Federal Trade Commission Sues Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment

Ticketmaster and its dad or mum firm, Stay Nation Leisure, have lengthy been the goal of ire from musicians and concertgoers alike as a result of their use of hidden charges and the prevalence of ticket scalpers on their platforms. Final yr, below President Joe Biden, the US Justice Division sued Stay Nation, alleging that the corporate holds a monopoly within the live performance market. Now, the Federal Commerce Fee and 7 states are filing suit in opposition to the live performance big for allegedly violating the FTC Act and the Better Online Ticket Sales Act by knowingly collaborating with secondary market brokers to spike ticket costs.

The FTC’s lawsuit, filed this morning (Thursday, September 18) in a California courtroom, alleges that Stay Nation has falsely claimed to position caps on the variety of tickets a person can buy for an occasion, whereas resellers are in a position to circumvent these limits by creating “hundreds” of Ticketmaster accounts. A software program platform referred to as TradeDesk, additionally owned by Stay Nation, then permits brokers to trace tickets throughout a number of accounts concurrently, permitting for simpler resale.

In accordance with inner emails reportedly obtained by the FTC, Ticketmaster and Stay Nation are in a position to establish which brokers are exceeding the posted ticket restrict for a given occasion, however have as a substitute opted to, within the alleged phrases of a senior govt, “flip a blind eye as a matter of coverage.” Allegedly, the businesses additionally declined to implement expertise, similar to third-party verification, that may forestall mass ticket scalping for being, in accordance with one e-mail cited within the lawsuit, “too efficient.”

“American stay leisure is the most effective on the planet and ought to be accessible to all of us,” FTC chairman Andrew N. Ferguson mentioned in a statement. “It shouldn’t price an arm and a leg to take the household to a baseball recreation or attend your favourite musician’s present. The Trump-Vance FTC is working onerous to make sure that followers have a shot at shopping for fair-priced tickets, and at present’s lawsuit is a monumental step in that route.”

An announcement to Pitchfork from the Nationwide Unbiased Expertise Group (NITO) added: “With out commenting on the particular costs, NITO applauds the Federal Commerce Fee’s efforts to reform an unfair ticketing ecosystem that too typically doesn’t serve customers or artists. Adjustments are wanted that deal with extreme charges, availability of tickets for followers at truthful costs and holding the method aligned with artists pursuits that profit their followers.”

As well as, Stephen Parker, govt director of the Nationwide Unbiased Venue Affiliation (NIVA) advised Pitchfork:

In the present day’s lawsuit has given credibility to what followers, artists, and impartial levels have believed for years: Stay Nation and Ticketmaster exploit their dominance not simply in live performance promotion and first ticketing, however within the resale market as nicely. The FTC and 7 states now allege that the identical firm that controls practically 80% of main live performance ticketing has been enabling scalpers to recreation Ticketmaster’s system, reselling tickets again to followers at huge markups.

This isn’t simply unhealthy enterprise; it’s deception and abuse of monopoly energy. By turning a blind eye to scalpers, even giving them the instruments to bypass limits and harvest tickets, Stay Nation has acted because the promoter, the first ticket vendor, the artists’ supervisor, and the scalper.

Unbiased venues and promoters are on the frontlines of this damaged system, and it’s followers and artists who finally pay the worth. We applaud the FTC for bringing this case. It additional bolsters the U.S. Division of Justice and 40 state attorneys basic antitrust case in opposition to Stay Nation.

We now urge Congress, the Administration, and state legislatures to face with customers by banning speculative tickets (tickets the scalper doesn’t have), prohibiting misleading resale websites, and capping resale costs and charges. Predatory resellers – together with Stay Nation itself – ought to not be allowed to gouge and deceive followers below the guise of entry to stay music.

Final yr, the U.S. Home of Representatives passed the the Transparency in Costs for Key Occasions Ticketing (TICKET) Act, which might require ticket sellers on the first and secondary market to reveal whole costs up entrance. StubHub was additionally sued by the Washington, D.C. lawyer basic in 2024 for partaking in “drip pricing,” whereby charges are incrementally added to a ticket’s price all through the checkout course of. Ticketmaster is at present under investigation by the UK and European governments for its pricing of tickets to Oasis’ reunion shows.