TJChambers
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Disclaimer: This post is a work of fiction and obviously created by a feverish if not hallucinogenic imagination and is intended for entertainment purposes only. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, organisations or actual events, is purely coincidental, albeit the social and environmental reality that produces them is real.
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The live music industry obviously isn’t a mass criminal enterprise which encompasses groups of individuals, organisations and trade associations that collectively operate with the common purpose of lying, stealing and cheating from each other, as well as from any regulatory authorities charged with oversight of antitrust behaviour, consumer protection, health and safety, taxation, or other guardrails of a modern social-democrat market-based economy.
Obviously.
But when not shouting about record revenues, tour attendances, new-build projects, or acquisitions, the industry routinely tops internet search results, and social media timelines because of the increasing number, frequency and scale of incidents which have then directly led to legal investigations, regulatory reviews, indictments, and lawsuits – and not just from self-interested sector-competitors e.g. free-market secondary ticket operators versus protectionist primary – but also because of alleged and/or actual abuse, malpractice, and illegal behaviour(s).
The frequency of reportable occurrences means that the question could be posed, is there something inherent to the current live music business model that it so routinely appears to lead industry participants (at all levels of operations, and in all business sectors) to be involved in behaviour that elsewhere has been referred to as racketeering i.e. ‘a series of practices that are organised by perpetrators to set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeering).
Again. Obviously. Not.
But other than gambling or prostitution (enterprises who also refer to their customers as ‘punters’), is there any other industry that so routinely treats its end-users (the audience, patrons, supporters, ticket-buyers etc.) with such obvious disdain – with events put onsale weeks, months or years in advance at ever-increasing prices accompanied with the proviso ‘all sales are final’, and with ever-more restrictive rights for ticket exchange or resale, who instead offer ticket insurance as another revenue-enhancing upsell and excuse for the lack of an actual customer service – is only an isolated perspective and plainly not one shared by the cabal of common-interest / interlinked artists, agents, promoters, producers, venues, ticketers and their supporting commercial networks of affiliates, sponsors, media, and collection agencies that increasingly dominate the international live music spectacle.
All (long-standing) live music sector participants quickly understand and then modulate their position within the supply-side led industry with its oft-overlapping structure of fiscal rebates and commissions, ‘kick-backs’, marketing contributions, and the evolving technical service obligations (for concert, festival and tour production and logistics as well as event promotion, marketing, and retail), alongside the oft-repeated, cookie-cutter, announcements of their ‘love for the fan’. Or even better, the ‘superfan’ with their apparently limitless capacity to pay-more-for-the-same.
By condoning the pre-established industry behaviours, new entrants then reinforce those practices, leading to a collective mindset of common etiquettes, and protocols. An industry orthodoxy, that-is-how-things-are-done.
And so, to (successfully) participate within the industry, some ethically, morally or legally questionable issues are seemingly dismissed or forgotten.
But enough with the hyperbole, what of the lived reality.
In recent months there has been a flurry of reports, an extract of which is collated below. Please note, this is merely an illustrative example of the range of incidents, many overlapping or part of a semi-continuous investigation, and no guilt, misbehaviour or wrongdoing is implied by their inclusion in the following. And indeed, some of these issues may now be resolved. It’s merely a list. Read nothing more into it. Honest.
23rd May 2024 (Last updated 6th February 2025), The US Justice Department Sues Live Nation-Ticketmaster for Monopolizing Markets Across the Live Concert Industry – https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-live-nation-ticketmaster-monopolizing-markets-across-live-concert
5th September 2024 (Last updated 2nd July 2025) The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating consumer protection concerns regarding the sale of Oasis concert tickets by Ticketmaster, including how so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ may have been used – https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/ticketmaster-consumer-protection-case
14th October 2024 Live Nation Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Over Massive Ticketmaster Data Breach – https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/live-nation-lawsuit-ticketmaster-data-breach-1236031775/
23rd October 2024 Live Nation Settles Nearly 100 Travis Scott Astroworld festival injury lawsuits – https://www.vibe.com/news/entertainment/travis-scott-settles-100-astroworld-lawsuits-1234935145/
15th November 2024 PRS files lawsuit against Live Nation over VIP ticketing saying live giant shows ‘disregard’ for creators rights to proper payment, Sam Taylor – https://completemusicupdate.com/prs-files-lawsuit-against-live-nation-over-vip-ticketing-saying-live-giant-shows-disregard-for-creators-rights-to-proper-payment/
10th January 2025 Putting fans first: consultation on the resale of live events tickets. Department for Business and Trade and Department for Culture, Media and Sport – https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/putting-fans-first-consultation-on-the-resale-of-live-events-tickets
14th March 2025 New York Attorney General James announces court win allowing lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster to continue – https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2025/attorney-general-james-announces-court-win-allowing-lawsuit-against-live-nation
14th March 2025 Ticketek owner TEG mired in workplace allegations amid CEO reshuffle, Sam Buckingham-Jones and Sarah Thompson – https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/ticketek-owner-teg-mired-in-workplace-allegations-amid-ceo-reshuffle-20250311-p5lio1
31st March 2025 President Trump has signed an Executive Order to protect fans from exploitative ticket scalping and bring commonsense reforms to America’s live entertainment ticketing industry – https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-will-end-price-gouging-by-middlemen-in-the-entertainment-industry/
7th April 2025 CTS Eventim lodges appeal over ticket insurance judgement – https://www.theticketingbusiness.com/2025/04/cts-eventim-lodges-appeal-over-ticket-insurance-judgement/
7th May 2025 The US Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission seek information on Unfair and Anticompetitive Practices in live ticketing – https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-and-federal-trade-commission-seek-information-unfair-and-anticompetitive
8th May 2025 $20M Live Nation settlement ends lawsuit claiming event promoter misled investors amid antitrust investigations (Lawsuit originally filed 4th August 2023) – https://www.classaction.org/news/20m-live-nation-settlement-ends-lawsuit-claiming-event-promoter-misled-investors-amid-antitrust-investigations
12th June 2025 These touts made millions – and claimed staff at big ticketing firms helped, Chi Chi Izundu and James Stewart – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3vrw4v3q2o
2nd July 2025 Prices, competition and consumer protection – CMA submission to the Business and Trade Committee – https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/48593/documents/254728/default/
4th July 2025 Songwriters ‘missing millions in royalties from more than 100,000 UK gigs’, Mark Sweney – https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/04/songwriters-royalties-uk-gigs-prs-for-music
7th July 2025 Belgian consumer organisation Testachats targets Ticketmaster, Genevieve Spurway – https://www.theticketingbusiness.com/2025/07/belgian-consumer-organisation-testachats-targets-ticketmaster/
7th July 2025 Poland’s consumer watchdog targets Live Nation over concert baggage ban, storage fees – https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7786/Artykul/3547763,poland%E2%80%99s-consumer-watchdog-targets-live-nation-over-concert-baggage-ban-storage-fees
8th July 2025 AIF calls for Competition and Markets Authority to investigate Live Nation – https://www.aiforg.com/blog-database/aif-calls-for-investigation-live-nation
8th July 2025 NIVA Urges FTC and DOJ to Break Up Live Nation, Regulate Ticket Resale Market, and Restore Competition in Live Entertainment – https://www.nivassoc.org/statements/2025/niva-urges-ftc-and-doj-to-break-up-live-nation-regulate-ticket-resale-market-and-restore-competition-in-live-entertainment
9th July 2025 Oak View’s Leiweke Indicted by US in Arena Bid-Rigging Probe, Josh Sisco and Lucas Shaw – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-09/oak-view-s-leiweke-indicted-by-doj-in-arena-bid-rigging-probe
Etc. etc.
And let’s not forget the recent popcorn tv (featuring obfuscation and memory loss) event that was the 24th June 2025, Business and Trade Committee meeting to discuss ‘Pricing, competition and consumer protection’ – https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/d0d4eb34-874d-4bf5-bca1-e9b26645fef5
Or, the 27th June Martin Haigh Op-Ed ‘UK Corporate Criminal Liability: What it means for ticketing’ – https://www.iqmagazine.com/2025/06/uk-corporate-criminal-liability-what-it-means-for-ticketing/
Or, the UK Government’s recent decision to amend the Employment Rights Bill to ban the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that prevent victims of workplace harassment and abuse from speaking out – will this trouble a couple of UK concert promoters.
So, a further discussion of alleged/actual ‘bad behaviour’ may re-appear again at some point in the future.
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In other news. Shawn Reynaldo has a weekly Substack newsletter (https://firstfloor.substack.com/) which discusses electronic music and the nightlife industry culture that surrounds it. There is also a collection of some of his essays and think pieces available via Velocity Press (https://velocitypress.uk/). Anyway. Highly Recommended.
Buy: https://velocitypress.uk/product/first-floor-volume-1/
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And then lastly, Music Technology UK (https://musictechnology.uk/) released (10.07.25) its inaugural report ‘Sound Investments’ which provides a comprehensive overview of investment data and industry trends that MTUK will shape the future of UK music tech.
At the launch event (held at Lewis Silkin LLP’s London offices), Cliff Fluet introduced the event, Helena Kosinski outlined the report’s contents, then a panel including Rufy Ghazi (Audience Strategies), Gareth Deakin (Sonorous Consulting), Hugo Sunnucks (Edge VC), Kimberley Dickson (HyperTribe) and Mark Leaver (Dept. Business and Trade) discussed topics raised by the report, before Matt Cartmell ended the event with a summation of next steps for the industry lobby group.
Download the full report here: https://musictechnology.uk/uk-music-tech-sector-faces-critical-lead-or-lose-moment-new-report-reveals/
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Until the next time.
TJ_Chambers 