Executive denies Live Nation-Ticketmaster is a monopoly

追加: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]I'm going to begin with an apology, which is a bit of a Canadian thing to do. I'll say sorry for asking a rude question right off the top.

[00:00:09]Fire away. Why do so many fans hate Live Nation and Ticketmaster?

[00:00:14]I think it's it's pretty straightforward. It's it's because they have frustrations about the live entertainment market and they associate it especially with Ticketmaster because most people buy their tickets from Ticketmaster and you're used to in your life you are used to blaming the merchants who sells you something because the the shirt has a defect in it or the car doesn't run right or whatever it is. And so they tend to blame Ticketmaster and it's been that way for many many years on issues that are Ticketmaster's responsibility and on many issues that aren't.

[00:00:46]You hear it I'm sure, but we've talked to a lot of people, talked to a young kid outside of Raptors NBA playoff game who couldn't get in saying, you know, "My grandparents used to give me tickets for Christmas. Now they're too expensive."

[00:01:00]>> That's right.

[00:01:02]Why are ticket prices so high today?

[00:01:07]You know, it's a supply and demand market, Dave, and it's it's one of these things where for the good news is that for most events they're not that expensive. You know, 90% of our concert, 95% of our concerts don't sell out.

[00:01:20]Tickets are available, supply and demand works in the in the fans favor. But everybody tends to focus on the big events, those those really special moments that you want to see your favorite artist or maybe your favorite team in the playoffs. And in those where demand is much greater than supply, we see market pricing that goes much higher than than a lot of folks can afford. And that's the that's really the root of it.

[00:01:45]What has changed though in the live entertainment experience in the last couple of years that has also driven up prices? I think it's the it it's the the experience value of of what people are seeing, especially in concerts. You know, in sports the games haven't changed all that much.

[00:02:04]You you go to a game and you have your allegiance to your to your team and all of that's great. But when you think about what you're seeing in concerts today and you think about what what you and I saw in concerts 25 years ago, it's very different. The production value is way better. It's it's much larger. The the staging is more impressive. There's dancers. There's all this this other material that's there to create a wonderful experience for the fan and all of that costs money. Um we also have a very we had a fundamental change in this industry um years ago, about 20 years ago um when streaming came along and the money came out of selling records and and the concert industry that was really subsidized by record companies, it was all marketing to sell records. Uh is is no longer subsidized. And so the artist is earning most of his or her income from touring and needs to generate the income to do that.

[00:03:02]Federal jury here in New York Right.

[00:03:04]>> came with a verdict that Ticketmaster Live Nation constituted a monopoly.

[00:03:10]Some unlawful behavior in the way things were tied together, venues, artists, promotion.

[00:03:16]What do you say to that? What's your reaction to their verdict? Well, it's frustrating. I mean, look, I I I think it's pretty clear that the states and who brought the case along with the federal government asked for a jury trial because it's a lot easier to win a jury trial um than it is a court trial in in a case like this and particularly against a big corporation.

[00:03:38]Um and I'm not I'm not happy with the verdict, of course. Are you a monopoly?

[00:03:43]Well, it's funny. You you what the what the verdict says is that we've have monopolized 20% of the primary ticketing market, not the whole thing, because they couldn't prove that we monopolized the whole thing. We only have about 50% of the North American ticket market in general. So, they focused on just 20% where ironically we are really popular with the customers in that in that group and so our market share was higher. And that's the basis of the monopoly finding. I don't call that a monopoly and I'm actually confident that over time the courts won't call that a monopoly. So, you will appeal the verdict?

[00:04:21]Right now it's in post-trial motions and we could win the case there, but if not, yes, we will appeal.

[00:04:29]What will you do and argue in the face of the US state seeking to break up Ticketmaster Live Nation?

[00:04:37]That it's both impossible legally and a terrible idea.

[00:04:42]Um and I'll spare you the legal arguments, but I'll just say as to whether it's a good idea, just take a look at the ticketing companies that are active in in North America.

[00:04:52]The ones that are associated with concert promoters, which are Ticketmaster and AXS, are the ones that do not do everything in their power to encourage resale and do not establish their business practices for what's best for brokers and scalpers.

[00:05:12]All the rest are all scalper all the time. I don't know why in the world anyone would want Ticketmaster to be a third major ticketing company that would have every incentive to act like a SeatGeek or StubHub.