Live Nation is one of the largest concert and event promotion companies in the world. They promote huge tours for some of the biggest musicians and put on large-scale festivals like Lollapalooza. With their huge size and power in the industry, is Live Nation trustworthy when it comes to buying tickets for concerts and events? Here are some key points to consider:
Live Nation’s Reach and Influence
Live Nation has an enormous presence in the live entertainment industry. After merging with Ticketmaster in 2010, the company now handles ticket sales, promotions, venue management, and artist management. This vertical integration gives them a lot of control over the whole live music ecosystem.
Some key facts about Live Nation’s size and reach:
- They own, operate, or exclusively book around 200 major venues around the world.
- In 2019, Live Nation sold around 500 million tickets for concerts, festivals, and other events.
- They manage over 500 artists including major names like U2, Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus, and Jennifer Lopez.
- Live Nation owns major festival brands like Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and Electric Daisy Carnival.
With so much consolidation of power, critics have accused Live Nation of monopolistic practices. But their huge size does give them advantages in securing top talent and venues.
Access to Tickets
With Live Nation’s Ticketmaster division handling ticketing for so many major concerts and events, they control access to a huge portion of the market. There are some advantages to this for consumers:
- Wide selection – Access to tickets for all Live Nation promoted concerts and festivals plus events at their owned/operated venues.
- Pre-sale access – Ticketmaster offers pre-sales for many events to members.
- Refunds/exchanges – Eligible Live Nation events purchased via Ticketmaster allow refunds or exchanges.
However, there are also downsides of their vast control over ticketing:
- Higher fees – Ticketmaster is notorious for high processing fees and charges added to every ticket.
- Limited accessibility – With so many tickets direct from Ticketmaster, the supply on secondary markets gets smaller.
- Resale restrictions – Some Live Nation tickets cannot be resold, limiting options for buyers.
While Live Nation does offer wide access to tickets, their monopolistic position also limits options for consumers in many cases.
Ticket Pricing
Live Nation has the ability to exert a lot of influence over ticket prices. Some observations on how they leverage their power:
- Market-based pricing – They use dynamic pricing models to charge according to demand for certain shows.
- Higher floor prices – Even for cheap lawn seats, they tend to set higher face value prices than other promoters.
- Bundling requirements – Some desirable tickets are only available as part of VIP packages, forcing extra spending.
- Fees add-on – Ticketmaster tacks on sometimes very high fees at checkout on every ticket.
These practices have helped Live Nation achieve higher average revenue per ticket. While this may benefit their bottom line, it also makes tickets less affordable for fans in many cases.
Data Privacy
With all tickets directly through Ticketmaster, Live Nation can collect extensive data on customers including:
- Personal information – Names, addresses, emails collected at time of ticket purchase.
- Buying history – Details on all ticket purchases tied to accounts.
- Browsing data – The events shopped for and viewed on Ticketmaster.
While their data collection may help Live Nation better understand customers, it raises some privacy concerns. Consumers should understand the extent of personal data being gathered when buying directly from Live Nation’s platforms.
Safety and Security
In terms of safety and show security, Live Nation generally has a strong track record. As an experienced major promoter, they know how to run events smoothly. Some of their advantages include:
- Established venues – Most Live Nation amphitheaters and arenas have effective security infrastructure in place.
- Crowd management experience – They’ve hosted millions of fans safely and have processes refined over decades of shows.
- Financial resources – Live Nation invests heavily in security personnel, systems, and planning for their events.
For high-profile concerts in major venues, fans generally can feel confident in Live Nation’s safety abilities. Certain general admission events like festivals may present higher risks.
Customer Service
Live Nation’s customer service has a mixed reputation. For routine ticket purchases and events, customers may have no issues. But for issues like canceled events, customers have complained about poor communication and unfair policies from the company. Some areas where Live Nation’s customer service falls short:
- Refunds for cancellations – Lengthy delays, complicated processes, unfair withholding of fees.
- Unresponsive contacts – Difficult to reach resolution for issues through customer service channels.
- Policy confusion – Vague event rules and conditions posted that contradict actual policies.
- resolution for complaints – Lack of transparency around resolutions when customers bring issues to their attention.
While Live Nation has extensive experience with high-volume ticket sales, their customer service team often seems understaffed and ill-equipped to handle issues promptly and fairly.
Conclusion
Live Nation’s unmatched size and integration in the live entertainment industry provides some advantages but also raises many issues for consumers. Their control over ticketing limits options, enables higher pricing, and restricts resale markets. Privacy concerns, average customer service, and lack of accountability to fans also hurt their reputation. While Live Nation concerts are unlikely to have major safety issues, consumers may want to consider all these factors before trusting them as their go-to source for tickets.