US accuses Ticketmaster, Live Nation of letting brokers exploit fans

Anabelle Colaco
23 Sep 2025, 16:18 GMT+10

U.S. regulators and a coalition of states have accused Live Nation and its ticketing subsidiary Ticketmaster of working with ticket brokers to drive up concert prices, adding to the companies’ mounting legal troubles
In a lawsuit filed this week, the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from seven states said Ticketmaster ignored repeated violations of ticket-purchasing limits by professional resellers, allowing them to grab large volumes of tickets and flip them at steep markups
The FTC alleged that Ticketmaster, which handles about 80 percent of ticketing for major U.S. concert venues, collected $3.7 billion in resale fees between 2019 and 2024 by letting the practice continue

WASHINGTON, D.C.: U.S. regulators and a coalition of states have accused Live Nation and its ticketing subsidiary Ticketmaster of working with ticket brokers to drive up concert prices, adding to the companies' mounting legal troubles.

In a lawsuit filed this week, the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from seven states said Ticketmaster ignored repeated violations of ticket-purchasing limits by professional resellers, allowing them to grab large volumes of tickets and flip them at steep markups.

The FTC alleged that Ticketmaster, which handles about 80 percent of ticketing for major U.S. concert venues, collected $3.7 billion in resale fees between 2019 and 2024 by letting the practice continue. The agency also accused the company of violating consumer protection law by failing to disclose full ticket prices, including fees, upfront.

"The Trump-Vance FTC is working hard to ensure that fans have a shot at buying fair-priced tickets, and today's lawsuit is a monumental step in that direction," FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement.

Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia joined the lawsuit, which was filed in California.

Live Nation shares fell 2.3 percent on the news. The company and Ticketmaster did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ticketmaster has been under fire since its chaotic 2022 sale of tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. The site was overwhelmed by billions of requests from fans, bots, and resellers, leading to the cancellation of a planned general sale.

According to Thursday's filing, Ticketmaster has known since at least 2018 that resellers were breaching its limits. The FTC cited an internal email from a Ticketmaster executive, copied to Live Nation leadership, that said the companies "turn a blind eye as a matter of policy" to the violations.

The new complaint adds to legal pressure from the Justice Department, which sued in 2024 to seek a breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, accusing them of monopolizing the live concert industry. The companies have denied those allegations.