Photo Credit: Ashley King / Ticketmaster website
That means consumers will see the full ticket price—including mandatory fees—up-front, rather than being blindsided when checking out. The move comes in response to mounting pressure from both the FTC and the TICKET Act winding its way through Congress.
For years, music fans and professionals have decried Ticketmaster’s use of opaque pricing, where advertised tickets could balloon as much as 50% with added fees. These ‘junk fees’ have been a significant source of consumer frustration for live music events and contributed to a high number of abandoned checkouts.
It’s estimated that up to 50% of customers abandon their purchase once they see the final price at checkout. Meanwhile the FTC estimates that hidden fees and the lack of transparency in pricing has cost Americans 53 million hours collectively in hunting for actual ticket prices.
“This consensus legislation will end deceptive ticketing practices that frustrate consumers who simply want to enjoy a concert, show, or sporting event by restoring fairness and transparency to the ticket marketplace,” House Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) said in a joint statement at the passing of the TICKET Act.
While all-in pricing is a step towards transparency, it’s a government-forced concession from a company that has long profited from consumer confusion. It also does nothing to limit the amount of tacked on fees and groups all fees into one category—resulting in less transparency in terms of who benefits from the collected fee. Ticketmaster controls over 70% of the market for tickets to live events and has 80% of the market share for concerts since 1995.
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