[amilios]

The concern with Ticketmaster is the monopoly though, you are sidestepping the issue. It's about what kind of value Ticketmaster adds (minimal) to justify the exhorbitant fees they charge and can charge, because they have no competition due to all their exclusive contracts with the venues.

[angryasian]

>what kind of value Ticketmaster adds

Not sure if you're being serious, thats like saying what kind of value does Amazon add selling other stores products.

[matai_kolila]

Sure, but that's not why The Eras Tour tickets were so expensive, which is the real reason Taylor Swift fans are upset.

Yes, TM has a concerning amount of control over venues and therefore artists, but in this scenario, that's not very relevant, given the insane demand and the basic physics problem involved with trying to stuff 12 million people into spaces (at a time) that hold a total of maybe 2.

It's just weird to me how we can't separate the issues. TM's main insult to the Swifties were the technical issues, not their potential monopoly. Ticket prices would be insane regardless.

[Enginerrrd]

I think you're neglecting to consider the cooling effect ticketmaster has on supply by being a monopoly. If there were more independent venues, and artists were better compensated, then far more middle tier artists could support themselves full-time, likely creating more supply of top-tier performers.

Instead, ALL monopolies have an incentive to minimize supply and maximize price. So of course demand exceeds supply.

[matai_kolila]

The cooling effect on supply?? You mean Taylor Swift's inability to be in two places at once and unwillingness to drive her voice into the ground by continuing to add more concert dates?

No, this is not the right argument. She had to go with the biggest venues in the US to fit as many people as possible, and she's already added a ton of extra dates.

There is a fundamental limit to the number of people who can attend this tour, and that number is lower than the number of people who want to attend this tour, therefore prices will go up until the demand for tickets matches the supply of tickets.

Independent venues would not have made a lick of difference in this case, these ticket prices would be sky high no matter who was selling them.

[Cederfjard]

I think Enginerrrd is saying that there could be a larger supply of other artists, that would satiate fans and make the demand for any one performer less impossible to meet. I’m not sure I think that’s true, but that’s my interpretation of their argument.

[matai_kolila]

Yeah I guess my point is a theory of constraints argument; Taylor Swift herself is the constraint, nothing else will matter.

People seem to be ignoring or forgetting that basic idea.