With the proposed $2.5 billion merger between TicketMaster and Live Nation looming large, many venue owners and promoters are up in arms, deeming the deal anti-competitive and monopolistic (they may be right – the deal is being examined for possible anti-trust violations). Now ShowClix, a TicketMaster competitor that launched in early 2007, is launching the Fair Ticketing Fund, setting aside up to $5 million to entice venues and promoters away from the pending Live Nation Entertainment goliath. Other ticket vendors are also beginning to offer similar deals, including TicketBiscuit, which launched a $10 million fund last week.
For those who aren’t familiar with the ticketing business, here’s a bit of a primer. TicketMaster has long been contracting venues into exclusive deals, promising some portion of the service fees (also known as convenience or venue fees) the site racks up as an incentive for them to sign on. TicketMaster has become notorious for gouging customers with these fees, and many fear that with the Live Nation deal they’ll only continue to rise higher.
Smaller ticket companies like ShowClix don’t typically charge service fees that are nearly as high as TicketMaster’s so they usually can’t promise the same returns to venues. That’s where the their new funds come in: each is promising venues that they’ll use the new funds to compensate for the income they stand to lose from leaving TicketMaster. In effect, they’re giving venues opposed to the new deal a chance to protest it without doing too much damage to their bank accounts.
However, while ShowClix and TicketBiscuit may be giving away money for now, this is hardly a charity – any venues looking to take advantage of the Fair Ticketing Fund will be signing on with ShowClix under an exclusive year-long deal (which is fairly common in the industry), and TicketBiscuit will also mandate an exclusive deal. Still, it’s nice to see these smaller entities take on TicketMaster – I’m getting tired of “convenience” fees that cost a third as much as the ticket itself.
Exciting stuff
Who even uses these sites? You can always find scalpers on craigslist or http://www.anonboard.com
I’ve somehow never heard of Live Nation but TicketMaster merging with anyone is a problem. They already dominate the industry and the ridiculous convenience fees need to be stopped!
Only time will tell what these funds do to make a difference. Good to see people doing something about the ticketing industry tho… its much need. ShowClix looks rather promising.
all my uploaded scrobble is fake, my neighbor jumped in my wi-fi, i swear! /torrents more.
I believe TicketMaster’s dominance is primarily in North America, though they do operate in Europe, Australia and South America under other names, and via aquisitions in these locations.
I suspect to see lots of new virtual ticket vendors who will be able to provide the ticketing service directly to venues big and small.
The local search market will do a better job at promotions than ticketmaster.
Because of these changes and the amount of bad blood surrounding anything ticketmaster does, I suspect they will be marginalized in the next few years.
This is opening the market for new companies to like showClix, TicketBiscuit and StubMatic, along with many others.
Was there any due diligence done whether there really is an actual “Ticketbiscuit $10m fund”?? it looks like clever lead gen to find customers. check out one of their many their landing pages:
http://www.tick.../mlf/apply.aspx
This looks like an “application for funds” disguised as trolling for new customers.
Though I highly doubt the merger goes through this is awesome. The more competition, the better.
Hey Linsey,
if you want an immediate in with over 2,300 entertainment interests via http://www.ticketrends.com – call me – timing is great and price is very reasonable….
Best,
Brian -
The merger is a real concern for venues- but nothing new. Venues have been shortchanging themselves by sitting with Ticketmaster for years.
Venues seem all too comfortable to trade the value of owning and controlling their customer data for the short term benefits they get from the likes of Ticketmaster (and other ticket vendors who control data and disempower venues in similar ways).
Venues need to stop thinking that their core business is selling booze (a key revenue driver) and realize that to stay alive and thriving… they’re going to need to learn how to:
A) Do better at attracting and engaging their audience directly, without the help of Ticketmaster
B) Get themselves a ticketing partner that ADDS VALUE to their marketing efforts and empowers them, instead of tying themselves to a ticketing partner who seeks to CONTROL THEM and their customers and data
I’m not sure if either ShowClix or TicketBiscuit provide more value to help venues get the value of being the place where real music fans are going and having great experiences.
Venues need to wake up, stop focusing on the booze, and start drinking the kool-aid of marketing, direct-marketing and engagement that is going to truly build their business.
I also agree with pedalpete’s comment here that local search can be a big boon in ticket sales. But then again, if venues wanted to engage in this opportunity, they’d have to get with it in Search marketing to begin with- which many aren’t.
I don’t really get how the Funds will be Funded. How can boot-strapped startups (I don’t see any investors) afford to dump 5-10M into a fund to pay their customers? Sounds like pay-to-play; no different than venue kickbacks. And what happens when the Fund is depleted?
Sounds like a good marketing ploy that worked.
Great stuffs.
These programs are nothing new, they’re just marketing their companies by trying to play off the TM/LN ‘outcry’. Here, at Ticket Alternative, we’ve had a rebate/incentive program for venues wanting to switch from ANY ticketing company for years. There’s a real cost involved as any venue would need new hardware, scanners, printers etc. If you know a venue is going to sell 10k+ tickets per year, of course your going to give them enough $$ to cover the cost of the conversion and to cover any new equipment needed.
I hope that this works because the start-ups appear to be bringing a whole lot to the table and even if they don’t run ticketbastard out of town at least they can change the way business is done within the industry. Competition is good for us – the consumers.
I wish Showclix and the others all the success in the world – I like what they are doing.
I know everyone hates Ticketmaster because they feel the fees are exorbitant.
It’s important for everyone to remember that the venues like these fees and benefit from these fees. Ticketmaster is the fall guy that consumers and artists can blame and hate. Ticketmaster is the conduit. The venues are addicted to their share of fees for their profitability.
The economics are the economics. Artists, venues, intermediaries all need to get paid. Maybe Ticketmaster hasn’t devised a system that both spreads the economics and makes consumers feel good. And maybe there hasn’t been enough innovation because Ticketmaster has tied up the best venues. But the dream that ticket prices stay the same/go down and convenience fees go away is probably just that.
The Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger is actually a GREAT thing for ticketing companies and for the concert industry as a whole.
Prior to the merger, Ticketmaster was an independent ticketing entity that could easily outbid competition for venue or promoter contracts. From a venue’s standpoint, a deal with TM made sense as it offered the highest fees and the best technology solution.
Now that Ticketmaster is in bed with Live Nation – a major venue owner and the largest concert promoter – free market dynamics should take effect. Meaning, by doing business with Ticketmaster, the independent venue owners and promoters are doing business with their competitor. In short, it now makes better business sense to take your ticketing contracts elsewhere… which means huge opportunities for ticketing companies and more competition in the ticketing space.
Read more…
http://bluehaze...tion-good-thing
Jason,
I’m a software engineer at TicketBiscuit and we appreciate the mention. All of us at the Biscuit are huge fans of live entertainment and I think our CEO Jeff explained it best when he said:
“…in this relentless focus on financial benefit and the money to be made, music fans, independent musicians, independent venues, and independent promoters, in my opinion, will lose out. In short, this deal will represent the largest consolidation in the history of the live music industry.
Consolidation means fewer choices and higher prices for fans. And that’s what the Music Liberation Fund is meant to fight against.
Is there something in it for us? Yes. Are there strings attached? Sure. But we’ll make all of that perfectly transparent to those who qualify for fund proceeds. The bottom line is that artists, fans, venues, and promoters need a choice. And with any luck, the MLF will help ensure that they always have one.”
http://blog.tic...etbiscuits-ceo/
I’d also point out that ShowClix’s “Fair Ticketing Fund”, which launched on February 18, bears a striking resemblance to our “Music Liberation Fund”, which was announced a full week earlier.
http://blog.tic...e-independence/
Lastly, if any of you want more information about how the MLF works, just contact our CEO, Jeff Gale.
Thanks!
Brian Ellis
http://www.twit...er.com/cisellis
http://www.twit...m/TicketBiscuit
having led marketing for a ticketing company that was recently acquired by Ticketmaster, I can assure you that venues will not be easily moved to push a significant portion of their revenues to startup companies with little to no proof that they can scale to support major onsales events, support the whims of promoters pushing major events, and most importantly make them the money the make with Ticketmaster. in this industry, “no one gets fired for going with ibm”
I’ve been told by a lot of industry insiders that this merger will be an immense and almost invisible drain on both consumer’s and artist’s wallets. Supposedly up to half of an event’s ticket price is made up entirely of “fees” to ticketmaster, for doing what exactly nobody knows. I think it’s a lot bigger deal than the sirius/xm merger; those anti-trust delays have destroyed those firms. I use justaskgemalto to keep on top of what activities/firms are legit, privacy issues, etc.
I never go to an event if I’m forced to buy tickets from TicketMaster. If I can’t buy them directly from the venue’s box office, I don’t go. TicketMaster’s “service fees” or “convenience fees” are ridiculous.
Don’t forget that TicketMonkey (http://www.ticketmonkey.com) is setting aside $25 million to pay people to switch providers.
I am flattered, some one is posting fake comments using my name??!!
-Bala