By Richard M. Sullivan

Copyright hoodline

Attorney General Kwame Raoul has teamed up with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a coalition of bipartisan state attorneys general to file a lawsuit against entertainment giants Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster. The lawsuit, which was lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, targets what the plaintiffs describe as deceptive business practices, including coordination with ticket brokers that have resulted in hiking up the prices for live event tickets on the resale market, and displaying misleadingly low prices on Ticketmaster’s website that don’t include hefty fees added at checkout. As reported by the Illinois Attorney General’s office, the involvement of Live Nation in the resale market is said to stretch far beyond simply facilitating sales.

The complaint suggests that while Ticketmaster’s website might display ticket limits and prices apparently set by artists, the reality is that both Live Nation and Ticketmaster have allegedly engaged with brokers in a way that allows these limits to be breached, “Ticketmaster’s deceptive business tactics have left fans paying steep hidden fees and pushed them into expensive, secondary ticket markets,” Raoul said. Despite having policies against bulk purchases by brokers, Ticketmaster allegedly turns a blind eye to such practices, subsequently profiting from additional fees when these tickets are sold at inflated prices in their own resale marketplace.

Furthermore, when consumers manage to procure tickets directly through Ticketmaster’s platform, they are often met with undisclosed mandatory fees that can raise the total cost by up to 30%. The lawsuit points to a concerning lack of alternatives for purchasing tickets, with Live Nation controlling an overwhelming majority of the market. According to the lawsuit, from 2019 to 2024, consumers spent over $82.6 billion on tickets through Ticketmaster alone.

This is not the first legal challenge directed at the ticketing titan. In May 2024, Attorney General Raoul joined forces with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and another bipartisan group of states in a civil antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, accusing the company of illegally monopolizing the live entertainment ticketing industry. Despite these mounting legal challenges and public scrutiny, the alleged deceptive practices seem to have persisted, leading Raoul and the FTC to take further action with the support of attorneys general from states including Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.

As the case continues to unfold, it remains to be seen how the lawsuit will impact both the marketplace for live event tickets and the practices of major players like Live Nation and Ticketmaster. For consumers lamenting the murky pricing structures and additional fees that have become a source of frustration in the live entertainment industry, this legal scrutiny might signal a long-awaited shift toward greater transparency and fairer competition.