Ticketmaster begins up-front ticket pricing as Biden admin “junk charge” ban takes impact

As a Biden administration ban on so-called “junk charges” took impact Monday, Ticketmaster stated it should begin displaying the total worth of a ticket as quickly as customers start procuring.

Ticketmaster, lengthy a topic of complaints about its hidden charges, was amongst these focused by the brand new rule, which was introduced in December by the Federal Commerce Fee. The rule requires ticket sellers, inns, trip rental platforms and others to reveal processing charges, cleansing charges and different expenses up entrance.

Ticketmaster stated Monday it recommended the FTC’s motion.

“Ticketmaster has lengthy advocated for all-in pricing to develop into the nationwide normal so followers can simply evaluate costs throughout all ticketing websites,” Ticketmaster Chief Working Officer Michael Wichser stated in a press release.

Extra enhancements

Ticketmaster stated it should additionally inform customers the place they’re in line after they log in to purchase tickets to an occasion. It’ll additionally give real-time updates to clients whose wait occasions exceed half-hour, letting them know ticket worth ranges, availability and whether or not new occasion dates have been added.

Ticketmaster, which is owned by Beverly Hills, California-based live performance promoter Dwell Nation, is the world’s largest ticket vendor, processing 500 million tickets annually in additional than 30 international locations. Round 70% of tickets for main live performance venues within the U.S. are bought by way of Ticketmaster.

Ticketmaster stated Monday’s modifications will convey North America consistent with the remainder of the world, the place the total ticket worth was already displayed as quickly as clients began procuring.

Cracking down on bots

The corporate additionally says it plans to step up its battle towards ticket bots, or automated software program utilized by resellers to bulk-buy mass portions of tickets. Complaints about these techniques got here to a head throughout the November 2022 presale to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, when its website crashed throughout a presale occasion for Taylor Swift’s upcoming stadium tour. 

The corporate on the time stated its website was overwhelmed by each followers and assaults from bots, which had been posing as customers so as to scoop up tickets and promote them on secondary websites. Hundreds of individuals misplaced tickets after ready for hours in an internet queue.

“We now block a median of 200 million bot makes an attempt day by day, stopping them from stealing tickets meant for actual followers,” Ticketmaster stated in a press release. “In 2024 alone, we blocked over 53 billion bot assaults, a greater than 5x enhance from 2019.”

Monopoly trial

Final yr, the U.S. Division of Justice sued Ticketmaster and Dwell Nation, accusing them of operating an unlawful monopoly that drives up U.S. ticket costs and asking a courtroom to interrupt them up. That case is ongoing.

President Donald Trump can be eyeing the business. In March, he signed an govt order that he stated will assist curb ticket scalping and produce “commonsense” modifications to the best way reside occasions are priced.

Beneath the order, the FTC should guarantee “worth transparency in any respect levels of the ticket-purchase course of” and take enforcement to forestall unfair, misleading, and anti-competitive conduct.

“Anybody who’s purchased a live performance ticket within the final decade, perhaps 20 years — it doesn’t matter what your politics are — is aware of that it is a conundrum,” stated Child Rock, who joined Mr. Trump within the Oval Workplace as Mr. Trump signed the order.