Ticketmaster begins up-front ticket pricing as Biden admin "junk fee" ban takes effect
As a Biden administration ban on so-called "junk fees" took effect Monday, Ticketmaster said it will start displaying the full price of a ticket as soon as consumers begin shopping.
Ticketmaster, long a subject of complaints about its hidden fees, was among those targeted by the new rule, which was announced in December by the Federal Trade Commission. The rule requires ticket sellers, hotels, vacation rental platforms and others to disclose processing fees, cleaning fees and other charges up front.
Ticketmaster said Monday it commended the FTC's action.
"Ticketmaster has long advocated for all-in pricing to become the nationwide standard so fans can easily compare prices across all ticketing sites," Ticketmaster Chief Operating Officer Michael Wichser said in a statement.
Additional improvements
Ticketmaster said it will also tell shoppers where they are in line when they log in to buy tickets to an event. It will also give real-time updates to customers whose wait times exceed 30 minutes, letting them know ticket price ranges, availability and whether new event dates have been added.
Ticketmaster, which is owned by Beverly Hills, California-based concert promoter Live Nation, is the world's largest ticket seller, processing 500 million tickets each year in more than 30 countries. Around 70% of tickets for major concert venues in the U.S. are sold through Ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster said Monday's changes will bring North America in line with the rest of the world, where the full ticket price was already displayed as soon as customers started shopping.
Cracking down on bots
The company also says it plans to step up its fight against ticket bots, or automated software used by resellers to bulk-buy mass quantities of tickets. Complaints about these systems came to a head during the November 2022 presale to Taylor Swift's Eras tour, when its site crashed during a presale event for Taylor Swift's upcoming stadium tour.
The company at the time said its site was overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots, which were posing as consumers in order to scoop up tickets and sell them on secondary sites. Thousands of people lost tickets after waiting for hours in an online queue.
"We now block an average of 200 million bot attempts every day, stopping them from stealing tickets meant for real fans," Ticketmaster said in a statement. "In 2024 alone, we blocked over 53 billion bot attacks, a more than 5x increase from 2019."
Monopoly trial
Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Ticketmaster and Live Nation, accusing them of running an illegal monopoly that drives up U.S. ticket prices and asking a court to break them up. That case is ongoing.
President Donald Trump is also eyeing the industry. In March, he signed an executive order that he said will help curb ticket scalping and bring "commonsense" changes to the way live events are priced.
Under the order, the FTC must ensure "price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process" and take enforcement to prevent unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct.
"Anyone who's bought a concert ticket in the last decade, maybe 20 years — no matter what your politics are — knows that it's a conundrum," said Kid Rock, who joined Mr. Trump in the Oval Office as Mr. Trump signed the order.
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