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After years of complaints, some customers who were overcharged for an event by Ticketmaster might finally get some of their money back. On April 20, D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb announced<\/a> that Live Nation, Ticketmaster\u2019s parent company, will pay $9.9 million in a settlement to resolve his district\u2019s allegations that it \u201cmisled customers about ticket prices, charged deceptive fees, and used illegal pressure tactics to get fans to buy tickets for a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n A total of $8.9 million is expected to be returned to D.C.-based Live Nation customers in the coming months.<\/p>\n This settlement is the result of a months-long consumer protection investigation conducted by Schwalb\u2019s Office of the Attorney General (OAG). It\u2019s separate from a massive federal antitrust lawsuit which, on April 16, reached the verdict that Live Nation has been running a harmful monopoly over large venues across the U.S. for years. <\/p>\n It\u2019s still unclear what penalties Live Nation might face in the wake of that federal verdict. But in the meantime, customers in D.C. may be some of the first people to get money back from Ticketmaster as Live Nation pays out its settlement with the D.C. OAG. <\/p>\n According to the D.C. OAG, its investigation into Live Nation revealed three major red flags that showed the company had misled customers in violation of consumer protection laws. Each one represents a different kind of dark pattern, a genre of UX designed to manipulate consumer decisions online.<\/p>\n First, per an OAG press release, Live Nation advertised deceptively low ticket prices that did not include mandatory fees until the very last second: \u201cFrom 2015 until May 2025, Live Nation hid the true price of tickets, revealing the full price only on the checkout page where the amount of costly mandatory fees were disclosed for the first time, after consumers had already invested time and effort in the purchase,\u201d the press release reads. It adds that this \u201cdeceptive bait-and-switch tactic\u201d limited consumers\u2019 ability to make informed purchasing decisions.<\/p>\n Second, the OAG notes, Live Nation failed to adequately disclose critical information about the nature and purpose of its fees and the company\u2019s role in setting them. And, third, the OAG says that Live Nation employed certain \u201cpressure tactics\u201d to sell tickets. These included a countdown clock, pop-up notifications, and an inactivity notice that \u201ccreated the impression that tickets were scarce and would soon be sold out.\u201d<\/p>\n The OAG says that, in 2025, Live Nation made changes to its fee disclosures and the inactivity notices as a response to the OAG\u2019s investigation and the FTC\u2019s Rule on Unfair and Deceptive Fees<\/a>. As a part of this new settlement, Live Nation has agreed to maintain those changes and pay a hefty sum.<\/p>\n Under the terms of the OAG\u2019s settlement, Live Nation will continue to display to consumers the full price of a ticket (including fees), maintain an update to its platform that shares additional information about the fees it charges, and share additional information with consumers about its ticket purchasing countdown clock. In addition, the company will refund up to $8.9 million back to Live Nation customers. <\/p>\n According to the OAG, the details of a claims process will be announced in the coming months. Restitution will go to D.C. residents who bought tickets via Ticketmaster and paid fees. <\/p>\n \u201cFor at least a decade, Live Nation and Ticketmaster boosted profits by charging predatory, hidden fees\u2014taking advantage of D.C. residents buying tickets for their favorite artist or team and pricing others out entirely,\u201d Schwalb said in the press release. \u201cWith this settlement, we\u2019re putting millions of dollars back into the pockets of D.C. fans and ensuring that the price fans see when they first start shopping for tickets is the price they actually pay.\u201d<\/p>\nInside Ticketmaster’s dark patterns<\/h2>\n
What to know about the Live Nation settlement (and who is eligible to file a claim)<\/h2>\n