Ticketmaster, Others Agree to Reveal Full Ticket Price Up-Front as White House Slams ‘Surprise’ Fees

Jem Aswad
·5 min read
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President Biden will announce at a press conference on Thursday that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary, along with other ticketing companies, have pledged to give U.S. consumers the ability to see the full price of tickets up front — eliminating the practice of last-minute service fees and other additional expenses suddenly being added to ticket prices late in the online purchase process.


It is important to note that the fees themselves are not necessarily being eliminated, but rather the practice of not revealing them until the final steps of the purchase.

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At this afternoon’s scheduled announcement, President Biden will be joined by representatives from Live Nation, SeatGeek, xBk, Airbnb, the Pablo Center at the Confluence, TickPick, DICE, and the Newport Festivals Foundation, all of which are currently provide all-in pricing or are announcing a new commitment to do so in the coming months.


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The announcement follows months of public and government pressure on the ticketing industry, which has been thrown into bold relief by controversies around Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen ticket on-sales last year — however, this announcement only addresses the “hidden” fees, often added by the venue rather than the promoter or artist, that contribute to the astronomical price of U.S. concert tickets. Live Nation and and its Ticketmaster division, the world’s  largest ticketing company, were often singled out by the public and Congresspeople, but the problem is industry-wide.


“President Biden has been working to lower costs for hardworking families by bringing down inflation, capping insulin prices for seniors, and eliminating hidden junk fees,” said National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard. “More companies are heeding the President’s call so that Americans know what they’re paying for up front and can save money as a result.”


Other involved parties were quick to comment on the move. Stephen Parker, president of the National Independent Venues Assn. (of which Live Nation is not a member), said: “Up-front pricing should be the start of comprehensive ticketing reform that protects consumers from price gouging and deceptive practices by predatory resellers. Other needed reforms such as banning speculative tickets and deceptive websiteswould further protect consumers in the ticketing marketplace.  We applaud the President for today’s meeting, and look forward to working with his Administration and Congress to make comprehensive, bipartisan ticketing reform a reality.”


Tom See, President of Venue Nation, said: “Live Nation is proud to provide fans with a better ticketing buying experience. We have thousands of crew working behind the scenes every day to help artists share their music live with fans, and we’ll continue advocating for innovations and reforms that protect that amazing connection.”


Others were less convinced. “Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s announcement today is a half-hearted attempt to ward off a looming DOJ investigation into addressing the real issue–its monopoly power over live events,” the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition said in a statement; the Senate committee investigating alleged anticompetitive practices by Live Nation, which was announced by Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee in February, is ongoing.


Earlier this year, the president proposed legislation — the Junk Fee Protection Act — to target four types of excessive fees: excessive online concert, sporting event and entertainment ticket fees; airline fees for families who seek to sit together on flights; early termination fees for TV, phone and internet services; and “hidden” resort and vacation fees.


The announcement from the White House reads in part: “Today, Live Nation is committing to roll out an upfront all-in pricing experience in September showing just one clear, total price for more than 30 million fans who attend shows at the more than 200 Live Nation-owned venues and festivals across the country. Ticketmaster will also add a feature to give consumers the option to receive all-in upfront pricing for all other tickets sold on the platform.”


According to the White House statement, additional commitments include:


• SeatGeek, a ticketing platform that serves both the primary and secondary market, will roll-out product features over the course of the summer to make it easier for its millions of customers to shop on the basis of all-in price.


 • xBk, a Des Moines, Iowa-based venue and board member for the National Independent Venue Association, will introduce all-in pricing for over 15,000 tickets sold to over 100 events hosted at the venue. These actions follow those that have been taken by other companies since the President first called for a crackdown on hidden fees in September:


• Last December, Airbnb introduced a new total price display tool that allows US consumers to see all fees before taxes. Since then, more than 8 million visitors have taken advantage of the tool to view fee-inclusive pricing.


• The Pablo Center at the Confluence from Eau Claire, Wisconsin will discuss the all-in pricing it implemented this April for the 90,000 tickets it sells each year for events at its venue. Since implementing this policy, the Pablo Center reports that it has experienced a 15% uptick in ticket sales, illustrating how venues can provide consumers with a transparent purchasing experience without hurting their business. In addition, the President will be joined by representatives from companies that have long featured all-in pricing as part of their business models: • TickPick, a ticketing platform, has been displaying up-front, all-in pricing since its inception in 2011 for the more than 17 million users and 10 million tickets it sells per year.


• DICE, a global independent music ticketing company, has been displaying upfront, all-in pricing since it was founded in 2014 for the more than 34 million fans attending over 40,000 events every year. • Newport Festivals Foundation, host of the long running Newport Folk Festival and Newport Jazz Festival, and has been displaying all-in pricing for the all 65,000 fans that attend their events each year since 2017.


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