FTC suits Live Nation, Ticketmaster on Resales
The Federal Trade Committee (FTC) and seven states of a lawsuit against TicketyMaster and its mother company Live Nation on Thursday, accusing ticket companies of allowing the capital residents to circumvent their own rules and resell their tickets at higher prices to achieve more profits.
The government claims that Ticketmaster and Live result coordinate with ticket brokers by “routinely allowing them” to bypass the purchase limits. It also accuses the deceptive pricing practices.
“The behavior of illegal defendants frustrates the desire of artists to preserve the prices of tickets at reasonable prices that suit the needs of the ordinary American families, which costs ordinary fans millions of dollars every year,” says the lawsuit.
Ticketmaster practices have faced increased scrutiny in recent years, especially after its system suffered from collapse as Taylor Swift fans tried to buy “The Eras Tour” tickets in 2022.
The Ministry of Justice and more than twenty states filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation last year, claiming that the live entertainment industry monopolized and raised ticket prices.
The new FTC lawsuit aims to resale. It is claimed that ticket companies are aware of the efforts of the brokers and aid to roam within the ticket limits by creating many Ticketmaster accounts.
The government emphasizes that Ticketmaster depends on significant revenues from resale. This allows them to “decline three times” on fees from broker and sales purchases, as well as buy consumers from re -sale tickets, according to the case.
“The American entertainment is the best in the world and must be available to all of us,” Andrew Ferguson, head of the Federal Trade Committee, said in a statement. “It should not cost an arm and leg to move the family to the baseball game or attend your favorite music show.”
“FTC Trump-Vance is working hard to make sure that fans get a shot to buy fair tickets, and today the lawsuit is a tremendous step in this direction.”
