Washington, D.C. — The Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition, made up of organizations representing over 100,000 artists, managers, music industry workers, young voters, and music, theater, and sports fans, today submitted a comment to the Federal Trade Commission as part of the agency’s inquiry into junk fees.

“As music fans, sports enthusiasts, theatre-goers, and President Biden know, Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s junk fees are out of control,” the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition said in a statement. “Live Nation wields their market dominance to charge exorbitant fees on top of the actual ticket, like an additional 30% of a concert ticket’s price. We urge the FTC to finalize a rule that stops these abusive practices in the monopolized live event ticketing industry.”

As part of its examination into how Live Nation-Ticketmaster has leveraged its market power over live events to profit from deceptive junk fees in ticketing, the Coalition provided new data regarding junk fees in live events. Of the 131 concerts included in this data, the Coalition found that Ticketmaster makes up the vast majority of primary ticketing options, and charges an average total fee of 30.7%.

Although junk fees are not exclusive to the Ticketmaster platform, it was standardized in live events because of Live Nation/Ticketmaster’s dominant position and a lack of competitive pressure in the market. Now as a result, fans are paying much more than they would be in an otherwise competitive market.

The outrageous junk fees that are now pervasive in the live events industry and across the economy were a central focus of President Biden’s second State of the Union Address: “Junk fees may not matter to the very wealthy, but they matter to most folks in homes like the one I grew up in. They add up to hundreds of dollars a month. They make it harder for you to pay the bills or afford that family trip. I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and gets away with it. Not anymore…We’ll cap service fees on tickets to concerts and sporting events and make companies disclose all fees upfront.”

Read the full comment letter to the Federal Trade Commission here. 

Learn more about the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.