IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Ask HN: Why hasn't there been a real competitor to Ticketmaster yet?

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

4 Core Themes from the Hacker News discussion

Theme Summary Key Quote
1. Ticketmaster’s monopoly & vertical integration Ticketmaster isn’t just a ticket‑seller; it owns venues, promoters, resale platforms, and related services, creating a self‑reinforcing ecosystem that blocks competitors. > "They also own a lot of the venue infrastructure across the industry such as catering, tour buses, security,..." — sirsinsalot
2. Scalping is a symptom, not the root cause The high resale prices stem from the price gap between the face value and the market‑clearing price that the monopoly enables. > "Scalping is just the result of a gap between sale price and fair market value." — Grombobulous
3. Barriers to entry for new ticketing platforms Breaking into the market requires massive scale, exclusive contracts, and deep integration with venues/promoters; without it, startups are either acquired or crushed. > "Ticketmaster avoided the two‑sided market problem until they reached scale. They were just a website where you buy tickets, an IT appliance for promoters." — drdec
4. Real‑world fixes are possible but politically blocked Jurisdictions that have capped resale prices (e.g., Ontario) show that regulation can curb exorbitant mark‑ups, yet the industry’s lobbying power keeps such laws from spreading. > "In Ontario, it required a law. Resale ticket prices capped at original ticket face value." — canucker2016

🚀 Project Ideas

OpenTicket Exchange

Summary

  • Decentralized escrow marketplace that lets buyers verify ticket ownership before purchase.
  • Enforces resale price caps via on‑chain policy.
  • Core value proposition: Safe, transparent resale without scalper markups.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Fans, season‑ticket holders, resale sellers, venue operators
Core Feature API‑driven integration with existing ticketing platforms; escrow holding of tickets until buyer verification; price‑cap enforcement via smart contract
Tech Stack React front‑end, Node.js/Express back‑end, PostgreSQL, Solidity smart contracts on Polygon, OAuth2 for ticket platform APIs
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: 2% transaction fee on each resale plus optional SaaS subscription for venue operators

Notes

  • HN commenters would love it because it eliminates the manual email‑handoff model that currently fuels fraud. - Practical utility: users can buy on secondary markets with confidence that the ticket is authentic and priced fairly.
  • Sparks discussion on regulatory compatibility and the feasibility of a universal price‑cap enforcement mechanism.

VenueDirect SaaS

Summary

  • End‑to‑end ticketing stack for venues and promoters to bypass Ticketmaster.
  • Transparent low‑margin subscription model.
  • Core value proposition: Gives venues control over pricing and fees while keeping fans fee‑transparent.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Mid‑size venues, independent promoters, artists managing own tours
Core Feature Customizable ticketing portal, real‑time inventory, integrated secondary‑market escrow, dynamic pricing toggle, analytics dashboard
Tech Stack Django + PostgreSQL, GraphQL API, Stripe for payments, Docker/Kubernetes hosting
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: $499/month per venue + 0.5% of gross ticket sales

Notes

  • Directly addresses the monopoly complaint by offering a viable alternative that venues can adopt without massive upfront costs.
  • Could catalyze a shift in power toward creators and venues, sparking broader industry debate.
  • Highlights the technical challenges of building a fully compliant, scalable ticketing system.

FairPrice Auction

Summary

  • Transparent auction platform that allocates high‑demand tickets through sealed‑bid or dutch auctions.
  • Removes scalper profit by letting the market determine price.
  • Core value proposition: Fans pay exactly the market‑clearing price, no hidden fees, no resale arbitrage.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Event promoters, artists, venue managers for premium events
Core Feature Auction engine with real‑time bidding, auto‑allocation, buyer verification, optional “lottery‑plus‑reserve” for lower‑budget fans, integration with existing ticketing APIs
Tech Stack TypeScript/Node, Redis for real‑time, GraphQL, AWS Lambda, smart contract fallback
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: 1% of winning bid amount + optional premium analytics subscription

Notes

  • HN users would appreciate the technical elegance of using auctions to eliminate secondary‑market scalping.
  • Generates a clear, observable price signal that can inform policy discussions on fair pricing.
  • Potential to bridge the gap between fan expectations and market realities, prompting conversations about alternative allocation models.

TicketRescuer Bot

Summary

  • Consumer‑facing service that monitors secondary markets and alerts users when tickets are listed at or below face value.
  • Facilitates trusted transfer via escrow.
  • Core value proposition: Saves fans money and reduces fraud by guaranteeing verified resale.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience General concert/fan community, season‑ticket holders, secondary‑market buyers
Core Feature Cross‑platform price‑watch crawler, price‑threshold alerts, built‑in escrow and ID verification for transfers, “lottery queue” for sold‑out events
Tech Stack Python with Scrapy, React Native front‑end, Firebase for real‑time alerts, Stripe for escrow, ID‑verification APIs
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • Directly tackles the pain point highlighted in the discussion about $10,000 tickets and scalper markups.
  • Provides immediate, practical utility that HN readers can test and discuss.
  • Opens dialogue on consumer empowerment, potential regulatory impact, and the economics of secondary‑market design.

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