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Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

It feels like every event/venue is selling tickets exclusively through Ticketmaster. Every other ticketing platform seems to only hold resale tickets in their inventory which just transfers the tickets to your Ticketmaster account when bought. With all the hate Ticketmaster has gotten and all the other ticketing platforms out there, I'm surprised Ticketmaster still has a hold of pretty much the entire market. How are they doing this? Why haven't the other platforms been able to compete?

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FL score

25

out of 100

Verdict

SKIP

medium confidence

Competition

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Trend

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This is a question about market structure, not a business idea with a clear solution.

The pain

Consumers hate Ticketmaster's fees (often 30%+ markup), limited ticket availability, and poor user experience. Venues and artists also resent the high commissions but feel locked in.

The gap

The post identifies a real problem but doesn't propose how to solve it. It's asking 'why hasn't this happened?' rather than 'here's how I'd do it differently.'

Build angle

If you were to build this, you'd need to: (1) sign exclusive deals with major venues/promoters before launch, (2) build a better UX, (3) undercut fees significantly, (4) handle the operational complexity of fraud prevention and refunds at scale. The real barrier isn't technology, it's distribution and unit economics.

Strengths

  • Identifies genuine customer frustration with incumbent
  • Large addressable market (live events industry ~$50B annually)
  • Regulatory scrutiny on Ticketmaster creates opening for alternatives

Risks

  • Ticketmaster has 80%+ market share through long-term venue contracts, not just network effects
  • Venues are locked into multi-year agreements; switching costs are high
  • Ticketmaster owns Live Nation (largest promoter), creating vertical integration moat
  • Ticket fraud and secondary market complexity require massive operational infrastructure
  • Margins are thin; undercutting fees while maintaining profitability is extremely difficult
  • You need critical mass of venues before artists/fans will use you, classic chicken-egg problem
  • Previous competitors (StubHub, Eventbrite, AXS) have tried and failed to dislodge Ticketmaster's primary market position

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