TJ Chambers
© TJ Chambers
Ticketing Emotions & ‘Down Under’
One consequence of the technological migration of ticketing from the physical box office or retail outlet, initially via telephony, and then through online channels (whether web and/or mobile-based), has been to dramatically increase mass-access to event notification, if not inventory, but also to then hugely magnify displeasure when consumers are unable to CTP i.e. convert interest into acquisition.
But what is it about the perceived and/or actual failure(s) of the retail ticketing experience that triggers such heightened emotions?
Those otherwise anonymous and interlinked systems of inventory management processors, identity verifiers, QR-code generating algorithms, and credit card authorisers, that collectively but invisibly coordinate the tokenised allocation of a specific time and space to end-consumers, which elicits such howls of outrage when they operationally struggle with through-put or temporarily fail.
Whilst some in the live ecosystem (typically representatives of the talent or unthinking event promoters who still believe in the adage that ‘there is no such thing as bad publicity’) love to amplify the technical fall-out of where ‘demand’ (driven by FOMO-fuelled ticket buyers, speculators and harvesting bot farms) apparently exceeds ‘supply’.
Whilst not suggesting that fans, patrons, subscribers or supporters should be willing to accept anything less than an industrial standard of ecommerce service with consumer-facing Multi-Factor Authentication, SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) system encryption, PCI Compliancy, real-time monitoring and firewalled Data Protection, and all the other cybersecurity functionalities required for contemporary ticketing solutions, is the social media blowback and mainstream media reverberation always justified.
Or with the increased digitisation of the event marketing and retail process, the close proximity of the ticketing UX to the eventual IRL spectacle, it possibly means that the actual ticket purchase has intrinsically become part of the overall immersive experience – the overture to being a part, of belonging, or joining the audience. Of being there.
That ticketing now means more.
Because ticketing is increasingly a sophisticated and slick interface that connects individuals and then makes part of their tribe and participants of a unique live experience.
That the medium of ticketing has become part of the message.
But when that promise of service is broken, it’s not simply a technical disappointment, but a failure to deliver on its higher purpose.
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Just a thought.
If only there was some obscure mathematical equation that could explain the links (if any) between the nervous, excitable anticipation of the on-sale, the electrical amplification of the onstage performance, with the attendant immersive audience experience.
*Illustrative example, not based on any actual mathematical model
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Meanwhile, ‘Down Under’ …
On 14th October, ‘Four Corners’ the investigative arm of the Australian ABC television network (https://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/4corners) released a report ‘Music For Sale’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IWpjiIcMb4&list=PLDTPrMoGHssDTF6wySxfL89TPt5LRezhz) into the live music industry which it alleged ‘has lifted the lid on the controversial practices of the entertainment giant, Live Nation’.
Triggered by the apparent local embedding of the practise of dynamic pricing whereby ticket prices rise as demand surges, the report also suggested that multinational corporations such as Live Nation-Ticketmaster or TEG-Ticketek, are squeezing both concertgoers and artists with hidden fees and unpredictable ticket prices.
Live Nation responded to what it described as ‘inaccurate and unbalanced’ reporting with a fact sheet: https://www.livenation.com.au/facts.
It also informed the program that ‘tickets are actually priced by artists and teams.’ And that ‘Ticketmaster complies fully with Australian Consumer Law by incorporating per ticket or percentage fees into the price of the ticket paid by fans, and prominently disclosing any optional or transaction level fees.’
It further stated, ‘These fees support essential services, including tech development and innovation, customer service, security and compliance, all of which require significant investment.’
Live Nation added that Ticketmaster does not set fees, and they are decided by the Australian venues to ‘cover costs for both the venue and the ticketing company.’
So, their defence is that they merely enable others to apply incremental charges, for a margin.
As the media spotlight intensified, local promoter Paul Sloan (Supersonic Australasia) then outlined to The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/19/australia-concert-goers-pay-higher-fees-to-ticketing-giants-industry-modelling) how the exclusive venue ticketing agreements as operated by Ticketmaster, or Ticketek, then impacted the final price paid by Australian concertgoers across a single tour.
Fees for top-tier tickets for the same act across three different venues. Source: Paul Sloan. Illustration: Guardian Design/Paul Sloan
Inevitably there are now calls for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to further investigate business practices in the live music industry.
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You have to ask, is LNE the leading employment creation agency for lawyers?
Court cases, investigations and legal reviews are already underway by The Department of Justice in the U.S. (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-live-nation-ticketmaster-monopolizing-markets-across-live-concert), the Competition and Markets Authority in the U.K. (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-launches-investigation-into-ticketmaster-over-oasis-concert-sales), the Irish CCPC (https://www.ccpc.ie/consumers/2024/09/06/ccpc-opens-investigation-into-ticketmaster-sale-of-oasis-tickets/), reportedly the European Commission is also to investigate ‘the use of dynamic pricing for concert tickets’, and now calls for the Australian ACCC to intervene.
And that’s apart from the recently announced data breach negligence lawsuit (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/live-nation-lawsuit-ticketmaster-data-breach-1236031775/), or the Astroworld Festival when ten members of the audience died and at least 450 civil lawsuits were filed (‘… without admitting liability or wrongdoing, we may incur material liabilities from the 2021 Astroworld event, which could have a material impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and/or cash flows.’ – LNE 2023 Annual Report) where Michael Rapino has been court-instructed to appear and make a deposition. Or any of the other various consumer class actions for drip-pricing and other matters already underway.
Busy.
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Until next time.
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TJ_Chambers 