For fans of live entertainment in the District of Columbia, the fight to score tickets and see their favorite artists is getting harder by the day. Ticketmaster’s secret presales, artist exclusives, fees, high prices and purgatory-like queues are making it difficult for fans to attend live shows without breaking the bank, if they can even purchase a ticket to begin with.
With up to 90 percent of tickets held back from the general public and bots allowed to infiltrate their systems, it’s no surprise ticket prices are up more than 120 percent since Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010. Almost two years ago, in May 2024, the Department of Justice, 39 state attorneys general, and the D.C. attorney general took notice and sued Ticketmaster for their monopolistic practices.
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