Biden's Junk Fees

"Biden spotlights Live Nation, Ticketmaster pledge for transparent pricing - Event ticketing companies will move to "all-in" pricing after mounting pressure.": https://tinyurl.com/3endmw3u

THEY'RE NOT JUNK FEES!

And Live Nation doesn't give a sh*t.

This is what it costs to put on a show. It'd be like buying a house and then finding out you had to pay for utilities and upkeep. Would you feel ripped-off? NO, THAT'S WHAT IT COSTS TO OWN A HOUSE!

And there are taxes too.

Which is why some people rent. No headaches. Sure, there are poor people who can barely pay the monthly fee for their lodging, but these same people are not going to concerts either, let's forget them, just like the political parties do. If you ain't got money, we don't care. Especially if you don't vote.

And then there are rich people who rent because they'd rather not tie up their capital or use it to greater effect elsewhere. The value of real property doesn't always go up. Read the Friday "Wall Street Journal" "Mansion" section... Oftentimes these celebrities buy property and take a loss on the sale. As for those inflated asking prices, they rarely get them. This is not like buying a Chevy, this is like buying a Stutz Bearcat. A unique item, of which there are very few. What's it worth to you to own it? And how bad do I want to sell it? This is a true negotiation.

Then again, everything is negotiable. The rich people know this, the poor do not. Even at the department store, make an offer.

Here are some tips:

"How to Negotiate Better and Get What You Want (Without Looking Like a Jerk) - The trick is to change your framework and the language you use": https://tinyurl.com/xhd9uafs

That's from the "Wall Street Journal." You have to spend money to make money, if you think news is free, you're uninformed. You start out with your peers, but to rise in business you have to know the landscape, you have to know the facts, that's what puts you ahead of everyone else.

My favorite story on this concerns my concert promoter friend. He wanted a new Cayenne Turbo. They'd just changed the model, new ones were in the neighborhood of 175k. The Porsche dealer was advertising a lightly used one for $125,000.

My friend offered 99k.

The salesman went NUTS! And when he finally calmed down, the concert promoter told him he negotiated for a living, that the salesman should make a counteroffer.

Bottom line, the promoter got the car for 109k.

Believe me, the dealer wouldn't have let the car go at that price unless it wanted to. Unless it made a profit or needed to get it off the lot. How do you get a fair deal?

When an agent floats a price for a gig, you don't accept it, you work with it. Then again, superstars can dictate.

And these same superstars are the ones everybody wants to see, and they dictate concert prices, 100%!!!!!!!

Ticketmaster doesn't set the prices, this isn't their function whatsoever. Live Nation, the promoter, works with the act to establish ticket prices, but the act has final say. Then again, if the numbers don't work, Live Nation or any other promoter can back out.

But the money the act gets leaves no net. The acts take all the money. How do the promoter and the building get paid?

Ergo the fees.

You pay tax on what you buy. No one sells at cost unless their inventory is distressed or they're going out of business. When you say you want to buy a ticket based on what the act is paid, you're asking to buy at cost. So nobody other than the act can make money. Would there be any promoters if this happened? Of course not!

So now we've got Biden trying to get rid of junk fees. Can hotels survive without charging you a resort fee? I'm not sure. If not, they should bake it into the total price. Concert promoters, venues and ticketing companies are not nickel and diming you, it's just that the act wants to come out smelling like a rose, wants to say they have nothing to do with these fees, that they're a rip-off and they don't approve.

Talk about two-faced.

As most of these acts are. The promoter keeps them in business. Most make little from record sales. And the promoter not only risks all the money, the upside is small. But let's blame them and the ticketing company for high prices.

In other words, of course Live Nation is for all-in ticket prices. IT'S THE ACTS THAT DON'T WANT IT!

As for being confronted with fees at the end of the ticket-buying procedure... Bottom line, go or don't. This isn't widgets, every show is unique, either you want to go or you don't, either it's worth the price with fees included, or it's not.

As for enticing you with a low price up front... Seems that the main complaint the public has isn't the fees so much as getting a ticket at all!

So, if the fees are baked in, the public no longer gives the price a second thought. They're not concerned with how much it cost for the bumper on the car, or the mirror, or the oil in the engine... Auto manufacturers don't break these out, because without them there is no car. If you analogize this to the music business, the car dealer would be in sympathy with the end customer. Complaining about the manufacturer, how they're charging too much, that the dealer has no responsibility for the bumper or the oil or the windows. But the manufacturer would say that without these elements, once again, there is no car!

Without the fees, there is no show. It's just that simple.

And if they're baked-in, which Live Nation has said it is willing to do for years, the public stops thinking about them. When I go to the gas station they don't tell me how much the additives in the fuel cost, there's one price per gallon. And it's been high for the premium I need in California, but do I bitch? No, except for a moment there when I was stunned gas was over $7 a gallon last year, I just fill up the tank and move on. And I did buy gas at $7. Because I want to drive! No one is forcing me to.

So the loser in this eradication of "junk fees" in ticket prices is...

THE ACTS!

This is good for the promoter, the venue, the ticketing company and the concertgoer.

But the dirty little secret is despite all their complaining about the fees, the acts aren't making a dollar less. They're just crybabies employing subterfuge.

As for those out there complaining that ticket prices are too high... Then don't go! Should everything in the store be available to everybody? Should first class cost as much as coach? Is everybody entitled to a Rolex?

You get to make a choice.

This is capitalism.

And the irony is government has nothing to do with ticket prices. Biden really accomplished nothing today. He just forced the acts to go along with what the promoters have been willing to provide.

The price remains the same.

Even if the song doesn't.

Much ado about nothing.


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25