By Jody Godoy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and seven states are suing Live Nation and its ticketing arm Ticketmaster for tacitly allowing ticket brokers to scoop up millions of concert tickets and sell them to fans at a significant markup, the agency said on Thursday.
Ticketmaster, which controls 80% of primary ticketing for major concert venues, ignored brokers’ violations of ticket purchasing limits set by artists, allowing Ticketmaster to reap $3.7 billion in resale fees between 2019 and 2024, the FTC alleged.
Those actions along with Ticketmaster’s failure to disclose the full price of tickets, including fees upfront violated consumer protection law, the agency said.
Live Nation shares were trading down 2.3% on the news.
Representatives for Ticketmaster and Live Nation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“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 are jointly filing the lawsuit in California.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and Jody Godoy in New York; editing by Susan Heavey, Franklin Paul and Aurora Ellis)
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