Ticketmaster Entertainment, LLC

❗Article Status Notice: This Article is a stub

Notice: This Article Requires Additional Expansion

---

This article is underdeveloped, and needs additional work to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and be in line with our Mission Statement for comprehensive coverage of consumer protection issues. Issues may include:

• This article needs to be expanded to provide meaningful information
• This article requires additional verifiable evidence to demonstrate systemic impact
• More documentation is needed to establish how this reflects broader consumer protection concerns
• The connection between individual incidents and company-wide practices needs to be better established
• The article is simply too short, and lacks sufficient content

How you can help:

• Add documented examples with verifiable sources
• Provide evidence of similar incidents affecting other consumers
• Include relevant company policies or communications that demonstrate systemic practices
• Link to credible reporting that covers these issues
• Flesh out the article with relevant information

This notice will be removed once the article is sufficiently developed. Once you believe the article is ready to have its notice removed, visit the Discord (join here) and post to the #appeals channel, or mention its status on the article's talk page.

Basic Information
Founded	1976-10-02
Type	LLC
Industry	Ticket sales and distribution
Parent company	Live Nation Entertainment
Official website	https://www.ticketmaster.com/

"Ticketmaster Entertainment, LLC is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California, with operations in many countries around the world." Ticketmaster has been accused by consumers of price gouging tickets, in addition Ticketmaster has been involved in a data breach that leaked personal information about customers from the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Product Lines

No products specified.

Consumer Protection Incidents

ShinyHunters databreach (May 15, 2024)

Ticketmaster's company network was accessed without authorization by the cybercriminal group "ShinyHunters", the group managed to gain access through a vulnerability in the Ticketmaster customer service portal. The breach exposed consumer email, phone, encrypted payment information, and additional information provided by the consumer of around 40 million customers.

Ticketmaster's response

Ticketmaster was swift to identify the breach and take action to further secure its systems by shutting down affected systems, unfortunately ShinyHunters has been quick enough to steal significant amounts of information. In response Ticketmaster published an official statement about the breach and sent emails and physical mail where applicable warning customers about the breach and provided effected users a free 12-month identity protection service.

References

• Ticketing services for events

• Ticket sale distribution
• Software solutions for venue management

Consumer Protection Incidents

ShinyHunters databreach (May 15, 2024)

Ticketmaster's company network was accessed without authorization by the cybercriminal group "ShinyHunters", the group managed to gain access through a vulnerability in the Ticketmaster customer service portal. The breach exposed consumer email, phone, encrypted payment information, and additional information provided by the consumer of around 40 million customers.

Ticketmaster's response

Ticketmaster was swift to identify the breach and take action to further secure its systems by shutting down affected systems, unfortunately ShinyHunters has been quick enough to steal significant amounts of information. In response Ticketmaster published an official statement about the breach and sent emails and physical mail where applicable warning customers about the breach and provided effected users a free 12-month identity protection service.

Consumer Protection Incidents

ShinyHunters databreach (May 15, 2024)

Ticketmaster's company network was accessed without authorization by the cybercriminal group "ShinyHunters", the group managed to gain access through a vulnerability in the Ticketmaster customer service portal. The breach exposed consumer email, phone, encrypted payment information, and additional information provided by the consumer of around 40 million customers.

Ticketmaster's response

Ticketmaster was swift to identify the breach and take action to further secure its systems by shutting down affected systems, unfortunately ShinyHunters has been quick enough to steal significant amounts of information. In response Ticketmaster published an official statement about the breach and sent emails and physical mail where applicable warning customers about the breach and provided effected users a free 12-month identity protection service.

References

Delaying refunds for postponed events

Ticketmaster has a history of not making refunds immediately available for events that are postponed. While the tickets remain valid for canceled events awaiting a rescheduled date, customers who want immediate refunds are often left at the whim of event organizers, who tend to not allow refunds until an official rescheduled date for the canceled event is announced. Since Ticketmaster is owned by the same parent company as many promoters, they have significant influence and control over when customers get refunds, even though it seems like they are a simple intermediary.

A prime example of this is the cancelation of Shakira's “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour” concert, planned to take place on June 13, 2025, in San Antonio, Texas at the Alamodome. The concert was canceled less than an hour before showtime. While tickets to the event remain valid, customers were forced to wait 60 days or until the event is rescheduled before requesting a refund. While most companies will refund customers if a specific product is not delivered at a specific date, Ticketmaster appears to make concerts an exception in this case. There is no option for customers who know that they will not attend the event again before the official rescheduled date is announced. Alas, they are forced into uncertainty instead of expecting a refund for undelivered service.

Moreover, customers are forced to request the refund instead of automatically being issued one when the event isn't rescheduled. If 60 days pass, and the event has not been rescheduled, a "30-day window" will open where customers must request the refund.

Deceptive Business Practices

Bait-and-switch ticket sale tactics (~October 2008 to ~February 2009)

In 2009, Ticketmaster displayed a status message that indicated there were no more tickets to display even though there allegedly were many available tickets. The company was fined for this, as Ticketmaster secured the proceeds of Bruce Springsteen fans, who sought price-gouged tickets via Ticketmaster's resale site, TicketsNow . This message was allegedly displayed voluntarily, even though many seats remained vacant. Therefore, buyers were driven to purchase tickets via TicketsNow where the prices were significantly higher, and sometimes two times their original value.

Ticketmaster allegedly continued this deceptive, tactic between 2008 and 2009 for multiple events, not just the Bruce Springsteen concert.

In 2025, Ticketmaster has allegedly misled customers by posting ticket prices that are low upfront, but tag additional large, unreasonable, and unavoidable fees near the end of the sale. A 2025 class action was filed against Ticketmaster and Ticketmaster's parent company Live Nation for these misleading checkout practices and alleged "drip pricing."

References

Event Ticketing through Ticketmaster/LiveNation website/app

Consumer Protection Incidents

ShinyHunters databreach (May 15, 2024)

Ticketmaster's company network was accessed without authorization by the cybercriminal group "ShinyHunters", the group managed to gain access through a vulnerability in the Ticketmaster customer service portal. The breach exposed consumer email, phone, encrypted payment information, and additional information provided by the consumer of around 40 million customers.

Ticketmaster's response

Ticketmaster was swift to identify the breach and take action to further secure its systems by shutting down affected systems, unfortunately ShinyHunters has been quick enough to steal significant amounts of information. In response Ticketmaster published an official statement about the breach and sent emails and physical mail where applicable warning customers about the breach and provided effected users a free 12-month identity protection service.

LiveNation Merger

LiveNation, Ticketmaster's largest competitor attempted to merge with Ticketmaster, this gives Ticketmaster a largely controlling stake in the live event marketplace, in addition to exclusivity deals with artists to lock out other competitors

Monopolistic practices

Ticketmaster has been accused of being a monopoly.

In May 2024, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation for monopolizing the ticket industry.