Senators slammed Ticketmaster for raising ticket fees following a regulatory crackdown on hidden charges as revealed in a report by the Guardian last week.
The Federal Trade Commission last May began requiring Ticketmaster to disclose concert ticket fees upfront – a practice known as all-in pricing. The company eliminated the order processing fee it charged at the the end of a transaction to comply with the rule.
But documents obtained by the Guardian in public records requests show how Ticketmaster simply raised other fees so it wouldn’t lose money.
Former regulators told the Guardian that the company’s practices may violate the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on misleading fees.
“Ticketmaster seems to believe it has a get-out-of-jail-free card to ignore antitrust and consumer protection laws. The FTC is going to have to choose whether to protect consumers and enforce the law, or cave to Ticketmaster lobbyists,” Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic senator from Connecticut, said in a statement.
The Federal Trade Commission sued Ticketmaster along with its parent company Live Nation Entertainment last September in part for hiding mandatory fees until the end of the transaction. The company disputed the allegation and said that it complies with FTC’s all-pricing rules.
“Since May 2025, tickets on Ticketmaster.com have displayed the full price upfront in line with the FTC’s all-in pricing rule. We also provide explanations of fees during the purchase process and maintain a dedicated page with additional information,” Ticketmaster said.
Blumenthal is a ranking member of the permanent subcommittee on investigations, which published a report last month about how Ticketmaster drove up the cost of concert tickets following the pandemic. The report found the company pushed artists to make tickets available on the resale market before they were available to the general public as well as expanding dynamic pricing, which raised the cost of tickets for fans. Both practices boosted Ticketmaster’s revenues.
“As revealed by my PSI investigation, Ticketmaster has taken every opportunity to drive bait-and-switch practices, manipulate the market, and drive up the cost of tickets,” Blumenthal continued.
An ongoing federal trial is considering whether Ticketmaster operates an illegal monopoly in the live music industry and unfairly pushes out competition. The company has denied that it is a monopoly.
A week after the trial started, the Department of Justice abruptly reached a settlement with Live Nation Entertainment, which drew pushback from lawmakers. More than 30 states decided to continue the litigation.
Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was among the lawmakers who criticized the deal. In a statement she said the Guardian’s reporting on Ticketmaster’s fee practices “is just the latest reason why Ticketmaster must be broken up – once and for all.
“Too many giant monopolies think the law doesn’t apply to them, and it’s American families who are forced to pay the price.”
