Do Not Put Your Faith in Ticketmaster

I’ve been trying to stay quiet with my thoughts about Ticketmaster’s latest news because I feel like anything they do is basically moot to the part of the music business that matters: its future. But in the current reality, they do represent a major force (and A LOT of money) that influences musicians, venues, and fans. Alas, I’m going to weigh in with my thoughts.

Here is what we know for sure regarding Ticketmaster’s new plans, and it’s not much.

“The fortunes of this company aren’t going to rise and fall just on the ticketing business. We’re going to build the ability for people to distribute their music.”

-CEO Irving Azoff to Billboard

Let me get a little bit of cynicism out of my system. In order to signify this overhaul, Ticketmaster is going to rebrand itself. You might not even recognize it…

The new name of the company will be Ticketmaster Entertainment. You see, “Ticketmaster” is a throwback shout-out to what they used to be, and “Entertainment” looks into the future of providing anything they can possibly sell under the broad title of “Entertainment.” If the rebranding is any sign of how different Ticketmaster will be going into the future…well, you know where I’m going.

A lot of industry professionals are on the edge of their seats waiting to see how Ticketmaster will change the landscape. Azoff has a history of success and Ticketmaster serves a large market.

But being all-powerful does not mean you are good. It just means that you’ve created insurmountable barriers of entry into your market and essentially set yourself up to becoming (if you aren’t already) slow, inefficient, out-of-touch, and, let’s just say it, evil.

I’m reminded of Lee Scott’s (Wal-Mart CEO) wonderful quote regarding his company’s dominating presence in small-town America:

“When you have a group of people who don’t want you in a community, does that mean you aren’t going to go there?”

The point is, companies like Wal-Mart and Ticketmaster have never been interested in creating value. They are interested in control. They want to be the exclusive vendor. Period. Everywhere. They routinely engage in overbidding and underselling (often at a huge loss) just to keep the indepedents at bay. A lot of people suffer as a result. (I highly suggest you read this article about Sean Agnew trying to survive these tactics). He is not alone. A quick Google search will return countless tales of people being muscled into submission by Ticketmaster.

Control is out. It’s old. It doesn’t work anymore. Communities, inspiration, and shared values are in.

I’ve not ONCE, ever, heard someone say they love the “ticketmaster experience”. I do hear people complain about the high ticket costs, exorbitant fees (my favorite is the convenience fee for giving you the privilege of printing out your own ticket at home), frustrating interface, and the guilt of having to buy from and thus support an industry monopoly.

I hope I haven’t added to the rampant speculation going around in the blogosphere, as my intention is to bring this all back to something you can learn from. In order to succeed today, you need to internalize the concepts of “neo-marketing” like The Straddle and Primal Branding. Corporations might be the most visible companies out there, but do not put your faith in them to guide the future of the music business. As this recent presidential election has demonstrated, true change happens at the level of individuals forming communities based on shared values. Those communities can influence in a BIG way. The music business will evolve into the future the same way.

People like Madalyn of GoGirlsMusic.com and Carla Lynn Hall of RockStarLifeLessons.com are doing it.

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I’d love to find some more great music communities with an online presence - please post some below so we can spread the word.