Ticketmaster, Live Nation Facing Class Action Lawsuit Over Allegedly Hidden Online Ticket Fees

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Ticketmaster and Live Nation illegally conceal the full price of tickets until online checkout.

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Per the 56-page lawsuit, LiveNation.com, Ticketmaster.com and their respective apps lure consumers with low initial ticket prices only to demand “exorbitant” fees during the final stage of the purchasing process, making the total cost of tickets significantly higher than anticipated.

“In other words, only after a consumer has invested time choosing an event, selected their specific tickets, made the decision to purchase those tickets based on the low advertised price, and clicked through a multi-page purchase process, do [the defendants] reveal the hefty mandatory fees that will be added to the total ticket prices,” the filing says.

The complaint claims Live Nation and Ticketmaster—which faced antitrust allegations from the United States Department of Justice over the companies’ apparent monopoly power across the live entertainment ticketing industry—have unfairly collected such hidden fees on as many as one billion tickets.

“These junk fees are nothing more than a way to pad [the defendants’] bottom line,” the suit argues, citing a report from the Federal Trade Commission that says the use of deceptively low prices at the outset of transactions while hiding junk fees until the end forces consumers to pay more than they would if first shown full prices.

According to the case, Live Nation and Ticketmaster use an eight-minute countdown clock and urgent pop-up messages to pressure consumers into completing their transactions and distract them from the fact that the total purchase price at checkout is significantly higher than originally advertised.

“ … [R]ather than providing clear, upfront disclosures as to the services they offer, as required by law, Ticketmaster deceives consumers by obscuring the true price of their product, which impairs consumers’ decision-making process, causes consumers to pay junk fees they otherwise would not have paid, influences consumers to buy more tickets at higher prices, and prevents consumers from comparing ticket prices against Ticketmaster’s competitors and even on Ticketmaster’s own website,” the complaint asserts.

One plaintiff, a California resident who bought three tickets from Ticketmaster.com in September 2024, says the company initially listed her total as $870. The woman claims she would not have made her purchase had she known she would be charged an additional $163.85 in fees and $78.30 in taxes.

The Ticketmaster lawsuit looks to represent all residents of California, New York, Illinois and Florida who, during the applicable statute of limitations period, paid an added fee to the defendants through the desktop or mobile versions of LiveNation.com, Ticketmaster.com or through the companies’ apps where the price initially displayed to the consumer did not include the amount of the added fee.

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