Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is a ticket sales and distribution company based in West Hollywood, California, USA, with operations in many countries around the world. Typically, Ticketmaster's clients (arenas, stadiums, and theaters) control their events, and Ticketmaster simply acts as an agent, selling the tickets that the clients make available to them.

Ticketmaster sells many of its tickets online, some via phone, and some through its many ticket outlets. Fact: date=October 2008

Ticketmaster recently acquired a UK ticket exchange site, Getmein.com. Getmein is a ticket exchange site that allows sellers to list the tickets at whatever price they choose. It claims to have over 500,000 tickets listed at any one time and independent research has shown the majority of these to be priced at least 100% above the original face value. Fact: date=October 2008

On 10 January 2008, Ticketmaster completed the acquisition of Paciolan Inc. after the deal was subject to months of litigation over the potential breach of antitrust laws. Paciolan is a developer of ticketing system applications and hosted ticketing systems. On 10 February 2009, Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the largest concert promoter, officially announced their merger deal.Live Nation and Ticketmaster Agree to Merge New York Times. 10 February 2009.

Service fees

POV: date=December 2007 Ticketmaster collects no part of advertised ticket prices, in lieu it adds services fees to boost its earnings. Consumers often find these markups unreasonably excessive, especially because there are many instances where no alternative purchase method is offered (allowing the purchase of tickets without incurring fees). This business practice, along with a dearth of competitors, has led many to view Ticketmaster as monopolistic. Alternative ticketing companies have emerged but due to Ticketmaster's exclusive agreements with a large percentage of venues the competition has not lowered service fees. Not all events generate the same consternation. Many ticket buyers have the option of purchasing tickets directly from venue box offices, thereby avoiding service fees from any ticketing agent though many box offices will also charge a service fee, particularly if the venue is owned by a ticket agency. The typical fees in addition to a ticket's face value include:

• Ticketmaster Service Charge

This is Ticketmaster's charge for the general service they provide and maintain. You will pay this charge no matter which way you buy the tickets through Ticketmaster (Phone, online or in person at a ticket center), although the amount of the charge may be different for different channels and different payment methods.

• Building Facility Charge

This is determined by the venue, and not Ticketmaster.