The potential Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger is nothing but the latest in Ticketmaster’s feeble — and laughably almost successful — attempts to monopolize the live concert industry. After announcing in early February their plans to merge, Senators Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and Charles E. Shumer, R-N.Y., rallied a committee to discuss what many in the music industry perceive as a deliberate attempt, on Ticketmaster’s part, at market domination. If this ridiculously blatant attempt to screw over customers is legitimized, millions of potential customers will be left with two options: fork over excess money to Ticketmaster or be content with the “live” quality of your car radio because you’re out of luck.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation are falsely alleging they were never competing companies, though a merger wasn’t discussed until Live Nation sucked up 15 percent of Ticketmaster’s profits. The attempt by Ticketmaster to eliminate competition is an obvious effort at dishonestly avoiding, rather than coming to terms with, the inevitable market competition that should rightly exist in a capitalist economy.
Ticketmaster currently sells tickets for an estimated 80 percent of concert venues, but apparently to the top execs at Ticketmaster, this isn’t enough. Sen. Kohl rightly questioned, “If Live Nation can’t compete with Ticketmaster, who can?” But as Sen. Kohl suspects, this is Ticketmaster’s intention, to break the law by eliminating all potential competition. And in all honesty, isn’t that the core of the monopolistic argument?
It is na?ve and false to suggest customers will be better off after this merger, and it is impossibly unlikely that they will be able to plead their case. Customers have been exploited again and again since the beginning of Ticketmaster, and it appears this may be the last straw in a series of Ticketmaster’s bold efforts to steal from concertgoers’ pockets. It will be most enjoyable, though equally irritating, to see the lies Ticketmaster will inevitably weave in an attempt to prove its worth in the market. People, and music artists alike, have been frustrated with Ticketmaster’s schemes for years, and it is only natural that their past has caught up to the company. If Ticketmaster is to learn anything from this, it’s that customers won’t return if they feel manipulated and undervalued. However, it is Ticketmaster’s plan to leave its customers with no other options, forcing them to return.
Not only are Ticketmaster and Live Nation alleging they were not competing companies, they are also attesting that they do not set prices, arguing instead that music artists set them. Thank you, Ticketmaster, for infuriating every person who has been overcharged for the balcony seats of a headlining concert. As any person who has navigated through Ticketmaster’s website knows, customers are paying much more than the price set by the artist. Leave it to this money-hungry company to claim they have no intention at making a profit. How funny is it that Ticketmaster makes a huge percentage of its proceeds not from the ticket price (that yes, are set by the artist) but rather from service, building, and processing charges, all which come out of the customer’s bank accounts.
As if there weren’t already enough problems with Ticketmaster concerning its overpriced tickets and the thoroughly unfair access to these tickets, these problems are likely to be magnified by the merger with Live Nation. So, while technically Ticketmaster can claim its not setting prices, what the company cannot claim is it is not manipulating the concert market, making a huge profit and overcharging customers while doing so.
Emily Osborne ([email protected]) is a freshman intending to major in journalism.
