Amazon could start selling event tickets in the US

Amazon is reportedly setting its sights on ticket sales, in a move that could challenge Ticketmaster’s grip on the United States ticketing market. 

According to a recent report by Reuters, the Seattle-based company sees ticket sales as a promising market because consumers dislike Ticketmaster’s unpopular practices and fees.  

Sport leagues and teams are also keen to get more distributors and could utilise Amazon’s customer base to boost their sales.

It is thought that Amazon could use ticket access to lure customers to join their subscription service Amazon Prime. In return, sports teams and musicians could use Amazon’s platform to promote merchandise sales. 

Ticketmaster is currently the exclusive retailer of primary tickets for many of the top venues in the US and has fended off potential upstart competition from ticketing platforms such as Universe and Frontgate.

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It has remained the dominant ticket retailer because many contenders find it difficult to challenge the strong relationship it has created with the operators of sports stadiums, concert halls, arenas, and other venues. 

Making a mark in the ticketing business is likely to be an expensive venture for Amazon. For many events, Ticketmaster pays the venues for the right to sell tickets and manage the box office and so vendors may be unwilling to give up this revenue.

However, some sources claim that Amazon has offered to write sponsorship checks worth millions of dollars to the venues.

Amazon could pose a serious threat to Ticketmaster if it pursues ticket sales. 

The e-commerce giant has already had ticketing success in Britain, selling tickets for West End shows and, in some cases, reportedly outperforming Ticketmaster for some ticket sales, according to Reuters. 

Amazon has previously had talks with Ticketmaster as a way to gain entry into the US ticketing industry however, talks collapsed over disagreements on who would control customer data.