This summer, I spent two whole weeks looking forward to just a few hours. I waited eagerly every day, studying up and preparing for what would be the biggest night of my summer. In the hours before, my heart raced as I knew the moment was coming soon.
This was not a test or an interview (though the headline may have given that away). It was a Treaty Oak Revival concert—and one of the best experiences of my life. I now live vicariously through my photos and videos: the band ripping up guitar solos, the crowd jumping and singing recklessly to punky country rock, and the infamous Treaty Oak beer shower, which involves the band and the crowd showering the entire audience in lukewarm Coors Light. It was so fun—my voice was gone for a week after that night. But there was one issue: I could not spend the evening with my friends.
My dad was given the tickets, and as a kind, fatherly gesture, he gifted them to me and my brother. I texted my friends to see if they wanted to buy a ticket, but I was soon faced with a harsh reality. Tickets were over $200 apiece. And these were not special tickets by any means. No, these were general admission, standing room only. This was a large venue, and the band was popular—but not that popular. I set my sights on identifying the issue.
The venue where the concert was held turned out to be a Live Nation venue. According to Live Nation, the company controls 80% of the market share in venue operation and major stakes in concert promotion and artist representation. Oh, do you know who they also own? Ticketmaster. One can already see the issues with this. The group that is promoting the concert controls ticket sales, and more importantly, ticket prices. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and seven states are suing Live Nation-Ticketmaster, saying the company holds too much power. They argue Ticketmaster ignored resale brokers who bought thousands of tickets, well beyond the individual limits that Ticketmaster set.
This isn’t the first time Live Nation Entertainment has seen legal trouble. In May 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an anti-trust suit against the corporation, accusing them of “thwarting” competition across the entirety of the live music industry. Along with this, the DOJ was seeking “to restore competition in the live concert industry, provide better choices at lower prices for fans, and open venue doors for working musicians and other performance artists.” I personally think this suit is extremely valid and necessary, although I do not know if it will be successful in breaking down this conglomerate. I want cheaper tickets, plain and simple, and in the absence of competition, prices will be much higher.
In the most recent suit brought forth by the FTC, Ticketmaster is being sued for illegally allowing secondhand ticket sale brokers to buy hundreds of thousands of tickets to numerous events and resell them for very high prices. Secondhand brokers set up thousands of proxy IP addresses to buy these tickets, and there was even an email saying that Ticketmaster and the Live Nation c-suite turned a blind eye to this atrocity. Along with this, Ticketmaster was using bait and switch pricing. They advertised and promised lower prices, but when customers went to purchase, the price was actually much higher. I think this lawsuit may go through. It seems pretty cut and dry. There are posted ticket limits, the brokers grossly exceed these limits and Ticketmaster was aware they did. When you purchase a Ticketmaster ticket, part of the agreement is that you will not join a class action suit against Ticketmaster. It seems like they are admitting their guilt as we speak.
And according to the University of Washington Law Professor Douglas Ross, there is one reason that we are seeing all of this come to the legal forefront. We all know it and love it—Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour. Ticketmaster and Live Nation were in control of all aspects of this tour, from venue operation to ticket sales. Ticketmaster’s servers crashed under high demand, sending ticket prices soaring to well over a thousand dollars. This uncovered the bait and switch and the illegal brokers, and it highlighted the lack of competition Live Nation-Ticketmaster faces in the live music market.
Live Nation-Ticketmaster claims that they are trying to make a better experience for musicgoers by making the process more efficient, and they also claim that they are doing the same for musicians by making Live Nation essentially a “one stop shop.” I personally think this is an abhorrence. Where is the old school Hollywood version of music managers fighting for their musicians? Where are the people searching for the next big thing? Live Nation can get anyone they want, write them an album, promote it super heavily, throw them on a tour and then never see them again. Live Nation not only has brought about higher prices for everyone but has overcommercialized what should be free market art. Yes, we have better access to music and more concerts than ever before. But at what cost? As these suits come to trial, I am interested to see what the future of live music holds.
