The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, over what it called “illegal” ticket resale tactics.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in California. Seven states joined in the lawsuit, including Florida, Illinois and Virginia.
In the filing, the FTC wrote that the companies “tacitly worked” with scalpers, allowing them to “unlawfully purchase” tickets to increase their profits.
“[Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s] illegal conduct frustrates artists’ desire to maintain affordable ticket prices that fit the needs of ordinary American families, costing ordinary fans millions of dollars every year,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit alleged Ticketmaster has taken a “bait and switch” approach, which allows the company to alter its advertising of ticket prices to effectively lift total prices, according to the FTC. It also alleges that the company allows broker to exceed ticket limits on purpose with resale and violates the Better Online Ticket Sales Act.
The FTC alleged that Ticketmaster is effectively “triple dipping” by collecting fees from brokers on the primary market, brokers on the secondary market and consumers on the secondary market. The consumer protection agency said the company made $3.7 billion in resold tickets between 2019 and 2024.
The FTC said the alleged practices have caused injuries to consumers and artists on both sides of the Ticketmaster sales.
“American live entertainment is the best in the world and should be accessible to all of us,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement. “It should not cost an arm and a leg to take the family to a baseball game or attend your favorite musician’s show.”
According to the FTC, Ticketmaster controls roughly 80% of major concert venues’ ticketing, and between 2019 and 2024, consumers spent more than $82 billion purchasing tickets on the platform.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Shares of Live Nation fell roughly 2% after news of the lawsuit.
Ticketmaster is also under investigation in the U.K. over its use of “dynamic pricing” for ticket sales for reunion concerts from Britpop band Oasis. Dynamic pricing is a tactic used in many concert sales to reflect broader shifts in the market, justifying higher prices.
Last year, the Justice Department sued to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster over alleged antitrust violations, claiming the company had too large a monopoly in the ticketing industry. The lawsuit followed a 2022 probe into the company after a rollout of tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour came under intense scrutiny for its botched rollout.
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