Mikael Ungerholm’s Post

Oasis in the Financial Times: Fans are forced to buy tickets at multiple times the face value and risk purchasing counterfeit tickets on secondary markets. Why? Because existing ticketing systems struggle to combat scalping effectively. Is that fair? Of course not! That's why we developed ZipperTic—to prevent fake tickets, and allowing artists and promoters to sell tickets at face value for everyone with no risk (GUARANTEED) for ticket scalping. Highly recommend this insightful article in the FT!

When people do it it is Scalping when businesses do it, it becomes Dynamic Pricing/Surge Pricing - it is thuggery regardless of how fancy or dynamic they sound. Now can he also deal with and fix toll, construction, gas and electricity pricing 🤔? Always after small fishes - easy to fry? And how dare Ticketmaster and Ticketek defend this, saying prices were set by artists and their teams, and that demand-driven pricing mitigates the problem of ticket scalping. If so, then artist and teams are thugs too and need to be boycotted!

In the clamour to criticise Oasis and Ticketmaster, are we missing a key benefit of dynamic pricing - its ability to dampen exploitation of secondary sales by touts/scalpers? Am I wrong? Have a read of my latest Passle. Very interested in what industry experts and others think, if you are happy to chime in below... Richard Harris, Michael Waterson, Jonathan Brown, Ian Murphy, David Lynam, David Neil Hornby FIH, Reg Walker etc. https://lnkd.in/eXjQHNKZ #dynamicpricing #surgepricing #ticketing

🎸 Oasis Fans 'In Anger" Over Ticketmaster Dynamic Pricing 🎸 The excitement for the Oasis reunion tour has quickly turned into frustration for thousands of dedicated fans. What started as a hopeful Saturday turned into a 15-hour ordeal, with fans facing soaring ticket prices and technical issues that left many empty-handed. Despite Oasis confirming general admission tickets at £150, Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing surged prices up to £355 as demand skyrocketed. This left fans feeling betrayed, with many asking: "How is this even legal?" 🚨 Technical Failures and Queue Chaos Fans who didn't end up spending a small fortune spent hours refreshing pages, only to be kicked out, accused of being bots, and then suspended by Ticketmaster. The Oasis community is rallying for the band to step in and address this situation. ⚖️ Is it even legal? ⚖️ Though dynamic pricing may appear unjust to consumers, it remains lawful provided the company adheres to regulations concerning price transparency, consumer rights, and fair market practices. Whether Ticketmaster has met these standards is likely to face intense scrutiny. #Oasis #Ticketmaster #Music #Law #DontLookBackInAnger ✔️ Like if you find this post interesting 💬 Comment with your thoughts and insights 🔄 Share to keep your network informed

You may have seen the news yesterday that, in a landmark decision, regulators have ruled that Ticketmaster must be broken up due to its monopolistic practices. While the case will likely take years to sort out, here are some of the lessons that others can learn from what Ticketmaster did (and didn't do): ABUSING THEIR MARKET POSITION: By leveraging their market domination, Ticketmaster was seen as stifling the competition, making it nearly impossible for new entrants to thrive. NOT CONSUMER CENTRIC: High service fees and limited ticket availability frustrated consumers, demonstrating a blatant disregard for customer experience. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY: Their opaque pricing structures and exclusive agreements with venues left fans and competitors in the dark, leading to widespread dissatisfaction and legal scrutiny. POOR REGULATORY MANAGEMENT: Not enough proactive and ongoing management of regulations and government relations.

Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing: Innovation or exploitation? Dynamic pricing, a demand-based model, has revolutionized the way concert tickets are sold – with prices fluctuating in real-time like a stock market. But is this fair to the fans? From Taylor Swift to Bruce Springsteen, artists set the base prices, and Ticketmaster adds booking fees. But when Oasis reunion tickets jump from £135 to £355.20, fans are left disheartened, facing financial strain and immense disappointment. And it's not just about money. Critics argue that dynamic pricing shifts profit from scalpers to Ticketmaster, without effectively reducing touting. Even the European Commission and UK's CMA are stepping in, investigating potential consumer protection violations. So, is this the future of live music - a luxury only the affluent can afford? 📊 Did you know? During Bruce Springsteen’s tour, a mere 1.3% of tickets sold for over $1,000, yet these few tickets paint a glaring issue in accessibility. Where do you stand? Should ticket prices reflect demand or remain accessible for the true fans? For more on transformations in the live music scene and cutting-edge trends, follow me! #aiautomation #dynamicpricing #Ticketmaster #musicindustry #fanimpact #livemusic #consumerprotection #TicketPrices #regulation

NEWS FLASH! A long overdue lawsuit is about to begin. Both content providers and consumers will be far better served if the Department of Justice succeeds in breaking up Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster.  https://lnkd.in/gHy_hSa9 The first half of my career included 15 years working as a senior ticketing specialist for NBA, Olympic, and Tony Hawk properties / events, as well as the Vancouver Aquarium (one of Western Canada’s largest attractions). I’ve also worked adjacent to ticketing specialists while involved in FIFA and the MLS.  My original foray into startups began with a five year stint supporting FTS|authenTICKET. The company created a third-party ticket authentication platform to combat $1 billion+ in fraudulent ticket trade, allow live event owners to regain full transparency over their customers, completely enhance real-time engagement for fans “in-venue,” and limit the amount of ticket revenues misappropriated by “unauthorized” resale platforms. (To be clear, there are many properties that can use all the extra revenues available to sustain their business model.  As one example… in my last year working for an NBA franchise… a league-wide financial report indicated that only 5 out of 30 teams were reporting profitable operations.) FTS|authenTICKET was only one innovator that tried to bring a new solution to the event ticketing market for the benefit of both content providers and consumers. My tenure with authenTIKCET ran between roughly 2012 and 2017.  We may not have been the best “mouse trap” out there.  Our ultimate failure to launch could easily have been attributed to any number of other variables.  But we successfully raised $1.5 million (approx.) in private equity investment.  So there was certainly belief in our model.  And we had advocates representing multiple sport leagues, the Olympics, and a range of music properties. But it became clear that TM/Live Nation represented a major obstacle in the market’s ability to test and adopt alternative ticketing solutions due to its vertical monopoly position facilitated by its merger in 2010.  Since then, TM has issued upwards of 75%-80% of high-demand tickets in North America (estimate).  Live Nation was (and still is?) the single largest global promoter.  That represents a stranglehold from an innovation perspective.  Competition breeds better solutions every day.  TM and Live Nation actively obstruct industry innovators as best as I’ve been able to determine in my own modest evaluation. I’m no longer in the field.  Instead, my experiences with FTS|authenTICKET have driven me to become a specialized advisor and growth modelling expert in the Canadian startup eco-system. But I am pleased to see the DoJ make a move.  Again, this is long overdue in the markets.  For those who love a live event experience, I’d encourage you to support this action. #ticketfraud #tickettech #startups #monopolies #innovation

Far be it from me to second-guess the outcome of the Competition and Markets Authority investigation into Ticketmaster's "dynamic pricing" of Oasis tickets, but when one looks at the scope of what they will investigate, it's hard to see how they won't find Ticketmaster 'guilty as charged': The CMA is right to respond to the public outcry over this, looking into whether: - Ticketmaster engaged in unfair commercial practices - Buyers were given clear information to explain that the tickets could be subject to price rices - People were put under pressure to buy tickets within a short period of time 16 years ago while at eBay, I prepared leaders to appear before a CMS select committee on the primary and secondary ticket market, where we made a compelling case for why it was infact the primary market that was fundamentally broken (a full two years before the merger of Ticketmaster with Live Nation Entertainment ) and how the rise of what was then termed "auction selling" but is now "dynamic pricing" was becoming rife. We argued among many other things that primary distribution systems needed to be overhauled, corporate allocations reduced and auction selling curbed. Ticketmaster said that allowing eBayers to resell any tickets for profit (if they couldn't attend) amounted to "parasitic opportunism" and was "unscrupulous", before they admitted alongside the Music Managers Forum that they would "continue to investigate ways for its performers to participate in additional revenue streams and that managers and promoters would seek to maximise profits during the "shelf life" of a particular band. 16 years on and we can safely say they've taken this to new levels. Fans are right to be furious about their inability to obtain any tickets at face value, but be in no doubt, they are all in it together - Oasis, their managers and the promoters. #Oasis #tickets #competition #reputation

2024 isn’t 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 or any other year you want to name. It’s it’s own thing, we can’t keep using “past models” to predict present future sales/trends. What used to work doesn’t work anymore. 2020-2030 will end more classic industries than we could ever imagine. All creative positions will be AI. All hospitality/customer service will be automated. - no one can afford to go to your show anymore. We are in recession. On the subject of Live Nation:Ticketmaster that are 100% a monopoly and restricting entry to the “event promotion” field. If you don’t go on live nation or Ticketmaster website…you cannot buy a legitimate first-run ticket without physically going to the stadium themselves who do t have an online website but redirect you to Ticketmaster…. You can only buy a previously purchased and re-sold at a higher price ticket… https://lnkd.in/esyQxykS

The #FixTheTix coalition and NIVA applaud Senator Richard Blumenthal’s strong stance against deceptive ticketing practices, shared during a Friday press event at Infinity Music Hall & Bistro in Hartford, Connecticut, and fully support his letter to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan. The Senator’s letter to the FTC calls for urgent action to enforce the BOTS Act and crack down on predatory tactics that harm fans, independent venues, and local economies. Ticket hoarding, bots, price gouging, and deceptive advertising by professional resellers and secondary platforms are undermining fair access to tickets and eroding trust in the live entertainment industry. Although a federal law prohibits the use of bots to purchase tickets, enforcement has been alarmingly rare—just one case since its enactment in 2016. We’re committed to advocating for meaningful reforms to end these exploitative practices and restore fairness to the ticketing process. 📄 Read the full press release and Senator Blumenthal’s letter: https://lnkd.in/gw8pPmZE