ticketing is something we’re fascinated with, inasmuch as it affects anyone who loves live music (or many other forms of art). louis CK is exceptional in his stature in the entertainment world, but i’d like to expand on our thoughts in this area and the difficulties an independent artist faces getting something like this working for them.
most would agree that ticketing is the natural next frontier when it comes to disintermediation. ticket sales are ruled by a small group of companies who exercise tight control over the market and do so at the expense of fans, fueling – or more correctly, driving – a rapid inflation in ticket prices over the last decade and, with the dominance of online ticketing, the corollaries that fans love to loathe: “convenience”, venue, and delivery fees, frequently increasing a ticket price by some 30-40%. fans are forced to swallow these as part of the overall cost of a live show, despite often tenuous or non-existent reasons for the fees. such price hikes and added fees push younger and poorer fans out of the market, decrease the frequency with which all fans can see shows, and increase the revenue gained by both the ticket broker and the venue. needless to say, the latter item is paid more attention by brokers and those running venues.
it is also needless to say that as a company we find this highly distasteful. it impoverishes culture by excluding people; the effects of this impoverishment are intangible and cannot be given a monetary value – but run deep.
