Featured Image: Aranxa Esteve on Unsplash
Music is essential
This year kicked off with a mixture of excitement and apprehension within the live entertainment industry. Even though a jam-packed schedule of events was set for 2023, the worldwide cost-of-living crisis was placing a strain on music fans’ pockets. However, demand for tickets to events in the UK was increasing as people still prioritised live music, festivals and theatre.
Barclays Center opts for different path
In mid-January, it was revealed the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, had dropped SeatGeek only a year or so into its seven-year contract. The venue opted to return to its former ticketing vendor, Ticketmaster.
It then transpired later in the month that SeatGeek was allegedly dropped by Barclays Center owner BSE Global because of issues with its technology.
“Is ticketing the ‘bad-news business?’”
January also saw ticketing industry consultant and veteran Tim Chambers ask: “Is ticketing the ‘bad-news business?’.”
A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
Rounding off the first month of 2023, Live Nation Entertainment was the subject of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, DC. Representatives of the industry included SeatGeek chief executive Jack Groetzinger and concert promoter Jerry Mickelson, along with lawmakers, a band member and a think tank,
The debate focused on ‘promoting competition and protecting consumers in live entertainment’.
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