Ticketmaster changes policies following FTC lawsuit
Following last month’s lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission, Ticketmaster is pledging to change its policies.
The FTC is suing Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, for allegedly engaging in illegal ticket vendor practices. In a letter to lawmakers dated Oct. 17, Live Nation executive vice president Daniel Wall denies the FTC’s allegations that the company is helping scalpers and said that the company will implement new practices to benefit concertgoers.
As part of these new policy changes, the ticket vendor will no longer allow users purchasing tickets to have multiple accounts. All excess accounts will soon be canceled, and each reseller’s account must have a unique taxpayer ID.
According to the letter, the company also plans to shut down TradeDesk, its inventory management application. The controversial software is a tool that helps resellers track and price tickets across several marketplaces, often dealing with a large amount of tickets. The application has been previously accused of facilitating ticket harvesting, which Wall also denies, saying the platform doesn’t purchase tickets. He says competitors like StubHub and Vivid Seats use similar software.
Live Nation will be “removing TradeDesk’s concert ticket management functionality from the market” to help boost its reputation.
The recent FTC lawsuit isn’t the first legal battle the ticket-selling giant has faced. Last year, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Live Nation, which suggested breaking up the company due to its alleged monopolistic practices.
Amid these lawsuits, fans have continued to complain about being unable to get their hands on tickets and having to pay much more than face value from resellers.
Founded in 1976, Ticketmaster has been the industry’s largest ticket provider since 1995, with around 80% of live concerts sold through the site. As of late, it has also acquired a growing share of the resale market. According to the FTC, consumers spent more than $82.6 billion buying tickets from the Beverly Hills-based company from 2019 to 2024.
The vendor also promises to implement new AI-powered tools to help verify identities, rid unauthorized users and police potentially fraudulent purchases.