Here in New Zealand, in case you don't know, TicketMaster has "dynamic pricing” prices and Live Nation calls it "In Demand” prices.
New York Post: Fans livid over Ticketmaster selling $5K Bruce Springsteen tickets
Bruce Springsteen fans miss the glory days of reasonably priced tickets.
Floor seats to see the king on his 2023 US tour are ranging from $4,000 to $5,000 on Ticketmaster because of the service’s “dynamic pricing” system that allows for extreme inflation from high demand.
Even nosebleeds are going for more than $1K as “platinum tickets,” which are simply considered seats sold throughout all sections of a venue, per the outlet.
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Stuff: Why I'm being charged less than you, and what you can do about it
...Increasing prices above levels charged previously isn’t illegal in New Zealand. There’s also no law here against price discrimination, which is sometimes characterised as maximum willingness to pay, says Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy.
...In the modern digital economy where there’s no generally accepted price for a product, because what you’re charged could be different to what I paid, it’s a challenge for the Fair Trading Act which prohibits misleading representations about the price of something.
“What you’re charged might be different to what I’m charged because of the time I’ve come to the website, or what the website knows about me, so that’s a really interesting evolution of pricing. Our laws aren’t necessarily keeping up with that evolution,” says Duffy.
NPR: Taylor Swift says her team was assured ticket demands would be met for her Eras tour
...The frenzy has brought renewed scrutiny to the giant Ticketmaster, which critics have long accused of abusing its market power at the expense of consumers. Would-be concertgoers have complained vocally about recent incidents with near-instant sellouts and skyrocketing prices, and artists like Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen have feuded with it over the decades.
One common complaint is that there doesn't seem to be a clear alternative or competitor to Ticketmaster, especially after it merged with concert provider Live Nation in 2010 (a controversial move that required conditional approval from the U.S. Department of Justice).
Now Tennessee's attorney general, a Republican, is opening a consumer protection investigation into the incident. North Carolina's attorney general announced on Thursday that his office is investigating Ticketmaster for allegedly violating consumers' rights and antitrust laws. And multiple Democratic lawmakers are asking questions about the company's dominance — not for the first time.
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