A few days back I wrote about the ethical dilemma facing Ticketmaster with the acquisition of TicketsNow, and the perception that their actions in this space seem awfully shady. In that article, I paraphrased a quote from my ethics prof in biz school.

That professor, Marianne Jennings, is now regarded as an expert in the ticketing industry. At the NATB conference last week, she said that Ticketmaster should be cut out of the secondary market altogether. (read the article here). Jennings and her co-presenter Dr. Stephen Happel said that the TM-TN merge created a “vertical monopoly” that can and is hurting consumers.

By allowing a dominant primary ticket seller, like Ticketmaster, to gain more control of a market, consumers are deprived of a “highly evolved market,” which leads to limited choices and less competition, according to the professors. In addition, Ticketmaster has taken an active role in helping legislators formulate new laws for how the ticket industry is governed, which can also lead to unfair advantage.

The good professor goes on to state that TM could play in the secondary market if it played fair, but it looks like the company has no intention of doing that, so far.

Let’s get one thing straight. We’re all for capitalism. Making money is good, but you have to have guidelines. Our strategy is different than that of a Ticketmaster. Instead of figuring out how to make more money off of fans by engaging in borderline illegal and indisputably unethical practices, we’re constantly listening to venue owners, musicians, promoters, and the fans to deliver products and services that people want, and that help sell more tickets.

Ticketmaster is locked into a quagmire of sunk costs. As a public company, their shareholders compel them to deliver growth. Seemingly unable to innovate, they turn to practices such as these- another reason we believe the writing is on the wall for the industry giant. The public demands better and the market is responding.