Ticketmaster

Ticketmaster Entertainment, LLC is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with events/concert promoter Live Nation under the name Live Nation Entertainment, with both brand names continuing to operate as subsidiaries of Live Nation Entertainment. The company's ticket sales are fulfilled digitally or at its two main fulfillment centers located in Charleston, West Virginia, and Pharr, Texas, for both primary and secondary markets. Ticketmaster's clients include venues, artists and promoters. Clients control their events and set ticket prices, and Ticketmaster sells tickets that the clients make available to them. Ticketmaster also owns and operates TicketWeb, a ticketing website geared towards independent venues. Ticketmaster is subject to numerous controversies and lawsuits, alleging violations of various laws. The platform charges a fee on tickets purchased and resold on the platform. The fees from ticket sales can account for a large percentage of overall ticket costs and have received scrutiny from regulators, customers, and musicians.…

Ticketmaster Entertainment, LLC is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with events/concert promoter Live Nation under the name Live Nation Entertainment, with both brand names continuing to operate as subsidiaries of Live Nation Entertainment. The company's ticket sales are fulfilled digitally or at its two main fulfillment centers located in Charleston, West Virginia, and Pharr, Texas, for both primary and secondary markets. Ticketmaster's clients include venues, artists and promoters. Clients control their events and set ticket prices, and Ticketmaster sells tickets that the clients make available to them. Ticketmaster also owns and operates TicketWeb, a ticketing website geared towards independent venues. Ticketmaster is subject to numerous controversies and lawsuits, alleging violations of various laws. The platform charges a fee on tickets purchased and resold on the platform. The fees from ticket sales can account for a large percentage of overall ticket costs and have received scrutiny from regulators, customers, and musicians. The company has also faced scrutiny from the United States Department of Justice for retaliation against venues violating its 2010 10-year consent decree from the Live Nation merger, which has been extended an additional five years from 2020 through 2025. Following the widespread criticism of the company's handling of the pre-sale of Taylor Swift's the Eras Tour in November 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) began a formal investigation into Live Nation Entertainment on the grounds of monopoly, antitrust law and consumer rights violations. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee examined the merger with a hearing in January 2023. On May 23, 2024, the DOJ and a coalition of 29 states formally launched an antitrust suit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. An additional 10 states joined the lawsuit, bringing the total number of co-plaintiffs to 40. In April 2026, a jury verdict was reached which found that Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation Entertainment held an illegal monopoly which violated federal and state anti-trust laws and enabled Ticketmaster to overcharge in ticket prices. ==Criticism and controversies== ===Anti-competition claims=== and Stone Gossard testified at a House subcommittee hearing In May 1994, the grunge band Pearl Jam filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice claiming Ticketmaster had cut the group out of venue bookings in a dispute over fees. Two of the band's members testified before the House Governmental Operations subcommittee. The investigation was closed without action in 1995, though the Justice Department stated it would continue to monitor the developments in the ticket industry. Chuck Philips, a reporter who covered the issue, was told by sources close to the case that the investigation was closed due to a combination of a shortage of resources and the case being difficult and having uncertain prospects. In a 2009 article by the CBC, Ticketmaster argued that legislation was needed in Ontario to protect fans from scalpers and unauthorized ticket brokers saying, "You and I both know there is a thriving ticket-broker industry ... so the law is really a fiction. ... We very strongly feel the law needs to be modernized to reflect the reality of internet commerce. By keeping a price cap in place, you're really just driving the [resale] business into the shadows." That same year, musician Bruce Springsteen complained of a conflict of interest between Ticketmaster and TicketsNow after fans were directed to TicketsNow once tickets to his concert sold out on Ticketmaster.com. Irving Azoff, Ticketmaster CEO at the time, released an apology and stated that the TicketsNow link would no longer be shown for Springsteen's concerts. In 2018, the United States Department of Justice began reviewing complaints by AEG that claimed the company had engaged in anti-competitive practices. As of April 2018, the Department of Justice had not released comments on its investigation. In 2020, the Department of Justice fined Ticketmaster $3 million for violating a consent decree resulting from the Live Nation merger. The consent decree is extended through 2025 and is required to enforce its own compliance with the decree with a penalty of $1 million for any future violations. On May 23, 2024, the DOJ and a coalition of 29 states formally launched an antitrust suit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The lawsuit contends that Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, abused its unrivaled power in the concert and ticketing industry to eliminate competition, lessening consumer choice and resulting in rising prices. On April 15, 2026, a jury, on par with the May 2024 lawsuit which now include nearly both the U.S. Justice Department and nearly 40 states as plaintiffs, found that Live Nation Entertainment in fact was able to use an illegal monopoly to enable Ticketmaster to overcharge in ticket prices. ===Rewards program monthly fees=== In May 2013, Ticketmaster agreed to pay up to $23 million for enrolling customers into a rewards program that charged $9 per month. Ticketmaster made $85 million in fees, from customers who took about eight months on average to cancel their enrollment in the program. 1.12 million customers were eligible to claim up to a $30 refund. ===Secret partnership with scalpers=== Ticketmaster has secretly partnered with scalpers to drive up prices for consumers. Economists characterize the secondary market in tickets as socially wasteful rent-seeking. In the mid-2000s, Ticketmaster engaged in primary market auctions that reduced the rents involved in secondary market scalping – however, Ticketmaster ended these primary market auctions, opting instead to enter into the secondary market. In September 2018, the Toronto Star reported that Ticketmaster was not enforcing ticket limit rules on its resale platform, TradeDesk. Ticketmaster denied the allegations, saying it would examine its resale policies on TradeDesk, and that it "never allows ticket scalpers to buy tickets ahead of fans." One month later, a group of customers filed a class action lawsuit against Ticketmaster. In July 2019, a report by Billboard revealed a strategy by Live Nation, Ticketmaster's parent company, to secretly bypass placing certain tickets for sale on the primary market and instead, place them directly on resale sites "without giving fans a chance to buy them through normal channels at face value." The company acknowledged it has "facilitated the quiet transfer of concert tickets directly into the hands of resellers through the years, though only at the request of the artists involved." In September 2025, the United States Federal Trade Commission, joined by seven states, accused Ticketmaster and Live Nation of allowing ticket resellers to ignore purchasing limit set by artists, which allowed resellers to scoop up tickets and sell them for a markup, while Ticketmaster reaped in $3.7 billion in resale fees between 2019 and 2024. ===Deceptive pricing=== A class action lawsuit was filed against Ticketmaster in 2003, alleging that it did not fully disclose UPS and order processing fees added to tickets sold online. The case settlement was approved in 2015 and Ticketmaster issued vouchers and discount codes to fans who purchased tickets online between 1999 and 2013. In a related case, Ticketmaster filed suit against its liability insurance carrier, Illinois Union Insurance Company, a subsidiary of ACE Limited, in 2010 for failing to aid in its defense in the 2003 suit. In June 2019, Canada's Competition Bureau fined Ticketmaster $4.5 million dollars ($3.44 million US dollars) as part of a settlement after it was discovered that Ticketmaster "topped advertised costs by more than 20%—and sometimes as much as 65%." In addition to the required payment, Ticketmaster signed a consent agreement to ensure its advertising policies abide by Canadian law. ===Competitor computer hacking=== In December 2020, Ticketmaster "entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors" and agreed to pay a $10 million fine after being charged with illegally accessing computer systems of a competitor. According to FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Williams Sweeney, "Ticketmaster used stolen information to gain an advantage over its competition, and then promoted the employees who broke the law." The allegations were first reported in 2017 when a former CrowdSurge top executive hired by Ticketmaster hacked into his former employer's database.

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