Recode is reporting that Amazon might soon be taking a run at breaking Ticketmaster’s quasi-monopolistic hold on the American concert ticket market, with the online retail giant posting job openings for its Amazon Tickets program at its Seattle home base. Amazon Tickets—which distinguishes itself from competitors like Ticketmaster by including all of its fees in the initial upfront price, and by allowing people to use their Amazon accounts to pay for them—launched in the U.K. last year.
If it does want to take on Ticketmaster stateside, Amazon has a tough road ahead of it: Despite recent setbacks, and a public perception that hovers somewhere in between highway robbery and mud, the ticketing giant still has a heavy hand on the American concert market. Most of the country’s major venues are either owned by the company through LiveNation, or have exclusive deals in place with it.
A posting for one of the job descriptions—the stated goals of which are to extend Amazon Tickets into Europe and Asia—said that the company’s goal is to “disrupt the entire live entertainment experience, including what happens before, during and after the show. The ticketing business is ripe for innovation and improvement, as much of the industry has not fundamentally changed since the 1970s.”