Amazing that people want to argue in favor of non-productive speculation/rent-seeking. He must really love those corporations that buy foreclosed houses and resell them at a big profit when the market is righted too (limiting the housing supply). Crypto and NFTs, all that. That's just capitalism baby!
No. Clearly the demand is higher than the ticket prices. Now they may want to earn far more than the demand dictates and end up losing money. But you would be naive to think these tickets are not going to sell for more than face value unless someone let second cannot go or someone tries to get too much as the time value diminishes. Every single ticket sold would sell for more than its face value right now. That is real scarcity. Not artificial scarcity. Now in two months (or some time in the future before the shows) if TS has a behind the scenes deal to add a show to each one on the quiet…the argument for artificial scarcity would hold.
Yes, that's because Ticketmaster controls the resale market, not because they are interested in matching supply to demand efficiently. They are creating a speculative environment because they profit not only from the first sale, but every single resale. But to you that is just how capitalism works, figuring out ways to continue to extract rents from something without adding any value to the commodity.
It seems that if artists & ticketmaster really wanted to capture the rents, they'd auction the tickets. I suspect that artists would not want the potential bad PR. Ironically, Tay Tay was one of the first to explore dynamic pricing which I guess is a way to try to get more of the surplus. A second price auction is a devious mechanism in that the dominate strategy is to bid your true valuation. In that regard, it is a truth inducing scheme.
I am not a fan of how tickets work. If we could figure out how to exchange tickets without the dumb processing charges that make merchant fees look cheap…I would be all for it. But let’s not kid ourselves. TS up close tickets are worth far more than face value. I would not be shocked at all if the artists are not getting a piece of the secondary market as they don’t want to be seen as the ones charging so much. But they know they are worth more than face value.
I am not in disagreement that reigning in the processing fees would be a good thing in a monopoly situation. But they are not creating a speculative environment. If they started tickets at $750 face value for upper deck to speculate what they could get then they would be. End of the day. They could sell for $1 and after that allow the market to go at just as easy as selling for whatever face value they chose. The issue is real scarcity. Not artificial scarcity.
I despise Ticketmaster and Stubhub. But they are what they are… Fortunately I only have to deal with them for a few Gator games for the most part as we prefer more outdoors and nature than big events with lots of people.
You just said before that they are not matching the initial price to demand, so what is their motive in doing that if not creating some kind of artificial scarcity that will stimulate resale?
it is supply and demand and convenience. so much easier to click on your computer and buy than stand in line, sometime for days, in crappy weather to maybe get a ticket.on the computer you know right away, and my guess is it is like the old cliche,if you can't afford the high prices, don't shop.
Sure there is…the initial price is the face value. Now of course they could speculate on what they could get and ask ridiculous high amounts. I get not wanting to pay over a certain amount. Maybe TS needs to figure out how to only allow super fans to get tickets. But at the end of the day…I would bet these artist don’t want that.
this is like e-bay. i buy 20 in demand items for x dollars, open biding and usually get xtimes 3 or 4 for them./ if people want something they will pay. e-bay is scalping just like your guy on the corner.
Apparently the DOJ, the States of North Carolina and Tennessee and the Senate Judiciary Committee could all end up launching antitrust investigations of Tickmaster. Taylor Swift ticket snafu caused by Ticketmaster abusing its market power, Senate antitrust chair says | CNN Business Tennessee, North Carolina AGs Investigating Taylor Swift Ticket Presale Ticketmaster faces antitrust scrutiny after Taylor Swift ticket chaos
They don’t know exactly what it is. And I agree the processing fees need to be addressed. But what do you want. Just to make sure the people you prefer get tickets at a low offer who are not willing to sell them to a person willing to pay far more? Don’t get me wrong. I took advantage of things when I could. I was not willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money to go to Gator games. And for a while I had avenues to make that reality happen. I don’t have those avenues anymore really outside of an occasional short notice offer but at this point in life those do not pan out either. It is what it is. The demand and supply will be different each and every day going forward. Different based on seats. Based on venue. All sorts of things. That is just reality. I suppose Ticketmaster could have just started with prices that would price out many who wanted them and been more efficient without having to do all the processing fees while adding more to their cut on the original sale. But the artist certainly does not want that. Then they look like they are gouging their fans. Reality is there fans are willing to pay the money.
Best case scenario is that because of their virtual monopoly status, they don't have to get pricing right, they control the market and there is no competition. Monopolies are bad and inefficient, and people that think capitalism is good should oppose monopolies.
