Ticketmaster plans with scalpers for you to pay more: report

Scalpers using robots to collect a large number of excessively priced tickets have become a curse for the public going to the concert. The shows can be sold in a few moments, with thousands of tickets appearing on the reseller sites a few minutes later.

So, what is Ticketmaster, the largest player in the ticketing industry, doing to solve the cost and hassle issues facing its customers?

Cashing – twice.

This is according to a new report based on a media media operation at a ticketing and live entertainment convention in Las Vegas, where Ticketmaster would have organized a private event for scalpers, which the company calls "resellers" and "brokers". . "

Canadian national television channel CBC and the Canadian newspaper Toronto Star sent undercover reporters to the 2018 Ticket Summit in July, the CBC reported on Wednesday.

"Presenting themselves as scalpers and equipped with hidden cameras, the reporters have been launched on Ticketmaster's professional reseller program," according to the CBC.

"The company's representatives told them that Ticketmaster's resale division turns a blind eye to scalpers who use ticket-buying robots and fake identities to get tickets and resell them on the site for exaggerated prices.

"These expensive resale tickets include additional fees for Ticketmaster."

The company told the media that as long as there is an imbalance between supply and demand for event tickets, there would be a secondary market for the notes.

"It is our job to offer a marketplace that offers fans a safe and fair place to buy, buy and sell tickets in the primary and secondary markets," said Ticketmaster.

At the convention, Ticketmaster's "sales manager" held a closed session, the CBC reported.

"The audience learned that Ticketmaster has developed a professional reseller program and that in the past year it has launched TradeDesk, a web-based scalpers inventory management system," according to CBC.

"TradeDesk allows scalpers to download large quantities of tickets purchased from the Ticketmaster website and to quickly list them for resale.

"At the click of a button, scalpers can raise or lower prices on tons of tickets on the Ticketmaster website based on their assessment of fan demand."

The resale program and TradeDesk seem closely monitored by Ticketmaster. "Neither TradeDesk nor the re-sellers program are mentioned anywhere on Ticketmaster's website or in its corporate reports," according to the CBC.

"To access the company's TradeDesk website, a person must first send a registration request."

A Ticketmaster sales representative told a secret reporter that the resale service did not use TradeDesk, although the firm has an "abusive buyer" service that monitors suspicious online activities.

Another Ticketmaster employee at the conference was asked if the company would ban scalpers who violated the company's terms of service by circumventing ticket purchase limits. The employee said Ticketmaster had spent millions on TradeDesk.

"The last thing we want to do is make sure brokers are not able to sell stocks with us," he said, according to the CBC.

In 2015, resale of banknotes had become a $ 5 billion industry in the United States, reported CNBC. For Ticketmaster, this market is "particularly lucrative," the CBC reported.

"For example, if Ticketmaster collects $ 25.75 on a $ 209.50 note on the initial sale, when the owner posts it for resale at $ 400 on the site, the company will receive $ 76. more on the same ticket ".

The company runs a rewards program for scalpers, reported the CBC.

"As scalpers have reached milestones such as annual sales of $ 500,000 or $ 1 million, Ticketmaster will reduce its costs by one point," according to the CBC.

Ticketmaster is owned by the world's largest concert promoter, Live Nation, which generated $ 10.3 billion in revenue last year. Ticketmaster, based in West Hollywood, told Canadian news agencies that it operates its ticketing market more transparently and more securely than any other company.

"We clearly distinguish between standard tickets sold by the site and tickets sold by third parties, with clear disclosure that resale prices may exceed (or be lower) than face value," the company told the media.

"In addition to our work against the use of automated robots, we have also adopted the most restrictive position on speculative ticketing, allowing no salesperson, professional or otherwise, to post tickets that we have not validated. .

In January, Live Nation resolved a complaint centered on allegations by an online music ticketing company that Ticketmaster had engaged in anti-competitive behavior and violations of antitrust laws. Live Nation has agreed to pay $ 110 million to the Songkick ticketing company and purchase some of its assets, including an anti-scalping algorithm.