Good day!
USA v. England in the World Cup today at 2 PM Eastern in DC. I’ll see y’all at the pub.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar shared a nice message with his Substack subscribers on Thanksgiving Day. Over the next month or so, I hope that all of you find joy, gratitude, and happiness in your communities that lasts throughout the year.
To the Tickets!
I. Takes keep coming about Taylor Swift and Ticketmaster: (Mine with some help from Eric Fuller)
The interesting bit to me is the systemic issue of delivering value to customers or not delivering on brand promises.
When looking at any situation, I start by asking myself 3 questions:
- Why do some businesses succeed and others fail?
- What would have to be true for this to work?
- If I look through the eyes of my target customers, what are they going to see?
The challenge for any business or sector is moving away from the status quo.
The Big Idea: Customers have alternatives. They may be forced to buy tickets to top-tier artists, but boom and bust won’t make a strong industry.
Go Deeper: A few alternative takes on the situation:
Matt from True Tickets suggests “slow ticketing” as a way to slow down on-sale issues.
Garrett Nolan looks at the situation with an emphasis on the real versus the imagined.
Bill Werde has a take that looks at the entire live music ecosystem.
P.S.:
II. The economics of a touring support act can be tough:
Support acts can pay up to 30% of their merch sales to the venue.
The Big Idea: The “way we’ve always done things” crowd will always tell you that nothing can be done.
Having opened a few clubs, worked in many more, and opened a few bars, I know that the economics of being an artist is brutal and only getting worse.
But without the talent and the content, you don’t have a club.
This piece highlights the brutal nature of the entire business right now.
There will be a breaking point at some point.
III. The New York Times looks at the rise of gambling in the United States:
The Times finds that gambling is largely allowed to run free in the States.
Big Idea: Gambling needs regulation. The harm of lax regulation of gambling has been seen in the UK.
In the States, the problem could be even worse: an happens much more quickly.
An even more concerning challenge is that gambling is being used to fill a gap in interest or perceived interest in live sports.
Go Deeper: Barstool Sports and Penn Entertainment show how much gambling regulation has fallen off in 4 years.
IV. Drayton Bird offers 12 tips for his success:
4 & 5 are my favorites.
Dig in here: Pick one of these ideas and apply it in your organization.
Again, 5 is my number 1 because the setting strategy is the same in any industry.
People want to sell you on “specialization.”
A good marketer will tell you they are an “idiot of consumption” because they know that their opinion doesn’t count.
To put this a different way, look at the process instead of the sector.
Strategy and brand strategy are where I’ve put my attention when I’ve done work in:
- Sports
- Entertainment
- Hospitality
- Professional Services
- Tickets
The secret: 95% of the process is the same in every sector.
An additional point: For smaller organizations and challenger brands, doing the process correctly matters more because you don’t usually have the money to overcome your mistakes.
V. Links:
Questions about Ticketmaster’s business practices are nothing new, revisit Pearl Jam:
Pearl Jam picked a fight with Ticketmaster years ago. Pearl Jam fought the battle all the way to Congress.
Nothing happened.
Is the Taylor Swift uproar likely to change that?
Who knows…
I read Matt Stoller’s book on monopoly power, Goliath.
So I read most of his stuff on monopoly power and how a new era of antitrust enforcement is taking shape.
This week he covered Taylor Swift and Ticketmaster.
His newsletter is pretty good reading if you are interested in competition.
Ros Atkins looks at the World Cup and the total impact of the event:
These are good videos because Ros lays things out in a matter-of-fact style.
5.5 minutes that covers human rights issues, the environmental impact, and the possibility of corruption.
The future IS bright for women’s rugby:
A popular theme here is that if you don’t want to invest in women’s sports because it is the right thing to do…do it because you are greedy.
There’s money to be made.
Victoria lays out a lot of arguments for why women’s rugby is going to make a leap forward in Australia, but the same can be said for women’s sports around the world.
Blockchain won’t change the ticket business:
This take is being written about many industries right now.
Linktree: Find everything I’m up to.
Join the ‘Talking Tickets’ Slack Group. Almost 300 people from around the world.
The folks from Booking Protect will be at INTIX in Seattle in January. You’ll be able to meet the Booking Protect team in person.
Offering your customers refund protection:
- Gives customers certainty in their purchase.
- Gives you a new revenue stream.
- Improves your customer service.
Great podcast conversations: Take your business to new heights by learning from the best in the business.
Recent Conversations:
- Aren Murray
- Bill Guertin
- Scott Goodacre