The FTC is suing Ticketmaster for illegally ‘coordinating’ with brokers

The latest targets successful the White House’s on-again–off-again antitrust warfare are Ticketmaster and Live Nation, 2 villains that everyone appears to hold on. The Federal Trade Commission is accusing Ticketmaster (which owns Live Nation) of allowing summons brokers to illegally transcend limits connected purchases and past profiting disconnected the inflated resale value. Customers often wage importantly much than the look worth due to the fact that resellers person snatched up each the tickets. And erstwhile a summons is resold done Ticketmaster’s site, it takes a cut, fundamentally profiting disconnected the aforesaid summons twice. The FTC adjacent alleges that institution enactment turns “a unsighted oculus arsenic a substance of policy” erstwhile dealing with brokers. The bureau besides says that Ticketmaster routinely uses deceptive practices erstwhile advertising prices, which are often overmuch higher astatine checkout.

With Ticketmaster controlling astir 80-percent of superior summons income successful the US, fans and artists are often near with small recourse. Ticketmaster often blames the technological hurdles of trying to rein successful scalpers, but the FTC doesn’t look to beryllium buying that excuse 1 bit. In the ailment it rebukes those claims saying:

Defendants blasted a technological “arms race” and summons scalping for shutting fans retired of artist-priced superior marketplace tickets, but successful reality, Defendants’ ain behaviour gives purchasing consumers nary prime but to edifice to purchasing tickets astatine a steep markup successful the resale market, wherever Defendants tin cod different circular of fees connected the aforesaid tickets.