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SpaceForceAwakens t1_je3youq wrote

Reply to comment by DarkAlman in ELI5: Everyone knows that Ticketmaster is the biggest scumbucket enterprise on the planet yet no band seems able to avoid their grasp. What's to stop a really major act (e.g. Taylor Swift) from performing in venues that are not controlled by Ticketmaster, or just setting up a parallel company? by havereddit

This is the main thing.

Years ago, many venues, especially medium sized clubs, got sick of ticketmaster so many in the bigger cities started going to more customer-friendly alternatives. Many alternatives have started, as the online ticket-selling business isn't that complex. Many venues even signed exclusive contracts with these alternative companies.

Thing is, Ticketmaster hates competition, so it would borrow cash to buy the alternative companies. At this point they've bought pretty much all of them out. And when buying them, they get the exclusive contracts that they had with the venues.

Thus Ticketmaster doesn't just eliminate competition, it receives exclusivity. This has been going on non-stop that last 15 years or so, and it needs to be stopped. Even the venues hate Ticketmaster but they have no choice.

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