The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued Ticketmaster and its father or mother firm, Live Nation Entertainment, over what it known as “illegal” ticket resale techniques.
The lawsuit was filed in federal courtroom in California. Seven states joined within the lawsuit, together with Florida, Illinois and Virginia.
In the submitting, the FTC wrote that the businesses “tacitly worked” with scalpers, permitting them to “unlawfully purchase” tickets to extend their income.
“[Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s] illegal conduct frustrates artists’ desire to maintain affordable ticket prices that fit the needs of ordinary American families, costing ordinary fans millions of dollars every year,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit alleged Ticketmaster has taken a “bait and switch” strategy, which permits the corporate to change its promoting of ticket costs to successfully carry complete costs, in response to the FTC. It additionally alleges that the corporate permits dealer to exceed ticket limits on function with resale and violates the Better Online Ticket Sales Act.
The FTC alleged that Ticketmaster is successfully “triple dipping” by accumulating charges from brokers on the first market, brokers on the secondary market and shoppers on the secondary market. The shopper safety company stated the corporate made $3.7 billion in resold tickets between 2019 and 2024.
The FTC stated the alleged practices have brought about accidents to shoppers and artists on each side of the Ticketmaster gross sales.
“American live entertainment is the best in the world and should be accessible to all of us,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson stated 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.”
According to the FTC, Ticketmaster controls roughly 80% of main live performance venues’ ticketing, and between 2019 and 2024, shoppers spent greater than $82 billion buying tickets on the platform.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Shares of Live Nation fell roughly 2% after information of the lawsuit.
Ticketmaster can also be under investigation within the U.Okay. over its use of “dynamic pricing” for ticket gross sales for reunion concert events from Britpop band Oasis. Dynamic pricing is a tactic utilized in many live performance gross sales to mirror broader shifts out there, justifying greater costs.
Last yr, the Justice Department sued to interrupt up Live Nation and Ticketmaster over alleged antitrust violations, claiming the corporate had too massive a monopoly within the ticketing trade. The lawsuit adopted a 2022 probe into the corporate after a rollout of tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour got here below intense scrutiny for its botched rollout.