In a move designed in part to boost its public relations and possibly drive future sales, Ticketmaster Entertainment has begun to offer some concert tickets that it claims do not carry additional convenience fees.
The admission by Ticketmaster President Sean Moriarty came Monday during the release of the company’s third quarter earnings, and Moriarty said the company started experimenting with “all-in pricing” with tickets to an upcoming concert by The Eagles at the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina, which Ticketmaster is selling for between $60 and $190 each.
“We’ve been advocating for some time that the industry make the fan-friendly move to no-fee or all-in pricing, eliminating add-on fees,” Moriarty told a group of financial analysts and investors. “The reaction of fans has been overwhelmingly positive.”
The new all-in pricing model, however, does not lower the price of a ticket – the face values of tickets throughout the popular Eagles tour are all about the same – but it does potentially open up a new revenue stream for Ticketmaster, according to Moriarty. Currently, Ticketmaster does not typically earn fees for tickets sold at a venue’s box office, but with all-in pricing, there will be one standard price for a ticket “across all channels, including the box office, which will create new revenue streams for artists and Ticketmaster,” he said.
“We think that fees broken out by line item are awkward and confusing for consumers,” Moriarty told the group, virtually ignoring the fact that the company has operated that way since its inception. “We fundamentally believe that simplifying the experience for the consumer, making that process easier for them and making them feel good about it, is actually going to drive overall demand.”
The company’s overall revenue was up 16 percent for the third quarter, ended September 30, to $339 million, but the company’s stock (symbol: TKTM) continues to take a beating on Wall Street, trading at about $5.75 per share as of this afternoon, November 11. It’s high in late August, when the public trading began for the stock, was about $27. Ticketmaster’s net income for the third quarter also plummeted 76 percent to $9.6 million, in part due to higher royalty fees and fewer tickets sold, but Moriarty was quick to say that he did not believe the current economic landscape played a significant role in the decrease. See the ticker below.
In addition, for some upcoming shows, the company is also experimenting with waiving delivery fees for the electronic transfer of tickets through Ticketmaster’s TicketFast system, Moriarty said, fees that range from between $1.75 to $2.50 per ticket.
“It’s less about where the money is presented, and what the value is actually creating, and making sure that it’s equitably distributed amongst all parties,” he said.
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since when does ticketmaster ONLY CHARGE 10.00 FEE? i just paid 19.85 + handling fee + 2.50 ticketfast fee. you are a moron when u state what u just did.
i remember when ticketmaster ( formerly ticketron) charged 1.50-2.25 per ticket and a 2-25.00 handling fee. its now pure greed by the promotor for higher ticket prices + tm is part of the greed. all sports teams are.
when you start to see 4.50 facility fee this is in addition to tm fees something should be regulated here but not the brokers how about the source? regulate the box office, the promotorws, tm etc.. they are all monopolies.
as for msg and their 4.50 facility free why do they charge it when its most events but when they are stuck and dump tickets to non selling events they either hide it or dont charge it? all hypocrites! and what does 4.50 get you? the right to pay for the box offices employees who pull tickets for brokers or used to? we pay for brokers at crooked box offices so it seems.
You whine when they break down the price and you whine when they don’t, what do you want?
it rases the prices for everyone and discrimiates against the local guy
They cannot even guarantee their own product…this is from tmaster.com
Buying from Third Party Resellers
Ticketmaster does not guarantee the authenticity of tickets purchased from any third party reseller (such as brokers or individuals).
Ticketmaster recommends that you purchase tickets directly through Ticketmaster or from the venue’s box office. Authorized Ticketmaster locations include Ticketmaster.ca, Ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster Charge-by-Phone, and Ticketmaster Retail Outlets.
Bunch of ridiculous corporate interest’s.
So, they’re basically taking the blatant display of their fee and hiding it in the main cost???
Yeah, that’s much better *smirk*
Who is to blame for crazy beer prices?
new CEO of Ticketmaster – Mafia ties?
http://www.moldea.com/MCAMusic.html
The deal with Ticketmaster’s fees is that most of the money does not benefit Ticketmaster – it benefits the venue, the promoters, and other people in the food chain. The reason for the fees is because many artists have stated in their contracts that they get 100% of the face value of the ticket. Well, if the artist gets 100% of the face value of the ticket, what motivates anyone else to work? Certainly not for free.
So Ticketmaster gets “paid” by all the other industry folks to be the whipping boy – they take the hit for collecting the fee, but then are responsible for dividing up that fee to all the interested parties. TM of course collects its own fee.
The thing is, Ticketmaster HATES doing business this way, but it has been required to do it this way for so long because of arcane music industry rules. They have been asking artists to change their ways for YEARS but everyone else in the industry would rather the consumer hate the Ticketmaster corp and not the venue or the radio station.
With Irving Azoff, Ticketmaster finally has some leverage to say, hey, let’s do this the RIGHT WAY and keep our internal fees and costs behind the scenes. You hate it when the phone company adds stupid charges and airlines do the same thing, and now even hotels have a “resort fee” – how stupid is that? So Ticketmaster is finally able to get its way.
Some people ***** about everything…wow
[Comment moderated due to inappropriate language.]
Are you sure you want ALL interested parties disclosed? You want to know how much the artist gets, the guy who sweeps up your popcorn gets? What about the ushers, you want to know how much they get too?
I suppose whenever you buy an airline ticket, you’d like to know how much your flight attendants are getting of it, vs the pilot. Or how much they spend on those silly peanuts.
Must be a TM Homer
This is another move by Ticketmaster to squeeze the broker. It realizes that brokers are buying the tickets at the box office bypassing there huge fees and then selling them for less than ticketmaster. I do believe there should be disclosure to the fan on how that ticket price is made up and who is getting what.
What causes this?
Not sure what a TM “Homer” is, but yes, I am someone who has intimate knowledge of the workings of Ticketmaster, and have contact with former and current employees.
Does that make my points any less valid?
I agree, this is an attempt to squeeze the broker. But that’s really because brokers don’t really add any value to the ticket transaction.
Alfred Branch Jr. wrote “told the group, virtually ignoring the fact that the company has operated that way since its inception.”
Alfred, what’s the point of your in-line editorializing? Are you trying to paint someone as being a hypocrite here?
If you are calling yourself a “journalist” and this is “news”, maybe you should consider trying to hide your distaste a little more with some “editing”. You, know, proof-reading and all that!
BTW, I’m just kidding, in case you’re getting all bent out of shape. We readers love your site, which is why your readership base is just so huge!
Homer Simpson?
D’oh!
it’s a formula on how and where people get paid.
Just keep in mind folks like Irving Azoff and Bill Graham are why $5.00 tshirts now cost $30.
I think the saying Ignorance is Bliss will best fit this subject..
A ‘convenience’ fee is built into just about everything you purchase, but it is generally not tacked on at the end of a purchase like it is in ticketing.
A $3.00 loaf of bread at your local store is really a $2.00 loaf of bread with $1.00 added on for the “convenience” of being able to pick up bread at that local store.
Would consumers rather hear the cashier say its $2.00 plus $1.00 for convenience, or just pay the $3.00 and be on your merry way?
Ticketing is no different… either you pay $75.00 for a ticket PLUS $10.00 in fees, or just pay $85.00 and be done with it… either way in the end you’re paying the same exact thing.. it just depends on how you want to hear it.
It’s the same difference people… deal with it or stay home and don’t attend any live events, nobody is forcing YOU see YOUR favorite band or team or broadway play.
Ticketing is just a necessary evil until all events are free
This disclaimer is a warning to people about counterfeit tickets, not about not guaranteeing Ticketmaster’s tickets…
in my comment I never stated that Ticketmaster ONLY CHARGES $10.. that was just an example for simple math..
but your sentence about “MSG and their $4.50 facility free”..?
what’s a facility FREE?
now you sound like a moron…