Ticket Master
Ticketmaster is a ticket sales and distribution company based in West Hollywood, California, USA, with operations in many countries around the world. Typically, Ticketmasters clients (arenas, stadiums, and theaters) control their events, and Ticketmaster simply acts as an agent, selling the tickets that the clients make available to them.
One of the first ticketing companies to sell tickets on the Internet[citation needed], Ticketmaster now sells a large percentage of its tickets online, some via phone, and a percentage through its many ticket outlets.
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Ticketmaster has recently devoted significant resources to counter fraud. Other technology includes barcoded tickets, which offers the ability for counterfeit tickets to be refused at the point of entrance.
Ticketmaster's market share remains over 50% of total sales for tickets in the United States. Despite the ready availability of web-based ticketing software, Ticketmaster continued to see revenue growth in 2006 & 2007.
Major League Baseball's acquisition of rival Tickets.com in 2005 marks the most significant organization moving away from using Ticketmaster's services.
Ticketmaster is currently owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, but on November 5, 2007, IAC announced plans to spin Ticketmaster off into a publicly held, independent entity.
Ticketmaster recently acquired a UK ticket exchange site, Getmein.com. Getmein is a ticket exchange site that allows sellers to list the tickets at whatever price they choose. It claims to have over 500,000 tickets listed at any one time and independent research has shown the majority of these to be priced at least 100% above the original face value.
In early 2008 Ticketmaster completed the acquisition of Paciolan Inc.. Paciolan is a developer of ticketing system applications and hosted ticketing systems.
Ticketmaster collects no part of advertised ticket prices. Instead it adds services fees to recoup its costs. Consumers often find these markups excessive, especially because there are many instances where no alternative purchase method is offered (allowing the purchase of tickets without incurring fees). This seemingly unfair business practice, along with a dearth of competitors, has led many to view Ticketmaster as monopolistic.
However, alternative ticketing companies have entered the marketplace, alleviating Ticketmaster's perceived "monopoly" brand status for most consumers. But because most of their competitors use much the same pricing structure, ticket buyers often find little comfort in the presence of Ticketmaster's competition.
Not all events generate the same consternation. Many ticket buyers have the option of purchasing tickets directly from venue box offices, thereby avoiding service fees from any ticketing agent.
