The Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of seven states, including Utah, sued Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, on Thursday for using “misleading” and “illegal” ticket resale practices.
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in California on Thursday, alleges Live Nation and Ticketmaster use a “bait and switch approach” to ticket prices by displaying deceptively low prices and then adding high mandatory fees not included in the list price at checkout.
Mandatory fees average between 24% to 44% of the total ticket price. From 2019 to 2024, U.S. consumers spent $16.4 billion on mandatory fees to Ticketmaster. During that same time frame, Ticketmaster collected more than $11 billion in revenue through its mandatory fees.
Ticketmaster dominates its market, heading ticketing for roughly 80% of major concert venues in the U.S. It also controls a growing share of ticket resales in the secondary market, the FTC says.
The suit also alleges Ticketmaster falsely claims to enforce a limit on how many tickets brokers can purchase, when in reality, the company allows brokers to “routinely exceed ticket limits.” This tactic robs consumers of the opportunity to purchase tickets at a reasonable price and forces them pay significantly higher resale prices for event tickets.
These practices, the lawsuit claims, injure both artists and consumers.
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said Ticketmaster and Live Nations’s “sneaky fees” are “frustrating for concertgoers and other consumers.
“Today Utah says ‘no more.’ It is all too common for fans to get funneled to shady ticket brokers who charge jaw-dropping prices — way beyond what artists ever intended,” Brown said. “Ticketmaster’s game of bait-and-switch, cozying up with unscrupulous scalpers, inflates costs and leaves fans frustrated.”
He continued, “Today Utah is stepping up, cracking down on these deceptive tactics, to make sure everyone can get seats to their favorite shows without being victimized.”
The FTC is seeking civil penalties against Ticketmaster, as well as any monetary relief the court deems appropriate.
Ticketmaster has been under scrutiny several times in recent years. In 2024, The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation, claiming the company had too large of a monopoly on the ticketing market.
The Department of Justice suit followed a probe launched in 2022, after fans complained about a botched rollout for tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
Ticketmaster is still under investigation in the U.K. over it’s use of “dynamic pricing” for ticket sales for the ongoing Oasis reunion tour, per The Associated Press.
Margaret Woolley Busse, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce, said Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s practices have “eroded consumer trust” and “undermined the integrity of the ticket purchasing experience.”
“Our Division of Consumer Protection plays a vital role in ensuring transparency in pricing. We are committed to protecting consumers from deceptive practices and unnecessary fees,” she continued. “We are taking action to hold Live Nation and Ticketmaster accountable and restore fairness in the marketplace.”
Neither Live Nation or Ticketmaster have responded to the Thursday lawsuit.