Why You DREAD Buying Concert Tickets

Krista Brown and Moe Tkacik join the program to discuss the history of how Ticketmaster took over the ticketing industry.

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Matt Binder DOOMED

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Check out more from the MR crew:

Matt Binder DOOMED

Brandon Sutton THE DISCOURSE

Emma Vigeland ESVN

Matt Lech LEFT RECKONING

Image Credit, Nainoa Shizuru

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Let's just go into the history of Ticketmaster. I have to say that when I read the piece it all sort of came back to me. like I grew up in the Boston area. I remember the law. I remember the evolution of these things. I remember when you know Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam did this stuff. And I you know being skeptical of what their motives were because I was a fan of Nirvana like you know pre you know like teen spirit. And so I was just skeptical of the whole thing and didn't pay that much attention. and now I feel like an ass for that. so Mo do you want to start with like maybe like that early history of Ticketmaster? yeah, I was definitely on the team cart in those squabbles. I was 15 when this was happening. so I remember it pretty vividly. and I remembered more what happened afterward in terms of just the tsunami of consolidation in the entertainment industry that took something that I thought was pretty great which was American pop culture of the early 90s and turned it into just this really like tyrannically vacuous Cesspool. and as it turns out these things were connected. It kind of all started with the crushing of Pearl Jam. but where it really started was in the 80s. and there were a couple of moguls and the concert promoter there was this sort of loosely organized cartel of regional concert promoters that Ticketmaster kind of lent money to bid up the prices of you know high profile acts. and split the fees with them. So they're the CEO of Ticketmaster back in the 80s with this guy Fred Rosen and his friend Irving Azoff who at the time was CEO of MCA they really were almost plotting I feel like in the 80s to dominate the music industry and we're living that reality today. but Pearl Jam can I just add I just want to say you know just for context. the early to mid to late 80s seemed to be and maybe I'm wrong but seemed to be the absolute Pinnacle of the touring world of concerts. I mean I worked at a parking lot in Worcester next to our Civic Center. and it was I mean it was constant like it was a 13 000 person Arena. and it was booked every weekend. like the touring was amazing at that time.