Revenue / 07.25.19

Live Nation Helped Metallica and Other Artists Place Tickets Directly On Resale Market

Access Staff

Billboard (07/19/19) Brooks, Dave; Karp, Hannah

Live Nation reports it put 88,000 Metallica tickets on resale sites like StubHub, without giving fans a chance to buy them at face value. The music promoter says it did this for "about a dozen artists" between 2016 and 2017, but "requests have declined virtually to zero as tools like dynamic pricing, platinum seats, and VIP packages have proven to be more effective at recapturing value previously lost to the secondary market." It's now "standard practice" to use these other options, according to Live Nation, to "help tour prices closer to true market value." The Metallica scheme did not end up making much extra money for those involved. In fact, the broker responsible for selling 4,400 tickets per show for 20 dates of the tour was not able to sell them all. The Federal Trade Commission hosted a period of open comment on ticketing fees, after a study published by the Government Accountability Office found that the average ticket fee is now 27% of a ticket’s face value. The FTC received 7,000 comments before hosting a public workshop this June with industry leaders and economists. Although the U.S. government does not regulate ticket sales, the Federal Trade Commission Act prohibits unfair or deceptive acts affecting commerce. The Department of Justice's antitrust division monitors competition in ticketing, and is tasked with enforcing a 2010 consent decree following Live Nation's merger with Ticketmaster that bans the company from retaliating against venues and promoters for not using its software.

Read the full article on Billboard. 

Tags: Reselling , News , StubHub