{"id":6762,"date":"2025-11-25T01:10:37","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T01:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=6762"},"modified":"2025-11-25T01:10:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T01:10:37","slug":"ftc-lawsuit-forces-changes-to-ticketmaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=6762","title":{"rendered":"FTC Lawsuit Forces Changes to Ticketmaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Addison Fouts<\/em><\/p>\n

Associate Editor <\/em><\/p>\n

Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2027<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken action against Ticketmaster and its parent company, LiveNation, for engaging in deceptive and unfair ticketing practices. These practices inflated ticket prices and enabled brokers to use bots to hoard tickets and mislead consumers through hidden fees. The FTC brought suit against Ticketmaster and it has resulted in changes including banning multiple accounts, shutting down a platform that helps brokers purchase multiple tickets at a time, and increasing pricing transparency.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The agency accused Ticketmaster of deceptive pricing schemes that enabled the company to earn hundreds of millions in profit while costing consumers billions in inflated costs and fees. Ticketmaster is the leading provider of tickets for concerts, sporting events, and more. The company provides 80%<\/a> of ticketing for major concert venues.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ticketmaster\u2019s Alleged Deceptive Acts<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The FTC further alleges that Ticketmaster allowed brokers to sell illegally obtained tickets at inflated prices on its platform, leading to higher profits from fees and markup prices. The FTC brought suit, alleging that these practices are in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act \u2013 Unfair or Deceptive Acts and Practices \u2013 as well as the Better Online Ticket Sales Act<\/a>. BOTSA, Section<\/a> 5<\/u> provides that \u201cAn act or practice is unfair where it (1) causes or is likely to cause substantial injury to consumers, (2) cannot be reasonably avoided by consumers, and (3) is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition.\u201d The FTC claims Ticketmaster violated Section 5 when they allowed brokers to resell tickets at much higher prices.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Although Ticketmaster is implementing many changes after being sued, the FTC had a major part in streamlining these new policies. Not only does Section 5 of the FTC Act prohibiting deceptive business practices provide consumers with relief, but so does the pressure of a lawsuit. Further, the Better Online Ticket Sales Act<\/a> prohibits the use of automated software or \u201cbots\u201d to forego ticketing safeguards and quantity restrictions. By restricting the use of \u201cbots\u201d and deceptive sales practices, these Acts increase the availability of tickets to the general public. This creates fairness in the marketplace and prevents scalpers from purchasing large quantities of tickets and reselling them at inflated prices, burdening the average consumer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In addition, earlier this year, the FTC began to prohibit \u201cjunk fees<\/a>\u201d in ticketing and lodging industries. This rule prohibits hiding or misrepresenting fees which would constitute an unfair business practice. Live-event ticketing companies, such as Ticketmaster, must be upfront and transparent about what fees they are charging consumers. The rule provides that the disclosure must \u201cstand out\u201d and use language that the ordinary customer could understand. Additionally, the total price displayed must include all fees and charges. However, Commissioner Andrew Ferguson noted that enforcement may be limited for the time being since it is subject to the Congressional Review Act <\/a>and could be disapproved.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Furthermore, an executive at Ticketmaster admitted, in an email, that the company, along with its parent company, Live Nation, turned a blind eye to the ticket-scalping issue. An internal review revealed that just five brokers controlled over 6,000 Ticketmaster accounts, holding almost 250,000<\/a> tickets for about 2,500 events. This is significant because five brokers were holding such a large number of tickets while consumers intending to attend events went without. Both Ticketmaster and Live Nation denied any wrongdoing on their part.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ticketmaster Implements Changes to their Practices<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, Ticketmaster and Live Nation are changing their business practices to bring costs down for consumers. For example, Ticketmaster will no longer allow<\/a> users to have multiple accounts. This may prevent scalpers from accessing highly sought after tickets and reselling them for exorbitant amounts. Further, Ticketmaster will shut down TradeDesk<\/a>, a platform that allowed brokers to track tickets and purchase large amounts at one time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ticket sales market functions more effectively<\/a> when governed by open competition. Using \u201cbots\u201d to purchase tickets undermines this structure and allows large amounts of tickets to be in the hands of few. With stricter oversight, the FTC has put a stop to Ticketmaster and Live Nation\u2019s deceptive business practices, ensuring that consumers will have fair access to tickets. Moreover, enforcing transparency in ticket prices, availability, and eliminating junk fees<\/a> helps to level the playing field between large brokers and consumers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These changes are a positive step forward in making sure tickets are purchased by consumers and not bots. With these changes, consumers should have a much easier time obtaining tickets to see their favorite artists and sports teams. Consumers will be able to see ticket prices upfront, allowing them more time to plan in advance. Additionally, the average consumer should have greater access to tickets now that \u201cbots\u201d and the TradeDesk software are prohibited. This allows for greater fairness in the live-event ticketing industry and is a positive change for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken action against Ticketmaster and its parent company, LiveNation, for engaging in deceptive and unfair ticketing practices. These practices inflated ticket prices and enabled brokers to use bots to hoard tickets and mislead consumers through hidden fees. The FTC brought suit against Ticketmaster and it has resulted in changes including banning multiple accounts, shutting down a platform that helps brokers purchase multiple tickets at a time, and increasing pricing transparency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,48],"tags":[471,734,914],"class_list":["post-6762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ftc","category-sports","tag-compliance-oversight","tag-entertainment-industry","tag-ftc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6763,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6762\/revisions\/6763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}