Aug 21, 2024 17:00:00

Ten new state attorneys general join lawsuit alleging Ticketmaster's ticket fraud prevention measures were a 'monopoly scheme'

by

nerdy girl

It has been reported that 10 new state attorneys general have joined the May 2024 lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against ticket sales company Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation for antitrust violations.

Office of Public Affairs | Ten Additional States Join Justice Department's Suit Against Live Nation-Ticketmaster for Monopolizing Markets Across the Live Concert Industry | United States Department of Justice
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ten-additional-states-join-justice-departments-suit-against-live-nation-ticketmaster

DOJ suit: Ticketmaster's nontransferable SafeTix are anticompetitive - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/19/24223774/ticketmaster-safetix-doj-antitrust-lawsuit-10-states-join

More states join antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, Ticketmaster
https://www.weau.com/2024/08/21/more-states-join-antitrust-lawsuit-against-live-nation-ticketmaster/

Ticketmaster is a major ticket seller that handles approximately 80% of tickets sold at major concert venues in the United States, and is also significantly expanding its share of the secondary market, or the ticket resale market.

In May 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice, along with attorneys general from 29 states and the District of Columbia, sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster, alleging that Ticketmaster forced artists to enter into exclusive contracts to eliminate market competition.

Department of Justice sues Live Nation for antitrust violations, alleging that the company engaged in 'anti-competitive practices that unfairly inflate ticket prices' - GIGAZINE

Additionally, on August 19, 2024, the Department of Justice announced that 10 new state Attorneys General have joined the lawsuit: Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, and Vermont, bringing the number of states and territories jointly suing Ticketmaster with the Department of Justice to 40.

The amended (PDF) complaint takes issue with ' SafeTix ,' a barcode-based e-ticket system introduced by Ticketmaster in 2019 that cannot be screenshotted.

SafeTix automatically updates barcodes approximately every 15 seconds, making tickets harder to resell because they cannot be copied or screenshotted. Ticketmaster initially marketed SafeTix as a way to protect users from counterfeit tickets and ticket fraud.

However, the Department of Justice and others have charged that SafeTix's primary motivation was not to protect users from ticket-related issues, but to eliminate competition.

For example, SafeTix restricts the transferability of tickets, making it difficult for users to buy or sell SafeTix-encrypted tickets on another platform. Tickets can still be transferred, but it requires both the ticket owner and the new buyer to set up a Ticketmaster account and download the app.

Indeed, a 2014 executive meeting presentation called non-transferable digital tickets a 'game changer,' while a 2017 meeting described auto-renewing barcodes as a 'product enhancement to gain market share' and an 'opportunity to reduce our financial risk,' the lawsuit states.

For these reasons, the Department of Justice argued that 'Ticketmaster's actions have caused consumers to pay higher prices than they would have paid in a free and open competitive market.' The specific monetary damages are unclear, and will be recalculated based on evidence disclosed by Ticketmaster, Live Nation, and competitors.

In response to the May 2024 lawsuit, Ticketmaster said, 'The lawsuit ignores all of the real causes of ticket price inflation, from rising production costs to the growing popularity of artists to online ticket resale, which reveals that the public is willing to pay much more than the retail price for tickets.' In its statement to the amended complaint, Ticketmaster said there were no new issues and that the ticket transaction issues were not resolved.