I think it’s mostly because going to a concert is a luxury.
Sure, it’s a monopoly, but the worst case scenario here is that some people won’t get to see Taylor Swift live.
Sure, it’s a monopoly, but the worst case scenario here is that some people won’t get to see Taylor Swift live.
But then again I grew up in a large city in Europe, so that might skew my experience. Or maybe not, since I went to a ton of $10 concerts in NYC in my la 20s (thanks John Zorn for starting The Stone)
lux·u·ry an inessential, desirable item which is expensive or difficult to obtain. plural noun: luxuries "luxuries like raspberry vinegar and state-of-the-art CD players"
And using price a test of luxury in a discussion about monopolies is kind of circular; it leads to saying that anything a monopoly has successfully captured is necessarily a luxury.
That gets you to prescription eyeglasses being a luxury, because I don’t need them, people can just buy contacts, and a monopoly has driven the price to astronomical levels.
But here’s the thing: the law should apply equally. If the FTC did go after a couple of these ‘ frivolous ‘ monopolies, it would set the tone across the board. This is an area where everyone can meet in the middle..
This is what I think is really missing from the arguments. Antitrust enforcement and even basic law enforcement has been mostly AWOL whenever bigger players are involved. It really undermines average Joe's trust in the system as a whole. I don't really care about Swift and Ticketmaster. I am concerned that the system is seemingly falling apart ( or working as intended depending on how cynical one is ).
The way capitalism is supposed to work is that competition and supply and demand push the market price of goods to an optimal price thats economically beneficial for buyer and seller. But anti-competitive practices like bundling products and artificially limiting supply interfere with that process.
If LiveNation and TicketMaster were two different entities, there would be a lot more competition for who to use for ticket distribution and prices for tickets would be a lot cheaper, which benefits the purchaser and increases economic competition and productivity.