US regulators are suing Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, over alleged “illegal” tactics when reselling tickets.
As BBC News reports, the regulators have accused the companies of breaking the law with these methods, which they claim have cost customers millions of dollars.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with seven states, allege that the entertainment giant coordinated with brokers to purchase gig tickets and sell them at a “substantial” markup. In turn, the company is accused of profiting from large resale fees.
These resale tactics violated consumer protection law, according to the FTC.
Though artists can set a limit for the number of tickets a buyer can purchase, the FTC claims that Ticketmaster and Live Nation did not take action when professional resellers – either individuals or companies – violated these limits.
The companies allegedly “illegally obtained” tickets to be resold via Ticketmaster, and made a “tacit agreement” with brokers. This is said to have brought in $3.7billion (£2.7bn) in resale fees between 2019 and 2024.
Customers can buy or sell tickets through Ticketmaster’s official resale function, with the firm charging sellers a fee once the ticket is resold.
In a statement, FTC chair Andrew Ferguson said: “American live entertainment is the best in the world and should be accessible to all of us. It should not cost an arm and a leg to take the family to a baseball game or attend your favourite musician’s show.”
Additionally, the FTC has accused Ticketmaster of advertising lower prices for tickets than what customers actually end up paying.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation have not yet responded to the FTC’s allegations, at the time of writing.
Ticketmaster dominates the live music market, and has faced controversy over its high ticket prices in recent years. In February, Andrew Parsons – the Managing Director at Ticketmaster UK – told MPs he believed that they were “very fairly priced”.
This summer, the UK competition watchdog threatened the company with legal action over the “misleading” way it sold tickets for Oasis’ reunion tour. At the time of the sale, many fans criticised the site’s ‘dynamic pricing’ model. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) later warned that Ticketmaster may have “breached the law” and “misled fans”.
In 2022, Taylor Swift fans complained about website failures when the North American leg of the pop star’s ‘Eras Tour’ went on sale. Ticketmaster responded by saying it had seen “historically unprecedented demand”.
Last year, the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation over its alleged behaviour of illegally maintaining a monopoly in the live music industry. A judge has since rejected Live Nation’s bid to dismiss the antitrust allegations, which the company has called “absurd”.
In early 2024, Live Nation reported that 2023 was its biggest year yet – taking into account both concert attendance and ticket sales. This came amid UK grassroots music venues closing down at a rate of two per week. “The economic maths of the live music industry is completely bonkers and it cannot possibly continue,” said the Music Venue Trust (MVT) in response.