Fuck @Ticketmaster. You wanna hear some shit? Over the past decade, TM has been changing the pricing system for tickets to act like the stock exchange. But where stocks are, for the most part, a gamble, that's just not the case with artists. Actually... https://twitter.com/LegsFrank/status/1264957100687593476

It's kind of interesting how @Ticketmaster is using artists like the art auction world. How it's all one big money laundering party. Except they have so much control over the situation, they don't even need to hide the fucking dollar amounts.

@adamconover IS BASICALLY JUST DESCRIBING TICKETMASTER

Even WORSE is that it's not really rich folks playing this game of buying tickets from @Ticketmaster. IT'S US. IT'S YOU AND ME.

Like, with art, at least a lot of what's remained culturally valuable remains in museums. The people still get to appreciate the craft. You're never paying anything too crazy to get into a museum, and many are just by donation.

Lots of art gets toured around, or is available to view online so everyone can have a chance. But live acts? We're actively punished for wanting to enjoy something with what we're being forced to pay. And venues are not museums, they don't have the same protections museums do.

Like, with theatre, I get it. As long as cast and crew are getting paid (too often people AREN'T getting paid), I can justify biting the bullet. If I gotta pay $220 for Hamilton, honestly, I don't think that's unreasonable. But a concert is not a fucking theatre production.

I'm curious as to how @Ticketmaster compensates the artists. I've read before (said everyone about anything...) that artists get a reasonable cut. And fine, good even! But is it a flat amount? Or a percentage? Because when theatre folks are paid, it's definitely not a percentage.

And that matters because @Ticketmaster works with all forms of live acts. Theatre prices can get crazy, but it's nothing like what's happened with musical acts. There's something fucked up here. It was barely a decade ago I could get concert tickets to ANYTHING.

I live in @CityofVancouver where artists are, I think, doing the right thing by refusing to perform here for what venues are demanding. Venues, all live spaces, need more protections in place. Just before COVID hit we were losing several of our indie performance spots.

Like, we already can't afford these fucking prices anyway. But then to be punished for seeing a show HERE specifically?? This is layers upon layers of indifference towards a system that should not be this fucking complicated. Too many people are responsible for this bullshit.

@Ticketmaster is one of the most crooked, most audaciously shady companies to continue to exist. You'll want to look into how they've been desperately trying to spread their business outside of North America by pressuring artists not to perform in certain countries.

And that's ALL BEFORE we get into whether or not @Ticketmaster is in on bots jacking the prices up. Who the fuck am I kidding? Of course they are. Of course they fucking are.

Going back to @Ticketmaster spreading outside North America; TM has an active presence in other parts of the world. BUT they are not given the same leniency to their financial practices working abroad that they're given in NA. They're 'forced' to not be complete fucking scumbags.

I know this thread about @Ticketmaster has (literally) jumped all over the fucking map. But there's a lot going on with this, and I'm just so fucking sick and tired of it. It's disgusting. Something HAS to change.

I'm glad the artists I love are doing well (especially in the case of @MCRofficial, all of whom are home dads and seem like genuinely great guys). But I wish there was something the artists could do. I wish fucking anyone had our corner.