The Federal Trade Commission is suing Ticketmaster and Live Nation for allegedly engaging in illegal ticket vendor practices for its resale business.
According to court filings released Thursday, the government agency is claiming that Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, resell tickets illegally acquired by brokers that purchased concert tickets on the primary market, only for those passes to be resold on Ticketmaster for well over their face value.
“American live entertainment is the best in the world and should be accessible to all of us,” said FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson in a statement. “It should not cost an arm and a leg to take the family to a baseball game or attend your favorite musician’s show.”
The FTC also alleges that the ticket company is misleading artists and consumers with “bait-and-switch pricing,” with tactics such as advertising lower ticket prices than the actual total after inflated pricing and extra fees.
Founded in 1976, Ticketmaster has been the industry’s largest ticket provider since 1995, with around 80% of live concerts sold through the site. As of late, it has also acquired a growing share of the resale market. According to the FTC, consumers spent more than $82.6 billion buying tickets from the Beverly Hills-based company from 2019 to 2024.
The lawsuit comes after years of complaints from customers, who are often unable to get their hands on tickets and end up paying much more than the original cost.
Ticketmaster and concert promoter Live Nation merged in 2010 in a deal that was controversial at the time because of antitrust concerns. Last year, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Live Nation, which suggested breaking up the company due to its alleged monopolistic practices.
Headlines continued to amass all throughout Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour as several fans took their complaints with the ticket seller to court, suing for “unlawful conduct.” Recently, with the sale of Ariana Grande’s upcoming tour, Ticketmaster’s practices have again been called into question again. Currently, resale tickets for Grande’s Eternal Sunshine shows in L.A. next June start at $780 and exceed $7,000.
The FTC also alleges that Ticketmaster is aware these brokers regularly bypass security measures and use proxy IP addresses. The agency also claims the company has continually declined to implement higher security measures to avoid brokers and bots.
In addition to the lack of virtual security, the FTC asserts that Ticketmaster is “deceiving the American people” by advertising lower fees and hiding mandatory fees (as high as 44% of the ticket price) until the end of the transactions. Between 2019 and 2024, all of the revenue from the fees added up to $16.4 billion.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
