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DIY Stubs vs Ticketmaster
Why Ticketmaster is built for a different scale of event, and what indie promoters need instead.
Ticketmaster is built for large venues, arena tours, and the distribution network that comes with being part of Live Nation Entertainment. DIY Stubs is built for an independent organizer running a 250-cap show. For most independent shows, the two do not overlap.
We get the question anyway, because "ticketing" and "Ticketmaster" are linked in most people's heads. This page lays out why the two rarely compete, so you can move on to a comparison that fits your show, or know what you are comparing if your event is large enough for Ticketmaster.
Who Ticketmaster is built for
Ticketmaster's business is run primarily through venue and tour contracts. A large venue (arena, amphitheater, major theater) typically signs a multi-year contract with Ticketmaster as its exclusive ticketing partner. Tours of that scale ticket through the venues they are playing, which means tickets flow through Ticketmaster's system. The promoter on the artist side, the venue on the building side, and Live Nation on the parent side all have intertwined relationships that have been documented at length in public reporting and regulatory filings.
That model is usually not optional. You do not "decide to use" Ticketmaster as an indie promoter the way you decide to use Eventbrite or DIY Stubs. It is the system that comes with playing certain venues.
Who it is not built for
- A promoter running a single-night show at a 100 to 1,000 cap venue with no exclusive ticketing contract.
- A small or mid-size venue that wants to control its own ticketing and fee structure.
- A community organization running a benefit, a fundraiser, or a one-off event.
- Anyone who wants to sign up, create an event, and start selling tickets the same day without a contract negotiation.
For those organizers, comparing DIY Stubs to Ticketmaster is mostly the wrong comparison. The right comparisons are to Eventbrite, Dice, or Posh.
A note on the fee criticism
Buyer-facing fees on Ticketmaster have been a subject of regulatory attention, congressional hearings, consumer complaints, and class action lawsuits going back years. Whether those fees are justifiable is a separate conversation. What is structurally true is that the buyer typically sees a face-value ticket price followed by a series of additional fees added at checkout, and that the total can be meaningfully higher than the advertised price.
DIY Stubs pricing is different on purpose. We charge a single 3% platform fee on every paid ticket. The buyer pays Stripe's published card processing rate (2.9% + 30¢) as its own line. The organizer either covers the platform fee or lets buyers cover it as one labeled line. Tax is added where it applies. There are no facility fees, order processing fees, delivery fees, or convenience fees.
DIY Stubs pricing
- 3% per paid ticket, the only platform fee. Cover it yourself (you keep 97%) or let buyers cover it (you keep 100% of face value).
- 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction, Stripe card processing, paid by the buyer as its own line.
- No subscription required, no per-event fee, no per-scanner fee. Pro is optional ($12.99/mo or $129/yr) for unlimited events and tickets, with the same 3%.
- $0 for free RSVP tickets.
On a $20 ticket where you cover the 3%: the buyer pays about $20.91 and you net $19.40. On a $50 ticket: the buyer pays about $51.80 and you net $48.50. Tax is added where it applies. The breakdown is in Payouts and fees.
When Ticketmaster applies
- You are booking a venue large enough to already have a Ticketmaster exclusivity contract. In that case it is not a choice.
- You are part of a tour at that scale and the routing already books into Live Nation venues.
- You are running an arena-scale or stadium-scale event with existing distribution agreements.
If none of those describe your situation, the comparison is not Ticketmaster vs anything. It is Eventbrite vs Dice vs Posh vs DIY Stubs vs maybe a few others. See the comparison index for the ones that are real choices for independent organizers.