Holdbacks & Ticket Allocations
How ticket sellers allocate and sell tickets is largely unknown by fans. When tickets go on sale, there is no transparency in today’s industry with respect to the number of tickets available for the general public to purchase. Ticket sellers, promoters, venues, artists and sports teams frequently hold back large percentages of tickets from the marketplace. According to a 2016 report by the New York Attorney General, on average, only 46% of tickets go on sale to the general public during the initial on-sale. The remaining 54% are held back or allocated for industry insiders, brokers, artists, fan clubs, credit card pre-sales, etc. For top shows, the average number of tickets that go on sale to the general public falls to 25%, with some events offering as low as 12% of tickets to the general public. It’s also been reported that not all tickets go on sale at the same time. This can lead to the perception that an event is “sold-out,” only to find additional tickets released for sale in subsequent days and weeks leading up to an event.
The general public often believes that when tickets go on sale, they have access to the vast majority of seats in the venue. It’s not fair to fans when an artist releases less than 20% or 30% of a venue’s seats to be sold to the general public.
Providing fans information on the number of tickets available for sale, when these tickets will be offered, and at what price will create a clearer picture of event accessibility and help to inform fans’ decisions on if, and when, to buy tickets.
Dynamic Pricing & “Platinum” Ticketing
This idea of “face value” for tickets is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Ticket sellers have embraced the use of dynamic pricing, or fluctuating the price of tickets based on market demands. This is how ticket resales have traditionally been priced, and now it’s becoming prevalent in original ticket sales as well.
The controlled distribution of ticket supply, particularly for popular events, can drive demand and impact pricing. Ticketmaster uses holdbacks to their advantage through “dynamic pricing” and “Platinum Seats”. This is the practice of only releasing a portion of event tickets at the initial on sale and allowing the resale market to raise prices before releasing the remainder of tickets.
As the use of dynamic pricing and Platinum Seats becomes more prevalent across the industry, the importance of transparency for fans increases even further. Providing fans information on the number of tickets available for sale, when these tickets will be offered and at what price will create a clearer picture of event accessibility and help to inform fans’ decisions on if, and when, to buy tickets.
Ticket Restrictions & Cancellations
Original ticket sellers have a long history of trying to control the tickets they sell, even after they are purchased by fans. In recent years, ticket sellers have been able to leverage technology to further accomplish this goal. For example, the use of digital ticketing and “rotating barcodes” allows the original ticket seller to dictate to fans if a ticket they purchased can be transferred or resold to another fan.
Unfortunately, original ticket sellers have also been known to cancel or revoke tickets when fans choose to transfer or resell their tickets outside of the original ticket sellers’ rules or expectations. Similarly, fans that have purchased tickets from resale platforms have been denied admission to events solely because their valid tickets were resold.
Fans should have flexibility and control over the tickets they rightfully purchase – however they decide to use, transfer or even resell their tickets. Ticket sellers should not use restrictions or ticket cancellations to limit consumer choice or control and monopolize transfer or resale opportunities.
Competition
There is a well-reported lack of competition in the live events industry in the United States amongst original ticket sellers. Generally speaking, the original ticket sale for any event in the U.S. is exclusively done by one company. For these initial sales, there is no competition. Publicly available information suggests Ticketmaster controls 70 – 80% of original or “primary” ticket sales nationwide. Ticketmaster, and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment, dominate the live events industry, not just primary ticket sales. Live Nation Entertainment is the largest producer of live music concerts in the world; is one of the leading artist management companies in the world; owns, operates, or has exclusive booking rights or equity interest in 289 venues worldwide; and is the largest event ticketing company in the world with Ticketmaster’s primary and resale marketplaces.
Ticketmaster’s market dominance over primary sales gives them the unique ability to use technology or terms and conditions to control what fans do with the tickets they’ve purchased, which frequently means any subsequent transfers must occur through Ticketmaster’s own resale platforms.
Fans deserve a healthy and competitive ticket marketplace where businesses compete for consumers based on their services, fees and consumer protections.