Pearl Jam fans have noticed that for their show at CFG Arena on September 12 some tickets’ face value market on Ticketmaster are going for a whopping $800, which is very expensive.
Expensive tickets for Pearl Jam show
If the fees and taxes are dropped the tickets for two would probably be closer to $300 and even that is very pricey. The costly tickets are the reason some Pearl Jam fans have even nixed the idea of attending the show. One fan got denied on the 10 Club presale for Seattle but then refreshed Ticketmaster for Fan to Fan Tickets for a week or two and scored floor seats which were face value at $190 per person. Well, he noted that the seats around him were upwards of $900 each.
Meanwhile, The Justice Department has sued Ticketmaster and its parent company. The department accused them of running an illegal monopoly over live events in America and urged a court to break up the system that squelches competition and drives up prices for fans.
Filed in federal court in Manhattan, the antitrust lawsuit was brought with 30 state and district attorneys general and it is eyeing to end the monopoly they say is squeezing out smaller promoters, hurting artists and drowning ticket buyers in fees.
Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation Entertainment, have a long history of clashes with major artists and their fans, including Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.
“It’s time for fans and artists to stop paying the price for Live Nation’s monopoly,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “It is time to restore competition and innovation in the entertainment industry. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”
It has been noted that the government accused Live Nation of tactics including threats and retaliation that Garland said have allowed the entertainment giant to “suffocate the competition” by controlling virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing.
Well, the impact is seen in an “endless list of fees on fans,” the attorney general said.
“Live music should not be available only to those who can afford to pay the Ticketmaster tax,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
Ricky Palitti and Jacob DeLong of Detroit stated that they recently spent about $1,200 for three tickets to a Shania Twain concert using Ticketmaster and about $370 to see RuPaul’s Drag Race Live.
“I think tickets have definitely gone up in price, but I also think that all the different fees that Ticketmaster places on an order definitely hikes the price up, for sure,” Palitti said.
DeLong stated that he respects an artist’s work, the added fees make the costs to see a show “ridiculous.”
“Where can we get a break?” he said.
Live Nation, which has for years denied that it is violating antitrust laws, said the lawsuit “won’t solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees and access to in-demand shows.”
“Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment,” Live Nation added. It said most service fees go to venues and that outside competition has ”steadily eroded” Ticketmaster’s market share. The company said it would defend itself against the “baseless allegations.”
The Justice Department stated that Live Nation’s anti-competitive methods include using long-term contracts to keep venues from choosing rivals, blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers and threatening venues that they could lose money if they don’t choose Ticketmaster.
