A federal judge in California said he is likely to let millions of Ticketmaster customers join together as a class in a big antitrust case. This was signaled by US District Judge George Wu. The hearing happened on Thursday, December 4, and the judge took the class certification request under submission.
The main plaintiff is Skot Heckman, a Ticketmaster customer, who sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster in January 2022. Heckman and others say the company used monopoly power to raise ticket prices unfairly and harm consumers. The lawsuit also says Ticketmaster secretly gave primary tickets to brokers using “ticket banks,” while still claiming publicly that they fight scalpers, as cited by Music Business Worldwide.
Ticketmaster monopoly accusations
Live Nation is accused of forcing brokers to resell tickets only on Ticketmaster’s platform or risk getting blocked from buying new tickets. The company also used tech tools that stop ticket transfers unless they happen on Ticketmaster’s resale system. The lawsuit says Live Nation pushed concert venues into exclusive deals worth millions of dollars.
Plaintiffs also claimed: “Ticketmaster’s market power in primary ticketing services is evidenced by the high and supracompetitive fees that it charges for such services, and the restricted output those fees cause”, as mentioned in the report by Music Business Worldwide. Ticketmaster is accused of charging fees that make tickets 20% to 80% more expensive than the actual price.
Court House News reported that if the judge approves class certification, the plaintiffs will gain huge power in settlement talks because Live Nation may face billions in damages. The plaintiffs want to represent all U.S. customers who bought primary tickets from Ticketmaster and paid service fees at major venues since 2010. Court filings said this could include “hundreds of thousands if not millions” of people.
Live Events
Courtroom fight over class action
Live Nation and Ticketmaster lawyer Tim O’Mara argued the case should not be a class action because not all customers were harmed the same way. He said the expert analysis ignored things like venue size, location, and unique fee deals. O’Mara said: “You need to isolate the anticompetitive conduct. If this can be certified as a class, then any case can be certified.” Judge Wu did not seem convinced and said he did not agree with O’Mara’s approach at this stage.
The judge said: “I don’t agree with you on the approach you’re taking… This is a motion for class certification.” Judge Wu recently ruled in another case that Taylor Swift fans can continue with most parts of their lawsuit over the messy 2022 Eras Tour ticket sale, as per the report by Music Business Worldwide.
More legal pressure on Ticketmaster
In that case, Swifties said “millions of fans waited up to eight hours and were unable to purchase tickets as a result of insufficient ticket releases”. On November 21, Judge Wu denied Ticketmaster’s request to dismiss some claims but removed fraud and negligence claims, while allowing fans to revise breach of contract claims. This Ticketmaster case is just one of many legal problems the company is facing over alleged monopoly behavior in the live event industry.
The U.S. Department of Justice also sued Live Nation in May 2024, accusing it of abusing monopoly power. In late November, Live Nation asked the court to quickly end the DOJ case, saying the lawsuit is based on “gerrymandered” evidence, as stated in the report by Music Business Worldwide. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster, saying the company broke its own rules on batch ticket buying and made money from scalping.
FAQs
Q1. Why is Ticketmaster facing a big lawsuit?
Ticketmaster is accused of using monopoly power to raise ticket prices, limit competition, and harm customers.
Q2. Who can join the Ticketmaster class action lawsuit?
Any U.S. customer who bought primary tickets from Ticketmaster and paid service fees at major venues since 2010 may join.
