Ticketmaster, Monopolies and Why a Messier Market Might Have Been Better

Ticketmaster, Monopolies and Why a Messier Market Might Have Been Better

Published October 5, 2026 · Apprika Labs

Photo via Unsplash.

Why consolidation looked smart

This spring, a US jury put a name to the frustration. In April 2026, jurors in New York found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had illegally monopolized key parts of the concert business. They found ticket buyers were overcharged $1.72 per ticket at major concert venues.

Live Nation disputes the verdict and has said it will fight it in post-trial motions and on appeal. The remedies phase, which could include structural changes, is still ahead.

But the bigger lesson isn't legal. It's about what happens when one company becomes the only door.

It's worth being fair here. Bundling promotion, venues and ticketing under one roof has real upsides at scale.

• One system for huge events. A stadium tour needs software that can handle millions of buyers at once.
• Simple deals for venues. One contract, one partner, one support line.
• Money to invest. Scale funds the tech, the fraud controls and the marketing.

For a while, that pitch won. Evidence cited at trial put Ticketmaster at roughly 86% of primary ticketing at major concert venues.

Why it backfired

The jury's findings centred on how that position was used: tying venues and promotion together, and locking out rivals. Once there's one door, the incentive to improve the door fades.

• Exclusive deals freeze the market. If a venue signs for years, no upstart can win it with a better product.
• Fees creep. Without a real alternative, there's little pressure to keep them low.
• Innovation slows. The best ideas in ticketing often come from small players who never get a shot.
• Fans carry the cost. They can't switch, so their only options are pay or stay home.

A fragmented market is messy. More logins, more apps, more confusion. But mess has a hidden benefit: everyone has to keep earning your business. For concertgoers, that may well have been the better deal.

The part where we look at ourselves

It's easy to point at a giant. It's less comfortable to admit we feel the same pull.

As an app studio, we depend on two app stores that control how our apps get found and paid for. We know what it's like to live inside someone else's rules. And when we pitch clients, we're tempted to say "let us do everything for you, forever." That's a small version of the same trap.

So here's the rule we try to hold ourselves to: if a client can't leave us easily, we've built it wrong.

What this means if you're buying software

Whether you run a venue, a clinic or a school, the Ticketmaster story is a warning about vendor lock-in.

• Read the exclusivity clause. Multi-year exclusive deals feel safe and age badly.
• Own your code and your data. Make sure you can export everything, in a usable format.
• Prefer open connections. Tools that plug into others keep your options open.
• Keep a plan B. Know what you'd switch to, even if you never do.

How we can help

Apprika Labs is a Canadian AI, app and software studio. We've shipped 50+ apps with about 931,000 downloads. We're newer to business clients; Skolr, an education platform, is our first B2B contract.

We build software you own, not software that owns you:

• Custom event and ticketing tools for organizers who want their own front door.
• Apps and platforms with your code and data in your hands.
• Forward deployed engineers who can untangle your current vendors and plan a way out.
• AI Training for your team.

Questions people ask

Was Ticketmaster found to be a monopoly?

In April 2026, a US federal jury found Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally monopolized parts of the live concert market. Live Nation is challenging the verdict, and remedies are still to be decided.

How much did the jury say fans were overcharged?

$1.72 per ticket sold by Ticketmaster at major concert venues.

Does the US case affect Canadian fans?

The case was brought by US states, so any remedies apply there. Canadian fans use the same platform, so changes may ripple north, but that isn't guaranteed.

What is vendor lock-in?

When switching away from a supplier is so costly or hard that you're stuck, even if a better option exists.

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