What kind of crazy, fucking world do we live in, and John Oliver’s Ticketmaster story is exactly right?

Customers and legislators are too stupid to understand how the game works.

He called Irving Azoff a lack of charisma, I disagree, you don’t become as successful without charisma, trust me, but Irving said it directly to the government, and people still don’t understand the story . TICKETMASTER is the front line of action! That’s right, your favorite act is likely to be a greedy capitalist while telling you they’re not. of course there are exceptions. But in a world where credibility and entertainment rarely meet, money is king and the Kardashians have become richer than any singer without any apparent talent, performers who can say no are rare. Especially when no one knows the truth! Yes, they keep saying that the fan comes first (after God, of course), but in fact the fan is at the absolute bottom of the pyramid. Because they can get more money from the company, Fitty makes far more money from the flavored water than he makes from the music. So, these actions say one thing, but do another.

Like metal bands.

Yes, Metallica is an AEG band. Then it becomes the act of Live Nation.

Now I’m going to tell you something you probably haven’t heard of, it’s going to be a revelation, a dollar is only a hundred cents! That’s right, there’s only so much money a concert can make.

Now that Jimmy Buffett’s ticket sales are so steady that sell-out is guaranteed, he’s making more than 100 percent of the total box office. You ask me, Bob, how is this possible?

Well, there are parking spaces, food and beverages, merchandise and… ticket fees.

You see the money has to come from somewhere. If you want more money, be prepared to let the shenanigans rear their head.

Let’s start with Michael Cole, the Canadian concert promoter who invented this paradigm, best known as the Rolling Stones. I’ll pay you a fortune, but don’t ask how I make it!

Promoters don’t lose and sell out is not guaranteed. Maybe the promoters ripped off their votes. He knew the show was going to sell out, so he had figured out a way to make money, and the act of making the sign of the cross and pleading for ignorance was none of their business. But of course they are, because they have huge guarantees.

Therefore, AEG has paid as much as possible to Metallica. Go to Live Nation…they have to get more. One of them is giving back, the ability to scalp a band.

Now let’s be clear. This happens all day long. Oliver even mentioned it. But by going on this tour with Live Nation and getting caught, the story isn’t going away because everything is on the internet forever.

But I’m going to tell you a dirty little secret, fans of the band don’t care!

I know it sounds crazy, but only non-Metallica fans are bothered by this.

A perfect example is Motley Crue, who signed on for their retiring bloodline and is back!

Yes, you said you were retiring, so fans would come to see the last show. but it is not the truth. I remember a band on their farewell tour scheduled a new album a few months later. This was a few years ago and they are still on the way!

That’s why the Eagles called their latest tour “Farewell 1.” It’s a joke, maybe a bit inside, in fact, subsequent tours have had different nicknames, but the Eagles are a rare exception as they charge the value of the tickets!

They are not the only ones. The Rolling Stones are famous for this and they adjust their prices like a plane seat and yes the person sitting next to you could have paid less, too bad you were there and you were happy I mean the Rolling Stones, correct?

My inbox is full of people complaining about $500 Paul McCartney tickets, and those aren’t even the best. But history tells us that people will pay for it, which is primitive economics.

But these three things are legends. They are almost beyond business. Everyone knows who they are, and their songs are part of the classic rock canon, so they don’t bother to play the game with all the other performances.

Now, industry insiders know all of the above from day one.

And that’s because that’s how businesses want to be! Completely opaque, Ticketmaster takes on the heat rather than the behavior.

Needless to say, none of these fees will go to Ticketmaster, but fans believe it. People run on emotions, not facts. If you do, you’ll never be a giant like Owen. This is business. And there are constant rules. Like I said above, a dollar is only a hundred cents. If the act gets all the ticket revenue, which is the norm these days, then there must be some way for everyone else in the food chain to make a profit, and one of those ways is through fees…to the promoter, the building, or even the act.

Everything I’ve written above I’ve said before, but it just doesn’t penetrate. You’re telling me it’s a business, everyone knows about economics, and the main driver of the problem is behavior? It’s like killing Bambi, or it can’t be true without Santa!

There was a definitive book on it all a few years ago, but the writer broke the first rule of writing…sometimes you have to leave the best stuff behind because it detracts from the story. It’s all in “Ticket Master”, it’s just that the end result is unreadable.

As for the government…these bastards don’t seem to understand anything, they’re just in the stands so they can get re-elected.

But the news media is even worse. The parrot industry keeps feeding all their lies. They never stop to ask themselves… is this true?

That’s right, they’re in journalism. But they were just in front of the camera and even wrote exactly what the players told them and it made the headlines and they loved the visit and the tickets themselves!

Then there’s a British comedian who has kids and probably never even goes to the show, or if he does get tickets directly from the performer or promoter (VIP always has tickets, but I have to tell you they’re not free , those days are gone), in front of the camera, determining the story in twenty minutes, exactly. Oh, you can complain about his emphasis on this rather than that, but let’s not nitpick, his presentation is the most accurate in Ticketmaster history.

So what will happen now?

no! Yes, absolutely not! Because that’s how everyone likes it!

Yes, actors, promoters, buildings, and conductors, they’re all making money, and Live Nation’s stock has been going up.

As for the fans…they love scalpers! It’s the only way they can get a good seat at the show.

People are delusional. The biggest complainers are those who aren’t in the game, like complaining about the fringe behavior of Spotify spending. The truth is fans want seats and you’d be surprised how they’ll pay for shipping. Yes, people in service jobs will pay $500 to sit in the top ten to watch their favorite show. The only way they get access is through a broker.

I will go further. At a lot of live events, sellers love brokers. Baseball…you have 162 games a year, and some people will come and buy every home game, hoping to make their money back when the Yankees go to town, if the team makes the playoffs. Who knows, your team might have a bad year, but you’ve made money from scalpers.

That’s right, those who complain loudly are the ones who think they have the right to sit in the front row of superstars Bruno Mars and Adele for less than a hundred dollars. First, the demand for these behaviors far exceeds the supply. There is only one behavior that supersedes this paradigm. Garth Brooks. He goes to the market, charging little compared to other actions, until demand is exhausted. Multiple performances. So no scalping. There’s no money to be made, and fans know they can get in at a reasonable price and face value.

Then there’s paperless. Fans hate it! Because fans are also scalpers. They buy as many tickets as they can, then put extra tickets on a secondary website, and then…

hopeless.

The only real hope is for the show to charge the value of the ticket.

In fact, for many behaviors, they are worth the money. They can sell out an entire floor for $500 per ducat. But they are afraid they will look bad. It certainly doesn’t make sense because they’re all bragging about how much money they make. They should be proud of their high ticket prices. One thing is for sure, fans will pay them!

Unfortunately, the markup goes to the scalping third party, which is why the actor is scalping his own ticket in order to participate in the action.

Now, while I’ve been writing this, they finally put this episode of Oliver on YouTube. That’s right, even though HBO is a paid service, they’re giving it away for free because it’s a great way to market it. How can HBO be smarter than musicians? The first way to get them to become fans is to expose them to your art, and you can lower the bar. You want to cancel the free tier on Spotify, which is ad-supported and therefore pays less…but be prepared to let people miss your act. Spotify will tell you that the free tier converts listeners to the paid tier. But you don’t want to believe this because it doesn’t feel right!

This brings us back to the beginning. John Oliver nailed the live entertainment business. I don’t know how many people watch his show on HBO, but seven figures watch YouTube every week. But what exactly does this mean? It’s like the act of complaining about their song being played a million times, they’re not millionaires. In context, it’s just not so much!

But John Oliver has credibility. In the press, his numbers are very good. And he’s funny. So his show will inspire a lot of people.

But the people who complain the most won’t watch it, they’d rather hate Ticketmaster.

Which brings us back to the fact that, despite Oliver’s pointing out, I doubt there will be any changes, everyone in the food chain loves it this way.

Oh, I just add one thing. hysteria. Do you remember the Hannah Montana trip and all the parents were complaining that they couldn’t get their kids’ tickets, or that they were too expensive? Well, next time Miley goes out completely paperless. And the show didn’t sell out! It is this frenzy, the perception of scarcity, that drives people to buy tickets.

It’s show business after all.

Can you trust the man behind the scenes?

No, but you can’t trust the guys on stage either!

PS Don’t expect to report any of the above in trade documents. They’re in the game and they don’t want to bite and feed their hands. To make matters worse, “Billboard” is now consumer-facing, and since trade ads have plummeted, they don’t want to annoy fans who don’t want the truth anyway.

PPS As for direct media, they’ve been missing this story for decades. They just can’t understand. That’s what makes Oliver’s plan so instructive. I mean shouldn’t this be in the New York Times? Then again, the video reaches more people, you can’t write an interesting story in “era” it has to be boring and take all the personalities out of the way, that’s why John Oliver has more influence . But no one reaches everyone these days. If people can’t get it right in entertainment, don’t expect them to be right in politics, it’s the same game and I don’t want to tell you. Only in this case it’s all about fundraising, guarantees and returns…but the end result is the same, it’s opaque! Oliver used the word. Outside of the music industry, no one else can articulate the facts. great!

Before:
Smart Tickets: Creators Capture Secondary Market Sales (April 7, 2021)

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