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Arianity t1_je3qa5t wrote

Reply to comment by havereddit 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

>Could really big acts enact a vendetta against Ticketmaster, and insist on playing (for example) in nothing but outdoor, Woodstock-like venues?

Groups like Pearljam have tried exactly that, and failed. And it really hurt the band's career. You would need many acts to work together (and also do so in a way that doesn't fall under anti-trust action of their own). That sort of collective action is very difficult, especially given the potential risk that it fails, or retaliation from Ticketmaster.

Ticketmaster has something like an ~85% market share. They're really, really big.

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exstaticj t1_je3z4v7 wrote

How did it hurt their career? Those guys love small venues. Eddie and his wife played behind a sheet at Satyricon just to feel connected. Jeff had a 3 fish show on the second floor of some random building. It was lit by candles and like 100 fans sat crosslegged in a small candle lit room. This was around the time of either vs or Virology, I can't remember.

No, it didn't hurt their career, it hurt their fans access to them. They had achieved more fame and money than they would have ever imagined. They just cared about their fans.

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