Ticketmaster Announces Policy Changes After FTC Lawsuit

Ticketmaster has announced significant policy changes following a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, while vehemently denying accusations that it collaborated with scalpers to inflate ticket prices through resale schemes.

Live Nation's Executive Vice President Daniel M. Wall outlined the ticketing giant's new measures in a letter to US senators on October 17th (as per Rolling Stone), responding to the FTC's September lawsuit which accused Ticketmaster of engaging in illegal practices that harm both artists and consumers. The policy changes represent a notable shift in how Ticketmaster will handle resale operations moving forward.

The most significant change involves restricting resellers and brokers to a single verified account, requiring unique taxpayer identification numbers for all resale accounts. This directly addresses FTC allegations that Ticketmaster systematically violated the BOTS Act by allowing brokers to operate multiple accounts and circumvent security measures designed to prevent bulk ticket purchases.

Ticketmaster will also eliminate its controversial TradeDesk platform, described by Wall as inventory management software that helped brokers track and price listings across multiple marketplaces. The FTC had accused the company of providing "technological support" to scalpers through TradeDesk, enabling them to exceed artist-imposed ticket limits and acquire thousands of tickets for resale at inflated prices.

"We are removing TradeDesk's concert ticket management functionality from the market," Wall stated in his letter, though he maintained the platform was merely a logistics tool and suggested brokers would simply migrate to similar systems offered by competitors like StubHub and Vivid Seats.

The FTC lawsuit, separate from the ongoing Department of Justice antitrust case, outlined three main allegations against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Beyond the multiple account issue, the commission accused the company of hiding fees from customers until checkout and enabling what it termed "triple dipping" on fees through its resale platforms.

Wall categorically rejected these claims, describing the FTC's case as presenting "a distorted view of the facts and the law" based on "novel and expansionist" interpretations of existing legislation. He argued that ticket brokers maintained multiple accounts long before digital ticketing existed, dismissing conspiracy allegations as "specious."