Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Swifties Take Congress and How To Get Free Concert Tickets

Episode Date: January 27, 2023

Nicole unpacks the Taylor Swift vs. Ticketmaster drama, and how it will affect the next concert you try to see (even if you're not a Swiftie). Plus, by the end of this episode, you'll learn how to see the biggest live events for free! Our favorite price. Here's the magic site Nicole mentions in the show: https://1iota.com/

Money rehabbers, you get it. When you're trying to have it all, you end up doing a lot of juggling. You have to balance your work, your friends, and everything in between. So when it comes to your finances, the last thing you need is more juggling. That's where Bank of America steps in. With Bank of America, you can manage your banking, borrowing, and even investing all in one place. Their digital tools bring everything together under one roof, giving you a clear view of your finances whenever you need it. Plus, with Bank of America's wealth of expert guidance available at any time, you can feel confident that your

money is working as hard as you do. So why overcomplicate your money? Keep it simple with Bank of America, your one-stop shop for everything you need today and the goals you're working toward tomorrow. To get started, visit bofa.com slash newprosmedia. That's b-o-f-a dot com slash n-e-w pros p-r-o-s media. bfa.com slash newprosmedia. I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. It's time for some money rehab. On Tuesday, we saw several senators quote Taylor Swift lyrics in Congress in a delightfully weird moment that must have produced C-SPAN's best ratings probably ever. Was it a little cringe?

Yeah. Am I still here for it? I think so. Because, while quoting Taylor Swift lyrics is an appropriate response, I think, in most settings, it was especially called for on Tuesday because Congress was evaluating claims that the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster Meltdown was a product of problems in the entertainment industry that require government action. The Taylor Swift Ticketmaster Meltdown happened back in November when Ticketmaster put Taylor Swift tickets on sale for her upcoming tour. In short, it was a disaster. According to Ticketmaster, the platform was overwhelmed by Swifties and bots that are programmed to scoop up tickets and then resell them at a markup on secondary resale sites.

But net-net, the presale got shut down, and thousands of fans ended up ticketless after waiting hours and hours on end. We actually have a friend of the show who experienced this debacle firsthand, among other ticketing debacles. Here's Kevin. debacle firsthand among other ticketing debacles. Here's Kevin. My experience trying to buy Taylor Swift tickets was pretty agonizing, but it wasn't as bad as it should have been only because a couple months prior, I had been through the exact same experience with Ticketmaster trying to buy Bruce Springsteen tickets. Now I'm a Jersey boy and Bruce means a heck of a lot to me as a result. So I was super elated when I was verified for one of his upcoming tour dates. The day of, I was on time for the pre-sale.

I finally made it into the queue. And after waiting a while, I was finally in to select some seats. However, by the time I got in there, most of the inventory had been gone. There were select seats scattered throughout the arena. Most of them at that point had been already resold and like kind of up the prices. I saw a couple that were in the thousands. I basically spent an hour trying to do this and then kind of gave up because the only things that were left were in the thousands of dollars

and they were all single seats scattered throughout the arena. And even when I tried to buy one of those, Ticketmaster said that I had to buy two seats in order to check out even though two seats were not together at any point in the arena at that point. So for the Taylor Swift experience, I went in super early even before like the 10 minute queue started and eventually the site kind of did crash right at the start of the pre-sale and I waited for a while and then about 20 minutes after the pre-sale started the screen basically froze on my end and I spent the next roughly hour waiting in the queue. It turns out that I think they had paused the line because

some people's verifications weren't working. I don't really know. I was messaging Ticketmaster just as I had with the Bruce Springsteen experience and still nobody has ever gotten back to me. I feel like one of the lucky ones though. So after about an hour, hour and a half, I think it actually might've been two hours, I was able to secure some seats. I basically just picked the first two seats that I saw, kind of looked at the price. It was reasonable. picked the first two seats that I saw, kind of looked at the price. It was reasonable. So I will be seeing her and I feel very fortunate. I still am waiting for some Bruce Springsteen tickets. So if anybody has any, let me know. This high profile chaos was the perfect opportunity to get Ticketmaster's

day in court, something many musicians, live event venues and fans have been waiting a long time for. The issue comes down to whether Ticketmaster and Ticketmaster's parent company, Live Nation, have too much of a stronghold on the entertainment industry. Here is the issue by numbers. Ticketmaster is the world's largest ticket seller. According to the Associated Press, Ticketmaster processes 500 million tickets each year in more than 30 countries. And around 70% of tickets for major concert venues in the United States are sold through Ticketmaster. When one company begins to dominate an industry at overwhelming percentages like these, we as consumers are at risk of being subject to a monopoly.

Like the game, kind of, but different. In the United States, our economy is structured under the principles of capitalism, which has its own baggage, as we all know. But in order for capitalism to work like it's supposed to, competition is required. In a competitive market, consumers have the power, because companies will need to be favorable to consumers in order to be chosen, so that means better products or lower prices or both. When monopolies form, that competition no longer exists, which puts the power in the hands of the business. And then there's far less incentive to issue better products or lower prices.

The issue is that Ticketmaster not only has control of the market, but that the control is being reinforced and upheld by its parent company, Live Nation. Live Nation is a gigantic company that reaches every corner of the entertainment industry. Live Nation manages artists like Madonna, Lizzo, and the Jonas Brothers, and so many more. Live Nation owns venues like the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, the Gramercy Theater in New York, pretty much all the House of Blueses, and many, many more. A rep for Live Nation says the company only owns around 5% of U.S. venues, but still, that 5% is made up of some of the most important venues in the major touring cities. Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster, expanding Live Nation's control of

the industry. According to the CEO of SeatGeek, a ticketing company that competes with Ticketmaster, Live Nation holds power over the venues they don't own, too. Live Nation can incentivize venues to use Ticketmaster as their ticketing platform by leveraging their artist roster. For example, if a venue wants to use another ticketing platform, Live Nation could threaten not to book their artists there. You can see how this could lead to the competition getting pushed into extinction, right? And as we just covered, when a company has a monopoly, they get to set the price. During the judicial hearing, Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota, after quoting T. Swift's

all too well on the floor, cited that ticket fees on Ticketmaster average 27% of the ticket cost. That is criminally high, in my opinion. In addition to potentially breaking up Ticketmaster and Live Nation, there are few industry-wide changes Congress is considering in order to make the live event ticketing market more fair for Swifties everywhere and also all concertgoers alike, like preventing secondary ticket resales and capping ticket prices. But the hearing isn't over yet. There are more arguments to make and more lyrics to quote before we have a final decision. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. There are a few things that you can do to avoid Ticketmaster's insane fees. I will say, if you're looking to buy tickets to a Taylor Swift-esque

like concert that will sell out, you're going to have to deal with Ticketmaster. So let's hope Congress can make some meaningful change. But if you're looking at buying tickets for an event that is less in demand, here are three things you can do. First, you can buy in person at the box office, which will typically allow you to skip the fees. Second, you can try bidding on tickets at resale sites like TickPix.com. And lastly, and this is my favorite hack, you can get free tickets by being a seat filler. Yeah, that is a real thing. There are companies that hire seat fillers to pack the room at concerts. Normally, these companies would be hired if the event is being televised and the room needs to look totally packed. The most popular company to do that is OneIota.

And yes, of course, I have linked their site in the show notes so you can thank me later. Like when you're sitting at a Harry Styles concert. Faux-free. Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan Levoy. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions, moneyrehab at moneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram at Money News and TikTok at Money News Network

for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.