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Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s dominance within the US market continues to be a hot topic, with a recent report from the American Economic Liberties Project demonstrating the depth of the platform’s control.
The report, which was published in June, showcased that the majority of the top venues in the US had a partnership with Live Nation.
According to 2022 venue data from Pollstar, the report revealed that 88 of the top 100 amphitheatres are located in the US and of those 88, 56 of them are operated by Live Nation.
The report read: “Supporting the idea that Live Nation does in fact use this position to leverage an advantage for its own ticketing service, of the top 100 amphitheaters worldwide, Ticketmaster was the sole ticketing provider for 77%. When limiting the scope to the 88 domestic amphitheaters, Ticketmaster was the sole ticketing provider for 82%.
“This data further supports the concern that there is no meaningful competition in venue operations or ticketing for concerts at US-based amphitheaters.”
The report added that arenas in the US presented a similar story. Some 68 of the top 100 arenas are based in the US and of those, 53 are ticketed by Ticketmaster.
In a recent interview with Business Insider, California state Senator Scott Wilk said that an experience with trying to buy a ticket for a minor-league hockey game was one of the reasons behind introducing a bill in February that would stop ticketing services from entering into exclusivity contracts with venues.
He told Business Insider: “Prohibiting exclusive contracts for primary ticket sellers, like Ticketmaster, would open the door to more competition within the ticket-selling industry, leading to innovation and hopefully lower ticket prices and a more pleasant ticket-buying experience.”
The bill passed through the California Senate in May, and is currently sitting in the state assembly.
Wilk added: “The saying here is, ‘So goes California, so goes the nation. So if we can make this happen here, I believe the rest of the dominoes will begin to fall across the country.”
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