US To Pioneer ‘All In’ Ticket Pricing

US-based global ticketing giants Live Nation and Ticketmaster have come to an agreement to begin “all-in” pricing for their events, which means that ticketholders in the US will no longer receive surprise fees when they purchase tickets for any entertainment event.

The new decision was revealed at the White House after President Joe Biden vowed to end “hidden junk fees – like processing fees on concert tickets” back in November.

US National Economic Council director Lael Brainard said in a statement (per Billboard, shared by Consequence Of Sound): “President Biden has been working to lower costs for hardworking families by bringing down inflation, capping insulin prices for seniors, and eliminating hidden junk fees.”

Brainard added, “More companies are heeding the President’s call so that Americans know what they’re paying for up front and can save money as a result.”

As of September, Live Nation will be upfront about its all-in pricing in all the US venues the company owns. Likewise, with Ticketmaster, punters will be able to see all-in pricing in other US spaces.

Another company, Seatgeek, vows to “roll out product features over the course of the summer to make it easier for its millions of customers to shop on the basis of all-in price,” per a White House statement shared by Digital Music News.

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino mentioned that the company would “love better rules on bot ticketing” in November and added, “We’d love to have the fees more transparent [with] upfront, all-in pricing. We just have to make sure everybody plays by the same rules, but we’re going to lead those pieces.”

The Music reached out to Live Nation Australia and Oztix for comment to see if similar plans would come to fruition in Australia.

Much of the drama surrounding Live Nation and Ticketmaster in the US occurred last November. 

Ticketmaster shockingly crashed due to unprecedented demand as the pre-sale for Taylor Swift’s massive Eras tour commenced – some fans reportedly waited for eight hours in the pre-sale and were charged multiple times as the platform crashed, making it impossible for fans to purchase tickets. Many fans complained about not being able to access the sale even with the pre-sale code. 

The Live Nation Chairman and Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei responded to the ticketing crisis, per Digital Music News:

"First, all the Live Nation team is sympathetic that, the long wait times and fans who couldn't get what they wanted. Reality is, it's a function of the massive demand that Taylor Swift has. The site was supposed to be opened up for 1.5 million verified Taylor Swift fans," he said.

"We had 14 million people hit the site – including bots, another story, which are not supposed to be there.”