Hard to argue against this one. The Ticketmaster fees alone, not counting cost of actual ticket, that we paid for U2 at the Sphere were higher than most of your mortgage+tax+insurance payments.

Only reason I did it was because it was for my 50th and I doubt I'll ever see them again.

txags92 said:

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agracer said:

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McNasty said:

---

Ticketmaster has been one of the worst examples of another type of inflation - "fee-flation". This is where you are lured in by base prices that are almost reasonable, only to be hit with fees that are a ridiculous % of that base. Airlines seem to be adopting this model too.

---

Most of the airline fees are government mandated.

And when you view pricing it's shows the full price including all the fees on their website. For example if you search for a route, it will show $250. When you go to check out and pay, it will show the actual ticket is $190+x+y+z fees =$250.

That being said, they do seem to be asking if you want some extras (like Wi-Fi or "premium " seats).

Ticketmaster shows a price for a ticket, then when you go to check out it's 35-40% higher because of the hidden
fees.

---

That premium seat crap just pisses me off and was part of why I liked flying SW until they became completely unreliable to get you anywhere on time. I hate how on United when the plane gets more than about 30 passengers ticketed, all the "free" seats are taken. So unless you want to roll the dice on getting the middle seat in the back row of the plane next to the lavatory, you are going to have to pay something to pick a seat. It wasn't as bad when I had preferred status and could get the upgrades a day or so ahead of time, but now that I am not preferred, I have to wait until checkin to see what is available. Just gets more annoying every time I fly.

Just raise your damn prices on the ticket and quit nickel and diming everybody to death.

---

The premium seats actually have more legroom and you get to board early ensuring your carry one has space. Most airline also show the multiple seat option prices when you search for a route in a row/column grid so you know what you're getting. And again, the price they show is what you pay. Those add ons don't magically appear when you go to pay.

I get what you're saying, but it's really not the same as what Ticketmaster has been doing for decades.

FTR not defended the airlines. They've mostly made travel a miserable experience these days.

CS78 said:

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Meh. Luxury item. Very easy to avoid the fees by not buying the overpriced trash to start with.

---

It's a high price item for sure, but the world would be boring without concerts.

Wanted to see The Killers at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth...one (1) ticket. it was flat out shocking how much the fee and service charges were.

Same thing to see Ghost in Irving (or maybe Grand Prairie)

Not sure if these were Live Nation related, but prob. were.

Oh, well

agracer said:

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txags92 said:

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agracer said:

---

McNasty said:

---

Ticketmaster has been one of the worst examples of another type of inflation - "fee-flation". This is where you are lured in by base prices that are almost reasonable, only to be hit with fees that are a ridiculous % of that base. Airlines seem to be adopting this model too.

---

Most of the airline fees are government mandated.

And when you view pricing it's shows the full price including all the fees on their website. For example if you search for a route, it will show $250. When you go to check out and pay, it will show the actual ticket is $190+x+y+z fees =$250.

That being said, they do seem to be asking if you want some extras (like Wi-Fi or "premium " seats).

Ticketmaster shows a price for a ticket, then when you go to check out it's 35-40% higher because of the hidden
fees.

---

That premium seat crap just pisses me off and was part of why I liked flying SW until they became completely unreliable to get you anywhere on time. I hate how on United when the plane gets more than about 30 passengers ticketed, all the "free" seats are taken. So unless you want to roll the dice on getting the middle seat in the back row of the plane next to the lavatory, you are going to have to pay something to pick a seat. It wasn't as bad when I had preferred status and could get the upgrades a day or so ahead of time, but now that I am not preferred, I have to wait until checkin to see what is available. Just gets more annoying every time I fly.

Just raise your damn prices on the ticket and quit nickel and diming everybody to death.

---

The premium seats actually have more legroom and you get to board early ensuring your carry one has space. Most airline also show the multiple seat option prices when you search for a route in a row/column grid so you know what you're getting. And again, the price they show is what you pay. Those add ons don't magically appear when you go to pay.

I get what you're saying, but it's really not the same as what Ticketmaster has been doing for decades.

FTR not defended the airlines. They've mostly made travel a miserable experience these days.

---

There are "premium" seats that have more legroom. Then there are "preferred" seats that are exactly the same as the regular seats, but are 5-10 rows closer to the front. They usually want $70-80 for the premium and $20-30 for the preferred per flight leg. Most flights have 5-7 rows of "free" seats at the back of the plane. If you are not one of the first 20-25 or so to buy a ticket on the flight, you are not going to get an aisle or window in the "free" section. You either have to hope you will get assigned one at checkin, can upgrade to one at checkin due to status, or buy one to make sure you don't spend 3 hours in the middle seat between list eater and fatso with a travel scrabble. In that regard, it is much like Southwest if you don't buy earlybird checkin. It is just another way to add an extra $20-30 (minimum) to your ticket price above and beyond the stated fare. It is their way of allowing you to pay for an economy fare (where you supposedly can choose your own seat) instead of a basic economy fare (where you get assigned a seat at checkin), but then leaving you with nothing but crappy choices in seats unless you are willing to pay to upgrade.

And regarding when you get to see it, many of us have to book through a corporate tool like concur that will not allow us to purchase seat upgrades. And if you go into the seat selection on those booking tools and all the free seats are already taken (which is not uncommon), then it just leaves you with an unassigned seat unless you go back into your booking through the United website and pay more to pick one of the preferred or premium offerings.

4stringAg said:

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I found some old concert ticket stubs from my days as a youth in San Antonio in the 80s. Prices ranged anywhere from $12 to $25. You couldn't even log on to the Ticketmaster website for that much these days.

---

Not just music. Check old sporting events or movie tickets. We are a society ADDICTED to entertainment like a gambler to the tables. Ticketmaster is just one of many raking it on on our lack of control.

Exactly.
Wendover on YouTube did a show about this.

People pay the "market value"

You don't like it?
Don't go to shows.

Eventually the market will adjust.

txags92 said:

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agracer said:

---

txags92 said:

---

agracer said:

---

McNasty said:

---

Ticketmaster has been one of the worst examples of another type of inflation - "fee-flation". This is where you are lured in by base prices that are almost reasonable, only to be hit with fees that are a ridiculous % of that base. Airlines seem to be adopting this model too.

---

Most of the airline fees are government mandated.

And when you view pricing it's shows the full price including all the fees on their website. For example if you search for a route, it will show $250. When you go to check out and pay, it will show the actual ticket is $190+x+y+z fees =$250.

That being said, they do seem to be asking if you want some extras (like Wi-Fi or "premium " seats).

Ticketmaster shows a price for a ticket, then when you go to check out it's 35-40% higher because of the hidden
fees.

---

That premium seat crap just pisses me off and was part of why I liked flying SW until they became completely unreliable to get you anywhere on time. I hate how on United when the plane gets more than about 30 passengers ticketed, all the "free" seats are taken. So unless you want to roll the dice on getting the middle seat in the back row of the plane next to the lavatory, you are going to have to pay something to pick a seat. It wasn't as bad when I had preferred status and could get the upgrades a day or so ahead of time, but now that I am not preferred, I have to wait until checkin to see what is available. Just gets more annoying every time I fly.

Just raise your damn prices on the ticket and quit nickel and diming everybody to death.

---

The premium seats actually have more legroom and you get to board early ensuring your carry one has space. Most airline also show the multiple seat option prices when you search for a route in a row/column grid so you know what you're getting. And again, the price they show is what you pay. Those add ons don't magically appear when you go to pay.

I get what you're saying, but it's really not the same as what Ticketmaster has been doing for decades.

FTR not defended the airlines. They've mostly made travel a miserable experience these days.

---

There are "premium" seats that have more legroom. Then there are "preferred" seats that are exactly the same as the regular seats, but are 5-10 rows closer to the front. They usually want $70-80 for the premium and $20-30 for the preferred per flight leg. Most flights have 5-7 rows of "free" seats at the back of the plane. If you are not one of the first 20-25 or so to buy a ticket on the flight, you are not going to get an aisle or window in the "free" section. You either have to hope you will get assigned one at checkin, can upgrade to one at checkin due to status, or buy one to make sure you don't spend 3 hours in the middle seat between list eater and fatso with a travel scrabble. In that regard, it is much like Southwest if you don't buy earlybird checkin. It is just another way to add an extra $20-30 (minimum) to your ticket price above and beyond the stated fare. It is their way of allowing you to pay for an economy fare (where you supposedly can choose your own seat) instead of a basic economy fare (where you get assigned a seat at checkin), but then leaving you with nothing but crappy choices in seats unless you are willing to pay to upgrade.

And regarding when you get to see it, many of us have to book through a corporate tool like concur that will not allow us to purchase seat upgrades. And if you go into the seat selection on those booking tools and all the free seats are already taken (which is not uncommon), then it just leaves you with an unassigned seat unless you go back into your booking through the United website and pay more to pick one of the preferred or premium offerings.

---

I deal with those, but I can (once ticketed) go to the airline and pick better seats.

My company uses Concur as well. Jebus that system sucks.

ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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mickeyrig06sq3 said:

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Depends how deep they start digging. LiveNation has control over both ticket sales and venue scheduling. If a band doesn't want to use TicketMaster, then LiveNation makes sure they can't use any of the major venues because those venues don't want to be blackballed. They were also previously owned by iHeartMedia and were only spun off in 2019. If there's collusion between those two companies, you basically have a vertical and horizontal monopoly that controls everything by being able to manipulate:

1. What venues a band can play at if the band decides to sell tickets via alternate means.
2. What festivals a band can play at (C3 Events).
3. A venue's ability to host future events if they decide that they want to allow a band to play there if the band didn't use TicketMaster to sell tickets.
4. A band's airplay (via iHeartMedia) to get a fanbase to buy tickets to their events.

[Edit] Oops, didn't know about their "Artist Nation" division that controls rights over a ton of popular bands.

Additional subsidiaries just for fun.

---

pretty much this. They're about as monopolistic of a monopoly that you could conceive of. Trying NOT to use LiveNation will go over about as well as being a lawyer for Trump.

But in this case, the LiveNation settlement with the DoJ will be about as feckless as you expect. Minor sanction, reduced fees, and numerous government officials getting face-value Taylor Swift tickets they can re-sell for thousands on the aftermarket.

---

Maybe the only part of the Biden admin I've actually been pleasantly surprised by is Lina Khan and the anti-trust group at the DoJ.. The fact that they are stopping mergers, curbing corporate power, and generally calling bull**** about merger "benefits" to the consumer has resulted in pretty concrete results.

Conservatives allowed Bork to snowball us and we got ****ed by corporate consolidation. Glad to see conservatives are approaching Khan as an ally (FedSoc meetings, etc.)

Scruffy said:

---

txags92 said:

---

agracer said:

---

txags92 said:

---

agracer said:

---

McNasty said:

---

Ticketmaster has been one of the worst examples of another type of inflation - "fee-flation". This is where you are lured in by base prices that are almost reasonable, only to be hit with fees that are a ridiculous % of that base. Airlines seem to be adopting this model too.

---

Most of the airline fees are government mandated.

And when you view pricing it's shows the full price including all the fees on their website. For example if you search for a route, it will show $250. When you go to check out and pay, it will show the actual ticket is $190+x+y+z fees =$250.

That being said, they do seem to be asking if you want some extras (like Wi-Fi or "premium " seats).

Ticketmaster shows a price for a ticket, then when you go to check out it's 35-40% higher because of the hidden
fees.

---

That premium seat crap just pisses me off and was part of why I liked flying SW until they became completely unreliable to get you anywhere on time. I hate how on United when the plane gets more than about 30 passengers ticketed, all the "free" seats are taken. So unless you want to roll the dice on getting the middle seat in the back row of the plane next to the lavatory, you are going to have to pay something to pick a seat. It wasn't as bad when I had preferred status and could get the upgrades a day or so ahead of time, but now that I am not preferred, I have to wait until checkin to see what is available. Just gets more annoying every time I fly.

Just raise your damn prices on the ticket and quit nickel and diming everybody to death.

---

The premium seats actually have more legroom and you get to board early ensuring your carry one has space. Most airline also show the multiple seat option prices when you search for a route in a row/column grid so you know what you're getting. And again, the price they show is what you pay. Those add ons don't magically appear when you go to pay.

I get what you're saying, but it's really not the same as what Ticketmaster has been doing for decades.

FTR not defended the airlines. They've mostly made travel a miserable experience these days.

---

There are "premium" seats that have more legroom. Then there are "preferred" seats that are exactly the same as the regular seats, but are 5-10 rows closer to the front. They usually want $70-80 for the premium and $20-30 for the preferred per flight leg. Most flights have 5-7 rows of "free" seats at the back of the plane. If you are not one of the first 20-25 or so to buy a ticket on the flight, you are not going to get an aisle or window in the "free" section. You either have to hope you will get assigned one at checkin, can upgrade to one at checkin due to status, or buy one to make sure you don't spend 3 hours in the middle seat between list eater and fatso with a travel scrabble. In that regard, it is much like Southwest if you don't buy earlybird checkin. It is just another way to add an extra $20-30 (minimum) to your ticket price above and beyond the stated fare. It is their way of allowing you to pay for an economy fare (where you supposedly can choose your own seat) instead of a basic economy fare (where you get assigned a seat at checkin), but then leaving you with nothing but crappy choices in seats unless you are willing to pay to upgrade.

And regarding when you get to see it, many of us have to book through a corporate tool like concur that will not allow us to purchase seat upgrades. And if you go into the seat selection on those booking tools and all the free seats are already taken (which is not uncommon), then it just leaves you with an unassigned seat unless you go back into your booking through the United website and pay more to pick one of the preferred or premium offerings.

---

I deal with those, but I can (once ticketed) go to the airline and pick better seats.

---

That is the problem though. If I pay for anything on the ticket outside of the Concur system, the company won't reimburse it. And if there are no "free" seats available, my choices are either spin the crappy seat lottery wheel 24 hours before the flight when I check in, or pay miles or $ to purchase a "preferred" or "premium" seat. Just a crappy set of choices thanks to United. No different than how SW was before the advent of earlybird checkin.

Gigem314 said:

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aggie93 said:

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Ticketmaster sucks. I can't imagine why they need to charge the fees they do, it's absolutely ridiculous.

On the bright side maybe fewer people will go out to see this kind of great entertainment.

John Cougar Mellencamp ends show early in a rage because the audience didn’t want to hear him give a lecture about his support of Joe Biden.

The audience paid to hear music not about Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/54Pr8obq2E

— Zaki Solja (@zakisolja) April 16, 2024

---

Dude probably just needed an excuse to cut the set short because he's too old and drunk to get through it anyway. But he sure thinks highly of his fans. I doubt that audience was filled with a bunch of Trump supporters. Even they didn't want to hear the propaganda about Biden.

---

Really makes you think about what he meant by "little pink[o] houses for you and me."

Was all good till they pissed off the swifties

it's why i've basically stopped going to concerts.

and what used to be an inexpensive night out at the minor league park has gotten exorbitant too.

The fees that Ticketmaster collects on the purchase of a ticket do not all go to them. I can't recall the exact amount, but it is typically something in the neighborhood of 5-7% that they keep.

The remainder of the fees are collected by TM on behalf of other entities like venues, promoters, leagues, artists, etc. and for the most part, TM does not set what those fees are, they just collect them as specified in the ticketing contract (and take the heat from consumers off their clients).

It will be interesting how all this comes out during this litigation. If TM has to disclose to ticket buyers what each portion of the fee goes for - and who gets it - there might be more reluctance for venues, leagues, promoters, etc. to pile on high fees. Right now they can do it and no one knows. And where TM is the ticketer, venue owner, and promoter, it might well be worth a look at just how much they take in across the board.

This may help slightly, but the sell/re-sell fees will still be outrageous.

Live Nation reaches settlement with DOJ in antitrust fight - POLITICO

Quote:

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Live Nation has reached a settlement with the Department of Justice in its high-stakes antitrust case less than a week after the trial began, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The deal expected to be announced Monday requires Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, to pay roughly $200 million in damages to participating states.

---

Quote:

---

The centerpiece of the agreement is expected to be structural changes to Live Nation's ticketing business. Under the settlement, Ticketmaster will be required to open parts of its platform to rival ticketing companies, allowing third-party sellers such as SeatGeek or Eventbrite to list tickets directly through Ticketmaster's technology.
The deal also places new limits on the long-term exclusivity contracts Ticketmaster has historically used to lock venues into its system, cutting those agreements down to four years and allowing venues to allocate a portion of their tickets to competing platforms.

---

DDub74 said:

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They are a monopoly and makes millions jacking up prices. Forget them and hope the government sticks it in them. They have screwed me several times.

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They've never screwed you. You agreed to their price.

My guess, TM will just contract a bot farm to buy a huge portion of the tickets and then resell them for the higher fee collection.

DX2011 said:

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BassCowboy33 said:

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CS78 said:

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Meh. Luxury item. Very easy to avoid the fees by not buying the overpriced trash to start with.

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Edit:

People like live music. There's an argument that they're only option to see it is through a company that's drastically inflating prices due to lack of competition. Not sure I'd qualify going to concerts as a "luxury item".

---

Not just live music, with most sports teams having sold out venues due to season tickets, the only way I can go to an Astros, Texans or Aggie game is in the secondary market. It's not in our budget to do season tickets, so even a $30 ticket to the stros for 4 is almost $200 due to fees.

---

Stories like this make me glad I have become a grumpy, old, fart who hates crowds and has little desire to go to live sporting events or concerts.

I went to school with one of the guys that started C3 which was absorbed by Live Nation. Didn't care much for the guy 40 years ago, thought he was just a smartass. I am sure he is laughing all the way to the bank today, but people like him are also why I avoid these events.

Flibble-dee-floo

Established artists could do more on their end to help make tickets affordable. Robert Smith made demands that helped fans find tickets for good prices during The Cure's last U.S. tour.

Dude has turned into a whiner, but Zach Bryan stopped using TM for a while. Not sure if he is still boycotting them.

The Savannah Bananas have set up their own ticketing service. It's pretty cool. No hidden fees, they do not let bots buy up all the seats, they allow fans to resell tickets but only at face value.

complete clusterF

Seems like DOJ, Live Nation, and Wall Street all expect the state enforcers to settle and give up.

The judge is mad at the states for being totally unprepared. https://t.co/ZL7WZfsSFB

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) March 10, 2026

As ridiculous as the fees are (WTF is a "convenience fee"?!?!?!) that's not really the issue with TM.

The issue is the resell market imbedded within TM. That is a crock of ****. For a while TM had THEIR OWN resale division and they would skim tickets before being sold to the public, when they got in trouble for that they started working with ticket resellers (i.e. scalpers) essentially doing the same and taking a kickback.

Worse yet is the "dynamic pricing model" they use. Artist sets a min. price and they use AI / computer modeling to drive up the price based on supply / demand not just overall but while you are logged in. The artist gets the same $$ either way, the inflated dynamic pricing $$ mostly goes to TM.

There have also been rampant issues of pre-sales being infested with bots and TM favored ticket resellers buying large chunks of tickets before they go on sale to general public. I experienced this recently when I had an artist FC pre-sale code (supposedly unique to me) and when I went to buy right when it started at 10:00 AM there were 40,000 people in the queue for a 25K venue for an artist that barely has 100K FC members in the entire USA…..

This may change who profits from high ticket prices but the prices won't go down. The market already showed people will pay stupid prices.

I love a good concert, but high tickets, crazy parking, and general public behavior on big concerts. I'm out. Happy to listen to less known bands in smaller venues.

Quote:

---

No hidden fees, they do not let bots buy up all the seats, they allow fans to resell tickets but only at face value.

---

Who is harmed if I sell my tickets at more than face value?

sam callahan said:

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Quote:

---

No hidden fees, they do not let bots buy up all the seats, they allow fans to resell tickets but only at face value.

---

Who is harmed if I sell my tickets at more than face value?

---

If you, as an individual purchaser, do that, probably no one. But when bunches of people who have no intention of going buy huge blocks of tickets and resell them at higher prices, it hurts fans with a limited budget. It creates ill-will towards the artists. It discourages fans in general from wanting to attend concerts and events.

Jimmy Carr on TicketMaster

Same sentiment as has been expressed here, which I feel is accurate and justified. If you don't like the TicketMaster fees, don't buy the tickets. You're not entitled to go to a show at a price you name.

BBRex said:

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sam callahan said:

---

Quote:

---

No hidden fees, they do not let bots buy up all the seats, they allow fans to resell tickets but only at face value.

---

Who is harmed if I sell my tickets at more than face value?

---

If you, as an individual purchaser, do that, probably no one. But when bunches of people who have no intention of going buy huge blocks of tickets and resell them at higher prices, it hurts fans with a limited budget. It creates ill-will towards the artists. It discourages fans in general from wanting to attend concerts and events.

---

Trying to care.....if that is the market

WSJ: Live Nation Illegally Monopolized Concerts and Ticketing, Jury Finds

Verdict paves the way for more than 30 states to seek measures curbing the company’s power, including a possible breakuphttps://t.co/lDP8Kv4uyb

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) April 15, 2026

ABattJudd said:

---

Jimmy Carr on TicketMaster

Same sentiment as has been expressed here, which I feel is accurate and justified. If you don't like the TicketMaster fees, don't buy the tickets. You're not entitled to go to a show at a price you name.

---

The ticket price isn't the issue, it's one platform buying out the competition and then excessively jacking up the fees to sell/buy the tickets on their platform.

BTW the DOJ gave themselves a pat on the back for settling during the case.

Congratulations to all on this historic liability finding. The DOJ was proud to lead a settlement in this matter that brings the American people instant relief and also applauds the remaining states on today’s liability finding. This is a win for everyone in our country besides…

— Antitrust Division (@JusticeATR) April 15, 2026

DX2011 said:

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ABattJudd said:

---

Jimmy Carr on TicketMaster

Same sentiment as has been expressed here, which I feel is accurate and justified. If you don't like the TicketMaster fees, don't buy the tickets. You're not entitled to go to a show at a price you name.

---

The ticket price isn't the issue, it's one platform buying out the competition and then excessively jacking up the fees to sell/buy the tickets on their platform.

---

This.

It's not the prices. Its not the auctions. Its the predatory contractual scheme that ticketmaster put together so that they are the only game in town.

If an artist could legitimately host a tour without ticketmaster so that their tickets were more affordable, some would, just because they like touring. They would tour all the time, and sell out the same venues twice or three times a year because you could take your family of four to the concert for the price of one fee of one ticket in the nosebleed section of a swift concert.

But he/she cant. Because ticketmaster contracted out all of the competition. On purpose. And are jacking up prices now because they can.

If ticketmaster isn't anticompetitive, then the word has lost all meaning.