The Black Cat to switch from Ticketmaster to Ticket Alternative
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That feeling of joy at seeing your favorite band’s name in dry erase ink on The Black Cat’s white board is often short lived. Like many venues—independent and otherwise—the D.C. music institution has long sold its tickets through mega-monopoly admission-voucher sellers Ticketmaster, a money-grubbing company that demands absurd service charges for every entry fee. Until now, that is.
In a move that will no doubt leave many indie music-seekers sighing with relief, The Black Cat will switch its ticket sales from Ticketmaster to Ticket Alternative for all shows after Sept. 25. The A.V. Club called up The Black Cat’s owner Dante Ferrando to get the inside scoop on the move.
“I’m not crazy about working with big companies like Ticketmaster, just as a basic business principle,” Ferrando admitted right off the bat, before explaining that his partnership with the large company emerged out of a lack of alternatives. As it turns out, D.C.’s Ticketmaster is actually an indepentendly owned franchise, which made the original partnership more palatable for the local indie entrepeneur. Nevertheless, Ferrando says he has been on the lookout for smaller, better companies for the past six years, waiting out the Darwinian clamoring as these emerging competitors established themselves in the market.
The real precipitating factor in the switch, however, was news of Ticketmaster’s upcoming merger with Live Nation, a move Ferrando describes as “an incredibly poorly thought-out concept.” When asked about his feelings toward Live Nation, he further admitted to having “a definite dislike and distrust of the company. They have a track record of just gobbling up competition and doing things that I think are very bad for the music scene in general.” And, lest we forget, Live Nation is a direct competitor to The Black Cat when it comes to bidding on acts. “Even if I didn’t dislike the company and the way they do business, I don’t think I could work with a company that is my competitor,” he laughed. “I’m not really in the habit of giving competitors money.”
When asked what drew him to Ticket Alternative, Ferrando noted that the company already has a presence in D.C. and is familiar with the local market. “Plus, they’re a cool, small company,” he added, “they’ve been very easy to work with, very flexible on structuring stuff—which has been really helpful because I think ticket fee structures are generally insane.”
And sure enough, this new system has no add-on surprises: Tickets under $10 will come with a $2 service charge, those under $20 will charge $2.50 extra, and the few Black Cat gigs that actually cost more than $20 will be marked up by a mere $3. Tickets purchased at The Black Cat's box office remain free of service charges.
