In this past Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, a familiar face and name to this community was featured for a brief portion of the segement about concert and live entertainment ticketing.
Irving Azoff is a Danville native, U of I alum, once manager of the Eagles and REO Speedwagon (and plenty of others), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee in 2020 — the list of accolades and accomplishements goes on and on. One portion of his career that Azoff perhaps made the most impact globally is for his role as CEO of Ticketmaster. Yes, everyone’s favorite company to buy tickets from.
Oliver takes a dive into the nature of the ticketing industry, taking a look at the nuts and bolts of it all and dissecting astronomical ticketing fees and why they are the way they are, the resale market, and more. He truly is only able to cover the tip of the iceberg on this topic in the brief 20 minute segement.
Around the 5:15 mark, Oliver shows a clip of Azoff addressing Congress in 2009 when the dreaded Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger happened. Ultimately, this is a truly a great segement, highlighting an industry that is intentionally opaque and delivering it in laymen’s terms for all to understand a bit clearer.