Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV), the parent company of Ticketmaster, is facing a significant legal challenge. On Thursday, the United States federal government, through the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with seven states, filed a lawsuit accusing the company of enabling ticket resellers to inflate prices, costing fans much more than the face value of tickets for popular concerts and events. The complaint points to Ticketmaster’s failure to adequately control scalpers who bypass purchase limits and resell tickets on its platform at heightened markups.
The FTC’s charges include a pattern of deceptive pricing tactics and insufficient enforcement of ticket purchase restrictions. Despite public statements claiming strict limits on ticket sales to prevent bulk buying, the agency states that brokers routinely exceed these limits, often using multiple accounts to obtain thousands of tickets to high-demand shows. This practice blocks regular fans from accessing tickets at original prices, forcing them to pay significantly inflated amounts on resale platforms controlled by Ticketmaster itself.
One particularly stark example highlighted in the lawsuit involves a broker amassing over 9,000 tickets for Beyoncé’s 2023 Renaissance Tour, reselling more than 2,500 of these through Ticketmaster. The complaint also alleges that Ticketmaster has employed “bait-and-switch” pricing, where the company advertises tickets at a low initial price but charges higher fees later in the checkout process. These mandatory fees can add up to 44% of the ticket price and are not clearly disclosed until the final payment stage, misleading consumers about the true cost.
According to the FTC, consumers spent nearly $83 billion on tickets purchased through Ticketmaster from 2019 to 2024. During that period, the company generated $16.4 billion in fees alone, stemming largely from these hidden or late-disclosed charges. The lawsuit asserts that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have prioritized profits over fairness, undermining the artist’s intent to keep tickets affordable for fans.
The case also references the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, a law designed to prevent the circumvention of purchase limits and other controls meant to keep ticketing fair. The FTC charges that Live Nation and Ticketmaster actively permitted brokers to violate these provisions, facilitating the resale of tickets obtained through illicit means.
FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson emphasized the importance of live entertainment being accessible and affordable, stating, “It should not cost an arm and a leg to take the family to a baseball game or attend your favorite musician’s show.” He cited the agency’s commitment to protecting fans from deceptive pricing and unlawful ticket resale schemes and framed the lawsuit as a critical step toward restoring fairness in the market.
The lawsuit is part of broader scrutiny on Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which already faces a separate federal antitrust suit filed in 2024 by the Department of Justice. That lawsuit alleges the two entities violate competition laws through their dominant position in the live entertainment market.
For artists and fans alike, these accusations signal ongoing challenges in the concert and live event ticketing marketplace. The lawsuit highlights systemic issues in how tickets are distributed and resold, raising questions about transparency, fairness, and the true cost of attending live entertainment in the digital age.
