If you asked an event organizer why they use their ticketing platform, many would tell you they didn't really choose it. Maybe their venue required it. Maybe they signed a contract years ago and switching became too expensive or too complicated. Either way, the decision was often made for them. For years, exclusive venue agreements, long-term contracts, and rising fees kept organizers locked into the same platforms with few alternatives.
But that's starting to change.
On April 15, 2026, a U.S. federal jury found Ticketmaster's parent company, Live Nation, guilty of operating an illegal monopoly that may have stifled competition and artificially inflated ticket prices across the live entertainment industry. The jury found that Ticketmaster controls 86%of ticketing at major concert venues, and that Live Nation owns or controls 78%of large amphitheaters in the U.S. Jurors also determined that this conduct resulted in an average overcharge of $1.72 per ticket, adding up to millions of dollars extracted from fans who had no real alternative.
In Canada, no equivalent government case has been filed, but the market looks remarkably similar. Live Nation holds exclusive ticketing contracts with some of the country's biggest arenas like Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Bell Centre in Montreal, Rogers Arena in Vancouver and so many more. Ticketmaster does not just sell tickets in Canada; it owns the venues, promotes the shows, and controls the ticketing.
In 2019, Canada's Competition Bureau fined Ticketmaster $4 million for misleading advertised prices, fees that only appeared once a customer was deep into the checkout process. Last January, the Consumers Council of Canada filed an application to sue Live Nation before the Canadian Competition Tribunal. As of this writing, the Bureau says it is "monitoring" the U.S. verdict. Independent organizers have been monitoring the same thing for years, without the luxury of waiting.
As a result of the U.S. verdict, there has been a profound relief from organizers, especially from Edmonton's independent event community. Sahib Quraishi runs the Downtown Defrost and Down By The River festivals in Edmonton. He chose Showpass and that choice is not incidental, it’s a shift happening across the Canadian event industry right now.
Organizers are not just looking for cheaper fees, they are looking for ownership of their events, audience data, and ticket buyer relationships. Their ability to build packages, run promotions, and access post-event analytics without asking permission or paying a premium for tools that should come standard.
"A ruling like this is monumental. This is a sign of the times that ticketing and live events are as important to people as core basket items like food and shelter. It’s a good indicator that society holds live entertainment at the very forefront”
— Lucas McCarthy, Founder & CEO, Showpass
At Showpass, we have been building for this moment for years. Not because we predicted a court ruling, but because the organizers we work with told us exactly what they needed and we have known for over a decade that their insights are our most valuable resource.Real-time dashboards that show what is happening at the door and at your events, not just after the fact. Marketing tools that connect ticket sales to actual buyer behaviour. Support that picks up the phone on event day. And increasingly, tools that help organizers understand demand before they even announce a show.
The days of a platform simply processing a payment and issuing a QR code are long gone. The platforms earning trust today are the ones that show up across the full lifecycle of an event, before it is announced, while doors are open, and after the last attendee walks out.
What is happening in Edmonton is not unique. It is playing out in Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, and every mid-sized market where independent organizers have been asked to absorb costs and accept terms designed for someone much larger than them.
The organizers who are growing fastest right now are the ones who stopped accepting the status quo and started asking what they actually deserve from a ticketing partner.
Independent organizers built this industry and they deserve a platform built for them.
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