Live Nation & Ticketmaster Stand With Artists Calling for Meaningful Ticketing Reform
KEY TAKEAWAYS
We stand with artists in pushing for resale reforms that protect fans from predatory scalping
Ticketmaster’s Face Value Exchange lets artists cap resale at face value so tickets stay with real fans at artist-set prices
Ticketmaster is in a constant tech arms race with scalpers, blocking 566M bot attacks a day as of Q4 2025
We support federal action, like the TICKET Act, to ban speculative ticketing and give artists control over how their tickets are resold
Ticketmaster supports artists’ right to decide how their tickets are sold and resold. In recent Senate testimony, Live Nation EVP Dan Wall reiterated our alignment with artists and venue operators on the need for industry-wide reforms. While artists control ticket prices and limits in the primary market, they often lose that control in resale, where secondary platforms can override their intent. Artists should have the final say in how tickets reach their fans across all platforms in the live event ecosystem.
Ticketmaster is Engaged in a Bots Arms Race to Protect Artists and Fans
The primary threat to fans today is the massive escalation in “ticket harvesting” technologies used by industrial-scale brokers. These sophisticated toolkits include:
- Bot Attacks: Automated scripts that buy tickets faster than any human. These attacks have increased 15-fold in just three years, reaching 566 million daily in late 2025.
- Fake Account Creation: Ticketmaster currently rejects 99.7% of the 25 million sign-up attempts it receives daily after identifying them as bots or fake accounts.
- Sophisticated Masking: Scalpers use proxy services and virtual credit cards to bypass safety measures and exceed ticket limits.
Empowering Artists via Face Value Exchange
One of the ways we fight these tactics is through Ticketmaster’s Face Value Exchange (FVE). This tool allows artists to restrict ticket transfers to a marketplace where tickets can only be resold for exactly what the original purchaser paid.
The impact is measurable. For example, on Billie Eilish’s 2025 tour full-order transfers were only 5% in states where FVE was enabled. In contrast, in states where laws block artists from using these tools, transfer rates jumped to 40%, leaving fans vulnerable to massive markups.
One Company Can’t Do It Alone
While we invest more than any other platform to fight abusive resale, technology alone isn’t enough. We need enforceable federal reforms to eliminate the $15 billion a year incentive that motivates scalpers. Live Nation and Ticketmaster continue to push for provisions in the TICKET Act, including:
- A Complete Ban on Speculative Ticketing: Ending the practice of scalpers listing “ghost” tickets they do not yet own.
- Expanded BOTS Act Enforcement: Strengthening laws to prohibit all forms of automated ticket harvesting.
- National Resale Standards: Creating a single federal standard that prevents states from blocking an artist’s ability to protect their fans.
The Bottom Line: In many states, artists currently have less control over their tickets than third-party resellers who never step on a stage or have anything to do with supporting the success of a show. We will continue to stand with artists, teams, and venues to restore that control and build a fair, more transparent marketplace for fans across the live event industry.
Additional Resources:
- Live Nation Supports U.S. Senate Advancing The TICKET Act
- Live Nation Supports U.S. House Advancing The TICKET Act