TICKETING
TRUTHS

What is a ticket?

A ticket is proof that you are permitted entry into a venue.

Who issues the ticket?

Generally, the venue (e.g., Football Stadiums, Sports Arenas, Amphitheaters, Clubs, Festivals, Exhibitions, Theatres).

Who chooses the ticketing company?

Venues usually control the right to select the ticketing company. They get competitive bids from multiple ticketers, and then typically choose a partner to provide support for a number of years.

What does the ticketing company do?

The ticketing company develops and provides technology and services to help venues market shows, sell tickets, handle entry, provide customer service and more.

Who sets the ticket price?

The artist team sets face value ticket prices.

Who decides show dates and when tickets go on sale?

The artist plans their tour with their manager, agent, and promoter. Together this group decides which venues to play, when to put tickets on sale, and what different distribution channels to sell tickets through including various presales and onsales.

Who keeps the proceeds from ticket sales?

Artists and their teams keep the vast majority of ticket sale revenues, often 100% of the face value. Venues and ticketing providers generally do not get a share of the ticket revenue.

Who sets the service fees?

The venue sets the service fee rate card and keeps most of the service fees, with some portion going to the ticketing company and to pay credit card fees.

Why are so many tickets on resale marketplaces?

Many artists choose to price tickets under market value, which creates the opportunity for people to resell them for a profit. This is particularly the case for the most popular shows, where there is more demand than supply.

Do the artists get paid from resale?

No, the sellers (fans, season ticket holders, brokers or scalpers) set and keep the resale ticket price.

Why does Ticketmaster allow resale on its site?

There is legitimate resale, and in those instances we want to ensure that fans have a safe, simple and secure way to resell their tickets. However we do a number of things differently, including not allowing such sales before a general onsale and banning deceptive tactics like “speculative” ticket sales (scalpers sometimes try to sell tickets that don't actually exist, often before they even go onsale).

FAIR Ticketing

There are many reforms that can help improve ticketing for fans – and it starts by putting artists in control of how tickets are sold and resold, not scalpers. We stand ready to work with policymakers on FAIR Ticketing.

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