The Ticketmaster owner has ideas on how to fix the sale of concert tickets
Live Nation Entertainment, which has been accused of anti-competitive practices by politicians, proposed reforms to the global concert business and said they would benefit fans who were struggling to get tickets to top acts like Taylor Swift.
Elected officials should give artists more control over ticket sales and limit scalper activity, the management of the world’s largest concert promoter said in a statement on Thursday of year-end financial results.
According to the company, artists should be able to decide how and by whom tickets can be resold. Across the industry, ticket sellers should be more open about disclosing the full ticket price, including the fees they charge.
Live Nation proposed the changes on the same day it reported record sales of $16.7 billion for 2022, more than double a year ago and up 44% from 2019, the last normal year before Covid-19 19 The company has delivered strong results in the wake of the pandemic, capitalizing on rising demand for in-person experiences.
But high ticket prices for acts like Bruce Springsteen and a computer crash selling Taylor Swift tickets have angered fans and prompted politicians to call for industry reform.
Artists and competitors say Live Nation has abused its power as the world’s top concert promoter and largest ticket seller by owning Ticketmaster. The company has been operating under a consent order since acquiring Ticketmaster and is under investigation by the US Department of Justice.
Live Nation and many of its allies have resisted the criticism, dismissing politicians as ignorant of their business. They blame scalpers and resellers, as opposed to primary sellers like Ticketmaster.
Country star Garth Brooks called on the government to ban scalping during a panel Wednesday at a conference hosted by music industry trade publication Pollstar.
Irving Azoff, the most powerful artist manager in the music business, moderated the session along with Brooks, former Justice Department attorney Makan Delrahim, and billionaire James Dolan, whose company owns Madison Square Garden.
Live Nation doesn’t want to ban scalpers, but it does want to restrict their ability to take pre-orders for shows before tickets are actually on sale. It also called for the BOTS (Better Online Ticket Sales) law to be expanded to neutralize the computer programs that suck up tickets.
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