In case you missed it, Canadian publication The Star published a story a few days ago that is damning for concert behemoth Ticketmaster. In an undercover investigation, reporters posed as ticket scalpers and discovered that Ticketmaster does not do anything to prevent scaling, and actually helps scalpers to help resell tickets on its Trade Desk platform. People are understandably upset about this, and now it looks like class-action lawsuits are on the way.
In addition to Canadian class action firm Merchant Law Group LLP, US law firm Hagens Berman is also taking action. The firm has a form on its website encouraging fans who purchased secondary market tickets to provide info and help with their investigation. The firm writes on the site:
“Reports indicate that Ticketmaster accepts kickbacks by secretly facilitating ticket sales through scalpers at a higher cost, collecting profits from both the original and secondary sales of tickets. […] Ticketmaster has actually facilitated the sale of tickets to the secondary market in order to receive a second cut on each ticket — one that is even more than the cut Ticketmaster received on the original ticket sale. […]
Our firm hopes to achieve relief for the many Ticketmaster customers who purchased inflated resale tickets through TradeDesk and an injunction forcing LiveNation to end its secret scalping scheme. Hagens Berman believes that those who unknowingly paid high prices for scalped tickets facilitated by Ticketmaster deserve compensation for the wrongdoing and profiteering of this corporation.”
Ticketmaster denied the initial allegations, saying in a statement, “It is categorically untrue that Ticketmaster has any program in place to enable resellers to acquire large volumes of tickets at the expense of consumers. Ticketmaster’s Seller Code of Conduct specifically prohibits resellers from purchasing tickets that exceed the posted ticket limit for an event. In addition, our policy also prohibits the creation of fictitious user accounts for the purpose of circumventing ticket limit detection in order to amass tickets intended for resale.”
Read the original investigative report here.
