US sues Ticketmaster over claims of illegal resale tactics
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A lawsuit accused Ticketmaster of deceptive practices that advertised lower prices than were available.
PHOTO: AFP
Natallie Rocha
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SAN FRANCISCO – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and seven states on Sept 18 sued Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, claiming the entertainment giant had broken the law by allowing brokers to buy up millions of dollars worth of tickets and resell them at higher prices.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, accused Ticketmaster of deceptive practices that advertised lower prices than were available, as well as falsely claiming it set limits on the number of tickets people could buy.
Brokers bought thousands of tickets at face value, then resold them for higher prices on Ticketmaster, allowing the company to collect additional fees, according to the suit.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The FTC’s lawsuit is part of growing regulatory scrutiny of the entertainment giant’s power over musicians and fans after a government-approved merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010.
In 2024, the Justice Department and several states filed a lawsuit accusing Live Nation of leveraging its sprawling empire to dominate the industry by locking venues into exclusive ticketing contracts, pressuring artists to use its services and threatening its rivals with financial retribution.
Those tactics resulted in higher ticket prices, the government argued.
In March, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order acknowledging that ticket resale middlemen drove up prices and urged the FTC to enforce competition laws in the sector.
The FTC’s lawsuit on Sept 18 contended that Ticketmaster controls at least 80 per cent of primary ticketing for concerts at major venues and a growing number of ticket resales. NYTIMES
