Live Nation Sued By FTC
The Federal Trade Commission, along with seven states, has filed a lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The details below are taken directly from the FTC’s official website, and you can read the full announcement here. We’ve also included a response from NIVA’s Executive Director, Stephen Parker.
From the Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission and seven states sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster for tacitly coordinating with brokers and allowing them to harvest millions of dollars worth of tickets in the primary market. Live Nation and Ticketmaster then sell the illegally harvested tickets at a substantial markup in the secondary market, causing consumers to pay significantly more than the face value of the ticket.
The FTC further alleged in a complaint that California-based Ticketmaster LLC and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., (collectively “Ticketmaster”) deceived artists and consumers by engaging in bait-and-switch pricing through advertising lower prices for tickets than what consumers must pay to purchase tickets; deceptively claimed to impose strict limits on the number of tickets that consumers could purchase for an event, even though ticket brokers routinely and substantially exceeded those limits; and sold millions of tickets, often at much higher cost to consumers, on its resale platform that those brokers obtained in excess of artists’ ticket limits.
Read the full announcement here.
NIVA Issues A Statement On Live Nation Lawsuit
“Today’s lawsuit has given credibility to what fans, artists, and independent stages have believed for years: Live Nation and Ticketmaster exploit their dominance not just in concert promotion and primary ticketing, but in the resale market as well. The FTC and seven states now allege that the same company that controls nearly 80% of major concert ticketing has been enabling scalpers to game Ticketmaster’s system, reselling tickets back to fans at massive markups.
This is not just bad business; it is deception and abuse of monopoly power. By turning a blind eye to scalpers, even giving them the tools to bypass limits and harvest tickets, Live Nation has acted as the promoter, the primary ticket seller, the artists’ manager, and the scalper.
Independent venues and promoters are on the frontlines of this broken system, and it is fans and artists who ultimately pay the price. We applaud the FTC for bringing this case. It further bolsters the U.S. Department of Justice and 40 state attorneys general antitrust case against Live Nation.
We now urge Congress, the Administration, and state legislatures to stand with consumers by banning speculative tickets (tickets the scalper does not have), prohibiting deceptive resale sites, and capping resale prices and fees. Predatory resellers - including Live Nation itself - should no longer be allowed to gouge and deceive fans under the guise of access to live music.”
– Stephen Parker, Executive Director, National Independent Venue Association