Amazon Event Ticketing Tipped Following Soured Ticketmaster Talks

Amazon is about to give Ticketmaster a run for its money, according to sources, as it gears up to launch its own event ticketing business for U.S. venues. Through its service, which has been revealed by a total of four sources, Amazon will allow venue owners, sports leagues and more to sell tickets through the online platform, expanding its business and potential customer base while also loosening the grip a certain major ticketing company currently has on the market.

Ticket sales in the U.S. are highly problematic due to the relative monopoly certain companies have on ticket sales. These companies do little to address mass ticket purchases, enabling a small number of people to buy a massive number of tickets within minutes of them going live. Actual fans and customers, then, are forced to purchase these tickets from secondary sale sites at drastically marked up rates, ruining the experience for everyone...except those who profit heavily.

In light of this, there's no doubt that many people would flock to an Amazon ticketing service, assuming it took steps to address this blatant abuse of the system. According to sources, Amazon will be launching this ticketing platform for U.S. venues and events. How well the company could compete in a world where Ticketmaster holds such power is hard to guess, though.

As it stands, anyone planning to attend a major hot-ticket event is forced to go through Ticketmaster, and it is likely that won't change quickly. However, Amazon has proven itself capable of running an effective ticketing business via its ticket sales in the UK, where it has even, at times, exceeded Ticketmaster's own sales for select events, according to sources.

Sources go on to claim that Amazon was once in talks with Ticketmaster over striking a partnership, something described as 'stalled' at the moment over disagreements about which company would control customer data. In substitution, sources say Amazon has proceeded to talk with a sports league about secondary ticket sales. As well, Amazon is reportedly hoping to lure venues into its own ticketing game by promising to cut them multi-million dollar sponsorship checks.

Which venues the company has been in talks with is unclear, as well as whether any of these venues or league(s) have expressed a favorable attitude about the offers. How the company's Prime membership could factor into a ticket-selling business isn't clear.

SOURCE: Reuters