FTC, seven states sue Ticketmaster and Live Nation over resale tactics
Regulators allege illegal coordination with brokers to buy and resell tickets at large markups, claiming billions in resale fees and deceptive pricing.
The Federal Trade Commission, together with seven state attorneys general, filed a civil lawsuit against Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, accusing the companies of engaging in illegal resale tactics that regulators say harmed consumers. The commission said Ticketmaster and Live Nation coordinated with third-party brokers to buy concert tickets and then resell them at substantial markups, generating millions in extra fees for the companies and their broker partners. The FTC described the alleged conduct as a violation of consumer protection laws and said it enabled “illegally obtained” tickets to be resold on the Ticketmaster platform.
The agency cited a pattern in which brokers obtained access to tickets that were supposed to be limited by artist-prescribed purchase caps, and regulators said the companies turned a blind eye to violations of those limits. Regulators alleged that the concert-promotion and ticketing giant reaped billions in resale fees, estimated at $3.7 billion from 2019 through 2024, while fans faced higher prices and fewer attainable options for legitimate purchasers.
In addition to the alleged resale scheme, the FTC accused Ticketmaster of deceptive advertising that suggested lower prices than what consumers ultimately paid. The complaint portrays a market where the platform’s vast reach and sale of tickets across major venues created incentives for brokers to operate through the Ticketmaster ecosystem, with the companies receiving revenue from resale fees and related services.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation dominate the live-entertainment sector, controlling about 80% of major concert venues’ ticket sales. The company has faced ongoing scrutiny over pricing and market power for years, intensifying after a high-profile ticket rollout crisis in 2022 that plagued Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and drew widespread public criticism of the company’s platform.
Live Nation Entertainment was formed in 2010 through the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, creating a vertically integrated business that puts on concerts, sells tickets, and owns venues. Regulators have argued that the combination turned the firm into a gatekeeper for the industry, raising barriers to competition and contributing to higher prices and uneven service.
The Department of Justice separately filed an antitrust case against Live Nation last year, alleging that the company maintained a monopoly with tactics that stifled competition and harmed consumers through higher prices and poorer service. A judge this year rejected Live Nation’s bid to dismiss those claims, prompting the company to defend its practices as legitimate competition in a consolidated market.
The FTC’s action comes as regulators seek to curb what they call anti-competitive and consumer-harming conduct in the live-entertainment space. Regulators said the case highlights the ongoing tension between a dominant platform’s control over ticket distribution and the public’s access to affordable live events.
The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the FTC’s allegations.
Analysts note that regulatory actions against two of the industry’s most powerful players could reshape how tickets are bought and sold in the United States, potentially prompting adjustments in pricing, distribution, and consumer protections. While supporters of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster model argue that the platform provides a broad, centralized service for events, critics contend that the same scale and reach create insulation from competition and higher costs for fans. Regulators have signaled they will pursue remedies and injunctive relief if the court finds merit in the allegations, with potential implications for how tickets are allocated, advertised, and monitored for policy violations in the future.