The article cites the current high cost of ticket prices as the primary reason behind Live Nation's thinking. They want to bring down the ticket prices so they can grow the number of people coming out to shows. I'm not so sure about that... I have trouble believing that they want to charge less money, they just want to pocket more of it. I can think of several way they can accomplish that, here are a few of them:
1) MERCH MERCH (concessions and) MERCH!
TicketMaster, being the monopoly it is, has very little reason to innovate. Not much has happened since buying tickets over the Internet became all the rage. There isn't much in the way of "package deals" going on. I'm guessing that Live Nation is looking at their experience with the House of Blues (which they own now too), and thinking how to maximize their revenue by pushing more merchandise and concessions at their first point of sale. People pay a lot more money for their own table and dinner at the HoB shows. Would you be more likely to plunk down $60 for a ticket if you got your concert t-shirt, in your size, at the same time as you picked up your ticket on will-call? Sure you would.. The result would be Live Nation getting further into the merch revenue stream. What about if you got a few drink tickets with orders of six or more tickets? Damn straight..
2) Work the most scarce and sought after for all it's worth...
The VIP booths/boxes, the best seats, etc.. What if there was an auction system for this stuff? In most large venues, the VIP booths/boxes are largely given to corporate sponsors or gotten via deals offered by American Express to their high-rollers. What if you and 30 of your friends (or your company) could put in bids for a booth/box when everyone favorite act is in town? If they can foster competition for those prized spaces, it's a safe bet the overall price paid for them would go up. Is TicketMaster going to make something like this happen? Pro... [ Read More (0.4k in body) ]
