Live Nation is addressing concerns about the company’s practices and industry more broadly with a new packet of material meant for President Donald Trump’s administration and other government agencies, principally the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The submission, reviewed by Variety, is intended to address issues across the secondary ticket market and outlines suggested reforms to create fairness for fans and artists. Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, suggests that there should be 20 percent caps placed on ticket resale prices; that artists be given greater control over secondary ticket sales; and that the government should do more to combat bad actors, including going after deceptive websites and more effective enforcement of the 2016 BOTS Act.
“Many assume the system is rigged,” Live Nation writes, later saying that “this industry deserves a system that protects the artist-fan connection the way the artist meant it to be, not as corrupted by profiteering interlopers.”
Trump addressed the problem of secondary sales in a March 31 Executive Order titled “Combating Unfair Practices in the Live Entertainment Market.” In it, Trump wrote that live entertainment in the U.S. “has become blighted by unscrupulous middlemen who sit at the intersection between artists and fans and impose egregious fees while providing minimal value.”
On May 7, the DoJ and FTC announced that they were seeking information on unfair and uncompetitive practices in ticketing; Live Nation’s submission came on the last day of public comment in that submission window. “In furtherance of [Trump’s Executive Order], the agencies will work together, along with the Secretary of the Treasury, on a joint report, with the FTC taking the lead on issues relating to the Better Online Ticket Sales Act [BOTS Act],” the DoJ and FTC jointly wrote.
Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” (BBB) which passed in Congress last week, recently addressed one longstanding concern of the music industry, folding in a bill for independent musicians called the Help Independent Tracks Succeed (HITS) Act which allows musicians to deduct production expenses up to $150,000 in the year the production takes place.
Meanwhile, Live Nation is facing its own obstacles after the DoJ filed a suit alleging antitrust violations. “It is time to break it up,” said then-Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a press conference announcing the suit. “In recent years, Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s exorbitant fees and technological failures have been criticized by fans and artists alike,” Garland said.
In May, Live Nation appointed Richard Grenell, Trump’s pick for president of the Kennedy Center, to the company’s board of directors.
“Live Nation Entertainment welcomes the EO and the light the President is shining on secondary ticketing markets,” the packet reads.
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