When you’ve been harboring complaints about Ticketmaster, now’s the time to let all of it out. The Division of Justice and the Federal Commerce Fee are inviting the general public to submit feedback about dangerous practices in stay ticketing as a part of efforts to “establish unfair and anticompetitive” conduct within the trade.
In March, President Donald Trump issued an govt order to handle unfair practices within the ticketing trade, equivalent to scalpers utilizing bots to purchase up huge quantities of tickets. He directed the FTC and DOJ to implement competitors legal guidelines, in addition to file a report about their progress inside six months. The businesses plan to make use of the general public feedback to tell their suggestions.
Ticketmaster has been underneath nearer regulatory scrutiny after its website crashed when Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour tickets went on sale in November 2022, sparking outrage amongst followers and even Swift herself. The DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit towards Ticketmaster and its mum or dad firm, LiveNation, final yr, claiming their unlawful monopoly leads to larger ticket costs for shoppers.
“We are going to proceed to intently look at this market and search for alternatives the place vigorous enforcement of the antitrust legal guidelines can result in elevated competitors that makes tickets extra reasonably priced for followers whereas providing fairer compensation for artists,” Abigail Slater, the assistant lawyer normal of the DOJ’s antitrust division, stated within the press launch.