Ticketmaster, the ticketing giant that has long dominated the live event industry, now faces a sweeping overhaul of its business practices after the Federal Trade Commission and seven states filed a major lawsuit against the company and its parent, Live Nation.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges Ticketmaster engaged in deceptive pricing practices and secretly profited from scalpers while publicly claiming to oppose them.
According to the FTC’s complaint, Ticketmaster advertised tickets at prices drastically lower than what consumers ultimately paid, revealing mandatory fees—sometimes reaching 44% of the ticket price—only at the final stages of checkout.
The company collected approximately $16.4 billion in fees between 2019 and 2024, a period during which internal research allegedly showed consumers were less likely to complete purchases when true costs were displayed upfront.
The ticketing behemoth now stands accused of operating a sophisticated “bait-and-switch” scheme that misled not only consumers but also artists who intended their shows to be accessible to fans.
Despite public statements about enforcing ticket purchase limits, the FTC claims Ticketmaster knowingly allowed brokers to acquire tickets in bulk, which were then resold at inflated prices on the company’s own resale platform.
Industry analysts expect the lawsuit to trigger broader changes across the ticketing industry, with competitors potentially adopting more transparent pricing models to avoid similar legal challenges.
Ticketmaster has yet to issue a detailed response to the allegations, though the company will likely need to implement considerable changes to regain consumer trust.
The legal action, which passed with a 2-0-1 FTC commissioner vote (with one recusal), seeks both civil penalties and monetary relief for violations of the FTC Act and BOTS Act.
If successful, the case could fundamentally reshape how tickets are priced and sold, potentially ending decades of controversial fee structures and hidden costs that have frustrated concert-goers nationwide.
For musicians who rely on live performances as a primary income stream, this lawsuit could ultimately lead to more equitable ticket pricing and increased revenue from concerts.
The lawsuit’s timing coincides with increasing calls for artists to have better control over their ticket distribution, with many performers now focusing on metadata accuracy when working with ticketing platforms to ensure transparent pricing for fans.
