Those of you who follow the blog will remember a couple of weeks ago when I cited Marianne Jennings, ticket industry expert and former professor of mine, who, during her keynote at the NATB conference in July, said that Ticketmaster ought to be kicked out of the secondary market. That topic got the most press but it was the broader topic of the presentation that got my attention: The Seven Principles of the Ticketing Industry and What They Mean for its Future.

At the Biscuit, we strive on a daily basis to create innovations to help shape the future of the ticketing industry. We look at the REAL DATA behind ticket sales, and through the identification of trends like increasing percentages of online purchases, or the relative power of purchase suggestion through viral networks, we’re able to innovate and create products to help our clients sell more tickets. So, the insight provided by these principles is very useful to us, as I think it should be for anyone who sells tickets. They address not only the nature of the industry, but also some psychological factors that must influence the way we do business as ticket sellers.

The Seven Principles of the Ticketing Industry (Source: Professor Marianne Jennings and Dr. Stephen Happel):

  1. Tickets for High-Demand and / or Limited Supply Events are Underpriced
  2. Underpriced High Demand and /or Low-Price Events Produce Queues
  3. Time is a cost
  4. Where There are Nuisances, There are Regulators
  5. Price Controls Don’t Work
  6. Allowing Market Participants to Structure Regulation of Their Market Adds Vertical Integration and/or Monopolies to Markets
  7. Regulation Without Full Information Will Thwart a National Ticket Market

What do these seven principles mean to you, and to the industry as a whole? I’ll share my thoughts on this, as well as the insights provided by Professor Jennings, in future posts. Stay tuned.