Topline
The Federal Trade Commission and seven states filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation on Thursday, accusing the ticket sellers of deceiving artists and consumers by allowing consumers to buy large numbers of tickets and resell them for much higher prices.
The FTC accused Ticketmaster and Live Nation of allowing consumers to purchase large numbers of tickets and resell them for high prices. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
The FTC accused Live Nation and Ticketmaster of violating the FTC Act, which prohibits deceptive practices in the marketplace, and of violating the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, a 2016 law passed to halt the use of automated bots to purchase tickets and resell them at higher prices.
The FTC said Ticketmaster and Live Nation have declined to stop mass purchases and resales because they “triple dip” to generate profit: first by collecting fees from the ticket brokers who purchase the tickets, then by collecting fees from both the brokers when they resell tickets and consumers when they buy the resale tickets.
The lawsuit accuses the ticket companies of ignoring resellers who violate the companies’ limits on how many tickets a consumer can purchase, citing an email from a Ticketmaster executive who said the companies “turn a blind eye as a matter of policy” toward the limit violations.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation also deceived consumers by hiding added fees and presenting ticket prices as much lower than the prices customers were charged at checkout, the suit says.
The suit also accused the companies of failing to take additional action to stop ticket brokers, claiming the companies declined to use third-party verification for ticket purchases in 2021 because it was “too effective” at stopping the ticket brokers.
The Attorneys General of Virginia, Utah, Florida, Tennessee, Nebraska, Illinois and Colorado joined the FTC as plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in California federal court.
Big Number
$16.4 billion. That’s how much the FTC says Ticketmaster and Live Nation charged in fees on primary sale and resale tickets between 2019 and 2024, with $3.7 billion coming from fees on resale tickets alone.
Key Background
Ticketmaster and Live Nation have faced consumer and government ire for years over its allegedly deceptive ticketing practices. The Justice Department sued to break up Live Nation last year following a probe launched in 2022 to determine whether Live Nation held a monopoly over the ticketing industry. Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010, and the FTC’s lawsuit says Ticketmaster controls at least 80% of ticketing for major concert venues. The investigation followed wide fan criticism over Ticketmaster’s handling of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ticket sales, which faced historic demand and crashed the ticket platform’s servers, while many fans complained they could not access tickets or were faced with astronomical prices. Ticketmaster is also under investigation by the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority, which is probing the platform’s controversial “dynamic pricing” practice, which causes prices to spike in response to increased demand.
Further Reading
Justice Department sues to break up Live Nation, parent of Ticketmaster (CNBC)
The Eras Tour’s greatest legacy may be the (possible) breakup of Ticketmaster (CNN)