Sports fans and concertgoers have lived with Live Nations-Ticketmaster’s monopoly grip on the ticketing market for decades. Even as Ticketmaster maintained its 70% plus market share in primary ticketing it stealthily moved into ticket resale, where fans buy and sell tickets after they have been sold on the primary market. Between 2019 and 2022, Ticketmaster grew its share of resale to almost one-third of the market.
Together with its monopoly in primary ticketing, Ticketmaster’s incursion into ticket resale creates yet another roadblock for fans, who are confronted by Ticketmaster at every turn. Moreover, the ticketing behemoth is pursuing an aggressive state-level campaign to push for laws that effectively regulate the resale market while it continues to operate, unfettered, in the primary market. This aides Ticketmaster in reinforcing its monopoly in ticketing, and Massachusetts consumers are the most recent victim.
Ticketmaster’s SafeTix mobile ticket program, launched in 2019, is the major channel for buying and selling millions of tickets to live events. If competition holds sway in ticketing markets, myriad benefits will follow. These include a choice of ticketing services for artists, venues, and fans, ticket fees that do not extort fans, and quality and innovation in ticket delivery. But Ticketmaster’s dominant position in ticketing eliminates these benefits for consumers.
