Internal emails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, FTC says
10 hours ago
- #FTC
- #Ticketmaster
- #Scalping
- The FTC sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster for allegedly working with scalpers to inflate ticket prices.
- Ticketmaster's practices violated the FTC Act and the BOTS Act, costing customers billions in extra fees.
- Ticketmaster provided tech support to scalpers to bypass ticket limits meant for genuine buyers.
- Five major brokers controlled thousands of accounts, buying hundreds of thousands of tickets, making fair pricing impossible.
- From 2020-2024, one broker used over 13,000 accounts to circumvent limits, with Ticketmaster turning a blind eye.
- Ticketmaster reduced fees for high-volume resellers to encourage use of its platform for resales.
- Ticketmaster controls 80% of primary ticketing and a growing share of the secondary market.
- Ticketmaster 'triple dips' on fees—charging at initial purchase and again from both buyers and sellers in the secondary market.
- From 2019-2024, Ticketmaster earned over $11 billion, with nearly $4 billion from resale fees.