WisconsInnovation

A recent article in Wired magazine titled, “Everyone Hates Ticketmaster- But No One Can Take It Down,” highlights the struggles that startups are having in cracking into the lucrative ticketing business. Ticketmaster is the unquestioned giant in the ticketing industry, and despite its lack of innovation and how despised it is among consumers, it continues to dominate the industry while facing only minor threats from competitors. While new online ticketing companies like Ticketfly and Veritix are slowly gaining business, they still face an uphill battle in challenging Ticketmaster’s dominance.
This is a sobering reality, as one would think that Ticketmaster’s widespread unpopularity due to gouging customers on ticket prices would lead to an innovative upstart to begin to seriously cut into their market share. This hasn’t happened and it is vital to examine this when one discusses the possibilities of innovation, especially in relation to challenging the established corporate structure. What becomes evident when reading this article on Wired, is that individual consumers have very little power in changing the dynamics of this industry. Ticketmaster is able to continue to reap huge profits because it provides concert and sporting venues with what they want, high margins on ticket prices. Ticketmaster can continue to charge exorbitantly high prices as long as they are benefitting the concert and sporting venues that host these events. Because of the nature of the industry, it is the venues, rather than the end consumers who ultimately dictate which ticket provider is used. Thus, until widespread boycotts are organized by disillusioned concert goers, or venues decide to take an ethical stand against such high “service fees” being charged to consumers, it looks as if Ticketmaster is here to stay.