TSO’s Swift Way Out Of Ticket Mess

WSJ says “Taylor Swift Concert-Ticket Mess Draws Scrutiny of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster Tie Up”, but it’s long been obvious how sports as well as concert fans have been getting ripped off by overlooked “resellers”.

Again, the newspaper notes how “legal experts question whether unwinding the 2010 megamerger [between industry leading event promoter Live Nation and ticketing company Ticketmaster] would address problems raised by lawmakers and fans.” But, of course, it wouldn’ta, couldn’ta, shouldn’ta. That is, not so long as the resellers out there were allowed (one way or another) to buy up gads of tickets when they first go on sale and resell them at inflated prices later on, thereby freezing out or extorting their desperate “customers.”

Once again we’re told, lawmakers and AGs are lining up to somehow hold Live Nation & Ticketmaster accountable for the “botched ticket sale process for Ms. Swift’s first concert tour in five years, blaming the website’s failure and high fees on a lack of competition.” That website was reportedly overwhelmed by overwhelming order placements in a few minutes’ time. But, might a related and underlying problem be that a large percentage of those orders were being placed by people or entities aka profiteers who had no intention of attending Ms. Swift’s concert? An example of how to deal with this reseller “swamping effect,” might be seen in the way Ticketmaster works with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s annual Christmas Concert. Fans are encouraged to become “TSO members” who have access to an online lottery giving them first dibs on tickets, subject to a limit on numbers purchased. Subsequent “public” sales are also limited to at least accommodate real fans and frustrate the profiteers.

Davd Soul