some of the top options include:
Ticketing Platform | Details |
---|---|
AXS | AXS is owned by AEG and provides ticketing services focused on fair tickets for fans. They charge lower fees than Ticketmaster. |
Universe | Universe is a custom white-label ticketing platform used by artists like Madonna and Metallica to sell directly to fans. |
Ticketfly | Ticketfly is a ticket sales and marketing platform that merged with Eventbrite. They work with smaller music venues and festivals. |
SeatGeek | SeatGeek is a ticket marketplace that provides primary ticket sales services with lower fees for partners. |
TicketWeb | TicketWeb is a self-service ticketing platform focused on small-medium events and venues. |
Eventbrite | Eventbrite is a DIY event management and ticketing platform suitable for smaller music events. |
Dice | Dice is a UK-based ticketing app that uses waitlist queues and fan rewards to beat scalpers. |
These platforms provide web, mobile, and box office ticketing solutions at more competitive rates for partners. They aim to provide more control, transparency, and affordability than Ticketmaster. However, some still lack the distribution network and scale that Ticketmaster has built over decades.
How can artists transition from Ticketmaster?
Making the switch from Ticketmaster to direct ticketing sales poses some major challenges for artists:
- Venue relationships – Artists must negotiate new deals with venues not tied to Ticketmaster contracts.
- Loss of data – Artist lose Ticketmaster’s sales data and analytics in making a switch.
- Technical setup – Integrating new ticketing platforms into existing websites/apps requires development work.
- Marketing – Artists must heavily promote the ticketing transition to fans accustomed to Ticketmaster.
- Resources – Handling all ticketing logistics in-house requires allocated staff and overhead.
Bigger artists like Pearl Jam and Louis C.K. have managed to bypass Ticketmaster by booking venues not tied to exclusive deals. They promoted their ticketing change heavily to fans on social media and email lists. Smaller artists likely need to rely more on venues using alternative ticketing, as they lack the resources for a complete transition.
What are the risks of leaving Ticketmaster?
While Ticketmaster alternatives offer benefits, there are also notable risks artists face in leaving Ticketmaster entirely:
- Reduced distribution – Ticketmaster has far wider reach through major venue deals and consumer awareness.
- Technical issues – Unproven technical platforms can have bugs and lack oversight of high sales volumes.
- Alienated fans – Making big ticketing changes without preparation can confuse fans and hinder sales.
- Lower sales – Without Ticketmaster’s marketing machine, overall ticket sales may decline during the transition.
- Scalping – New platforms may lack resale protections, exposing fans to scalpers exploiting demand.
There are also anti-trust concerns, as Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation Entertainment owns many major venues. They can make direct ticketing very difficult if they choose to blacklist artists ditching Ticketmaster.
How are Ticketmaster alternatives performing?
While Ticketmaster maintains its dominant market share, alternatives are growing revenue and making inroads. Here are some key metrics on how they are performing:
- Universe grew from $500 million in sales in 2020 to $1.2 billion in 2022 as more acts used their platform.
- AXS handles ticketing for over 300 major venues and has ticketed large tours like Ed Sheeran.
- Eventbrite sold over 500 million tickets for 3 million events in 2021, earning $187 million in revenue.
- SeatGeek had $462 million in sales in 2019 and over $2 billion in transaction volume by 2022.
These platforms demonstrate that viable technical alternatives exist at scale if artists make the commitment to direct ticketing. As more major artists make the leap, it slowly erodes Ticketmaster’s aurthority and market share over time.
Could blockchain ticketing help artists leave Ticketmaster?
Some ticketing startups are exploring blockchain-based ticketing to let artists sell directly to fans and cut out middlemen. Here’s how it works:
- Smart tickets are minted as NFTs on a blockchain and sold directly by the artist.
- The decentralized ledger provides transparent tracking of ticket ownership and pricing.
- Fans can securely resell excess tickets in a decentralized exchange.
- Tickets are easily verified at the venue via blockchain wallets.
- Artists earn more by avoiding platform fees and secondary markups.
By leveraging blockchain’s transparency and security features, the ticketing process could function peer-to-peer without centralized systems. This allows artists to retain control and earn more revenue from sales.
However, widespread mainstream blockchain adoption faces many hurdles still. Integrating new technical workflows, educating fans, and getting stakeholder buy-in could limit blockchain’s impact on ticketing in the near future.
Conclusion
Ticketmaster has maintained its dominant position in ticket sales for live events through exclusive venue deals, technical infrastructure, and fan familiarity. But with growing discontent over fees and other policies, momentum is building for artists to explore alternative ticketing platforms.
Direct ticketing services like AXS, Universe, SeatGeek, and Eventbrite offer cheaper fees, greater control, and more sales revenue for artists. While making the full transition from Ticketmaster has major challenges, these alternatives demonstrate viability at larger scale. If more big artists make the leap, it could significantly disrupt Ticketmaster’s authority over time.
Emerging blockchain-based ticketing may provide another path to decentralized direct sales down the road. But widespread adoption of new technological workflows likely still faces many barriers before impacting the broader industry. While Ticketmaster remains entrenched for now, the growing appetite for fairer ticket sales provides an opportunity for innovative alternatives to take hold.