[vijayr]

"Ticketmaster's exclusives on venues"

Sorry for the dumb question - does this mean that nobody else can book these venues?

If that is the case, can't CK (and other comedians) find a neutral venue (or a venue that is not already on Ticketmaster's list)? At least in his case, he doesn't need sophisticated venues (like the ones need for an opera, or a circus for example)

Also, for disruption - can't a company buy/build a venue, and pitch it as "just pay the rent, and you take care of ticket sales and everything else" model?

[dsl]

Effectively. You can still book venues, you just can't sell tickets to your event without Ticketmaster being involved.

A company called Livenation went around about 10 years ago and bought all the venues large enough to hold a profitable concert or show, then a few years back merged with Ticketmaster.

Livenation won't sell you one of their venues. Building a new one large enough to be profitable is near impossible. It's not just a building, its massive parking lots, planning and building commissions, working with local police for traffic management, unions for load ins/outs, getting sizable power feeds from your local utility, multi-million dollar sound systems, concessions contracts, medical services, etc., etc., etc.

[beedogs]

Does this mean that Ticketmaster runs the risk of overextending itself and collapsing in a heap, the way Clear Channel did after buying up hundreds of radio stations throughout the 90s and early 00s? (ihopeihopeihope)

[rmc]

If that is the case, can't CK (and other comedians) find a neutral venue (or a venue that is not already on Ticketmaster's list)?

Yes, that's what happens if you're still small. Now what happens if you're a mega-rock star and what to have a gig with 10,000+ people? Those venues are locked up.

can't a company buy/build a venue

Where? Which city/country? If you do that (which'll cost a fortune in up front costs), that only helps the artist in that location. What happens to the rest of their tour when they go to other cities? They have to go to Ticketmaster then.

[cdcarter]

No, it just means Ticketmaster is the exclusive provider of box office services.

That is a potential disruption model (if you could manager actually buying/building a venue) but there's a reason (commercial) venues almost always require you to use their box office services. Often times, the venue gets rent in terms of a flat fee plus a cut of the net adjusted gross box office revenue. A bigger show puts more strain on the venue and they'll want a slightly larger cut. The venue then wants to oversee the settlement, and, therefor, the box officing.