Scott Friedman of Ticket Talk on Rising Ticketmaster Prices and What Fans Can Do

This week we talk with ticketing watchdog Scott Friedman about why concert ticket prices feel out of control and why the DOJ settlement does not change much for fans. We dig into bots, venue control, and the harsh reality that face value seats for the biggest tours are basically gone.

• DOJ settlement fallout and why the monopoly debate continues
• Why regular fans cannot compete with ticket bots
• What the FTC lawsuit could change and why progress feels slow
• How Live Nation venue ownership limits artist leverage
• The Slack leak about gouging and what it signals
• Why some tours show empty seats while “outlier” shows get crushed on resale

Check out TicketTalknetwork.com

Transcript

Cold Open And Host Banter

SPEAKER_00 0:27

On behind the scenes, everything you need everything you need to know about the music industry and more. Of course, I am Guns here, joined by Sullivan and, of course, Dickie Bear for the Money Night Boss Tones and the Defiant Listen.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

That's me ripping off Dicky's song.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

I believe, I believe, I believe I've heard that once or twice in my life. Yes, absolutely. Isn't that weird for you to hear?

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Um, I I actually enjoy it. Well, I know you do because I know you now. But I know and I and I got the first text when you we sent you that begging you to be in the video.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

I don't think it went like that.

SPEAKER_03 0:58

I no, no. You sent me the song.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

From our side, we were.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

I didn't know who this guy was. I know. I heard the song. That was it. I was positive I was gonna hate it. I ended up going, they did a very, very good job. I enjoyed it, and then uh you and Rick sent me a request to for me to be in the video, and I go, How heavy is the lifting gonna be? And you go, not very much. We'll we'll come out and see you and where you live, and you showed up and we fell along with it.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

I didn't realize how big of a person you were in my life. I've said this before, doing talk radio for me for 30 years. He was my rejoiner music every day. Didn't I knew it was

Live Shows On The Road

SPEAKER_02 1:31

him, a guy playing Horn and a Dancer, one of my favorite bands. And for I mean, and you know, number one hit. I mean, it was a big one.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

But at this point, I'm pretty much a disappointment, though.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

No, not at all. You're one of my closest friends, number one. Thank you. I love your guest list.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Yeah, and well, what's really interesting coming off of what you just said is you've been able to now take this show out on the road, literally. Sullivan's been torn with Goldfinger and more, been able to rock this out. You just played Dallas not too long ago, so audience. You were the first time. It was a lot of fun, and that leads us perfectly into Scott Freeman from

DOJ Deal And Monopoly Questions

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Ticket Talk and the Ticket Talk Network that we're gonna be speaking with right now, because there is something going on with the live ticketing industry right now. Um, tickets, not for Sullivan shows or Goldfinger shows or Boston shows or whatever that might be, but tickets elsewhere are getting out of hand, out of control. It's affecting everybody. You want to go see a livery of Rodrigo, it's gonna cost you $1,100 a ticket instead of. I'm so glad I don't want to go to the thank God for that. But Scott Freeman here from the Ticket Talk Network. My man, how are you doing, man? Welcome, of course, to Behind the Scene with Dickie Sully and myself.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Thanks for having me on. Uh, it's an absolute pleasure and uh stoked to be on the show this afternoon.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Yes, absolutely. Looking forward to this. Listen, uh, I should say unexpectedly, what happened the other day when the uh Department of Justice ended up settling with Ticketmaster and Live Nation over uh the claims of them having a monopoly. But was it really unexpected, though? What do you think, Scott? Talk to us about this.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

There's a few legs to the story. So, like technically, I mean, I I I'm um friendly with uh Dan Wall, the head of general counsel for Live Nation. And then obviously a couple weeks ago, they had a deal all strapped about $280 million settlement to put the uh judgment behind and let Live Nation and uh Ticketmaster operate per usual, besides of giving up a couple of like uh concessions of just like uh amphitheater stuff, nothing really serious, um, giving Ticketmaster only a four-year contract instead of like a 10-year contract. Very minor um adjustments where Live Nation and Ticketmaster continue to run their um monopoly. But honestly, the states are appealing it. There's 25 states that are appealing the um judgment, and obviously that's still working its way out in court. But my opinion is that the states will obviously uh settle, Ticketmaster Live Nation will settle with them, maybe pay a little bit more money, maybe uh 100 million more, 200 million more. I don't know. But they have a bank roll that um where money grows

Why Face Value Tickets Vanish

SPEAKER_01 4:05

on trees and uh nothing will affect them. And I assume, unfortunately, it'll be business as usual for Ticketmaster and Live Nation here in the upcoming weeks after they settle.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Is there can I have asked a question? It's Sully here from uh from Sullivan, and um I want to ask, as Johnny Lunchbucket looking to buy tickets um for let's just say I want to get my kids some tickets somewhere. Is there any chance I could get a face value ticket on uh like at a like the second row? Let's say I just got a big bonus and I wanted to spend a little bit of dough. Is there any way if they wanted to go see, let's pick it out, uh uh Panic of the Disco or Taylor Swift and sit in the front row? Do I have a chance at buying a ticket at the intended cost that that uh that the the artist wanted me to buy wanted me to pay?

SPEAKER_01 4:49

So so that statistic here with all the bad actors going on with Ticketmaster and all the bots that um have literally snap of a finger, they pick up the ticket. So you probably have about a 99.9% no chance of fired up there for a minute. Unless you can out unless you can really click faster than the bots for those scenarios, um 99.9%. No, you have no chance of getting those tickets on Ticketmaster on those outlier shows. Did you when you were number one?

SPEAKER_03 5:21

This is this is horrible news, Scott. All of this is really bad news, and and it seems like they're acting with an impunity and they're not afraid. And if I felt like they were at least on the ropes before that decision, and now and now they're not, and also there's people that work for the company that are bragging online of how they're putting the screws to people every time they sell these tickets. So so what what do we do?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Let's cut to the chase. Well, here's the deal. I mean, the FTC did sue a ticket master, so that case is obviously ongoing, and that kind of moves the loot to get rid of the bots. But since that lawsuit uh happened really last fall, about six months ago, it is still business as usual. Not much has changed. If you look at the Jay-Z queue today, 800,000 people in there. Obviously, not 800,000 total people, but probably three, four hundred thousand of those were bots going after those tickets right away. So until the FTC does anything to crack down on Ticketmaster for stopping bots, it'll be business as usual until that happens.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Well, what's wild about the whole entire thing is we all we're not even joking about when we say it is definitely a monopoly going on. Like everyone agrees that it's a monopoly, but nothing is happening from it. And in the end, it's the fans are gonna get it screwed. Now, were you surprised that a deal was made? Personally, I wasn't. I mean, it's an election year. Also, the fact of the matter is, I feel like they were going after Tinketmaster and Live Nation. That's only, Scott, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's really only if you're gonna fight the war, I don't know if that's the war to fight right now, because not there, it's not like they were gonna break up. Was there a net net to the consumer cover that? They weren't gonna break up Live Nation and Tinketmaster right now. I think a way to do it, as we were just saying before, is maybe do legislation against the bots specifically, maybe try and limit them or the secondhand ticketing market, where you're talking your stub hub and your uh and your vivid seats and whatnot. What do you think the best course of action should have been, and where do they take it from here so that the fans can actually go see a show and not have to give up a month's rent to go to that show?

SPEAKER_01 7:32

You know, I mean, to answer your first part of your question, obviously the the Trump administration, um, I mean, micro opinion of Live Nation donated $500,000 to the campaign. So obviously they got in, they lobbied in Trump's pocket, they hired Kellyanne Cowway. They did all they could to get this um lawsuit to rest between Live Nation and the DOJ, obviously, with everything going on with the corruptness of politics these days. But really, for this to make a change, it really is the separate lawsuit between the FTC and Ticketmaster, which started in the fall. But actually, business as usual. There's nothing when the lawsuit came out in the fall between the FTC and Ticketmaster. I thought bots days were coming to an end. It was over, FTC laid the SmackDown. But you truly, we're here in March of 2026. Business as usual, 800,000 people in the queue for Jay-Z today. Um just outlier shows, it just keeps getting worse and worse, and nothing is being done. We obviously challenge Ticketmaster every single day. What are you doing about this? They keep on just kind of saying we're working on it, it's complex, yada yada, yada, just giving a bunch of BS excuses. And until something is done, um, it just will be always out of hand to fight the outlier

Artists Trapped By Venue Control

SPEAKER_01 8:47

acts that happen. And they're about 30, 40 a year where it's next to impossible to get a face-value ticket on the primary in Ticketmaster.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Scott, maybe I should know this better than you, but where are the artists? Where are the where are the Eddie Vetters, the modern-day Pearl Jams that fought Ticketmaster and fought the monopolies at one time? Where where are they? And what are they saying? And why isn't anybody stepping up? And why aren't they infuriated that they that Live Nation donated this money to to Trump and now Trump is is is backdoor in them like this? Where where are those people?

SPEAKER_01 9:24

They tried to try to build their own ticketing system, literally try to change everything by operating their own um ticketmaster, their own ticketing system, etc. However, they just realize we're a monopoly when ticket master and live nation, when live nation owns like 95% of all the venues across the United States, it would be next to impossible to play shows elsewhere. What are they gonna play in a cornfield?

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Um, so there's where the brings up a good point, though, because I think something I learned from you or you or or maybe one of our last guests was when these artists or promoters book a venue, they're not booking the venue specifically. We're booking, they're booking straight through the live nation thing, right? There's almost like there's no way to skip it. Is that am I as a consumer, I understand that correctly?

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Exactly. There's no room for the artist to skip it. There's just not enough venues that are not live nation owned to skip.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

So that's so that isn't the problem like you to your point, the bots? Aren't the bots the problem? I mean, if they got rid of if they got rid of any any artificial way to scoop up tickets um faster than Johnny Lunchbuck at Cindy CEO, right, then then then then Live Nation and such and and Ticketmaster such would not be culpable, would they? Or would they still?

SPEAKER_01 10:42

They wouldn't be. And obviously, there's theories that they love the bots because they buy tickets to everything, they buy tickets to low-demand shows also. So it just in my they're just trying to hide behind it and obviously act when they're forced to, but they obviously know that bots are buying tickets every day, they're just not doing anything about it. And the FTC right now, as we know it, aren't being aggressive enough to shut them down. Now that can change, that can change tomorrow, that can change a year from now, two years from now.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

But as of March of 26th, Scott, nothing is going to get changed this year. It is an election year, and you know as well as we do that the ticketing lobby is one of the, it's up there with big pharma and the big war. Like I mean, in the lobbying power, nothing is going to get changed because every politician wants the money right now, especially for the re-election. So nothing, it will just keep getting delayed, delayed, delayed, delayed.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

And there's still people listening or watching, they're gonna say themselves, then why don't the artists just just protest and not you, but they can't. They wouldn't get any shows, correct? I mean, it's it's a catch 22, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Exactly. It's a catch 22. They they're basically first to play their live nation owns 90 for 95%

Price Gouging Claims And Empty Seats

SPEAKER_01 11:58

of venues in the U.S. Where are they gonna play? That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

Excellent, Scott, and excellent young guns. Excellent point. Can you quickly speak on the on the jackasses that my algorithm served up? And I heard them talking about how, you know, just on a whim, they'll just jack up prices. Where's that story at? And and the those two guys get uh outed or ousted, or uh what happened there, Scott?

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Yeah, so I'm hearing Mr. Baker is no longer an employee of Live Nation. Obviously, there was that Slack correlation that came out here um a couple of weeks ago where they were talking uh smack by bragging by um gouging the fans on parking for several amphitheater tours across the U.S., um, gouging everything else. Um, as far as I know, from my sources, Mr. Baker is no longer with Live Nation. The other employee is still employed by Live Nation, as far as I know. Okay. You're excellent, Scott.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

It's what a great guest. Scott Freeman here, of course, from Ticket Talk and the TicketTalknetwork.com that you can check out. I gotta, I do want to ask you this though. Has the tide turned so much that eventually fans or are artists feeling it from the fans that, you know, what you one thing that you do for anyone that follows you on social media is you keep posting Zach Bryan, all the empty seats, or Kid Rock, all the empty seats. There's a ton of empty seats out there right now because whether the secondary markets just bumped them up too much or whatnot might it be. Will have they been facing backlash? And what will be the final what is that line where artists have to eventually be like, hey, this is really screwing our bottom dollar as well?

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Absolutely. And there's a layer of we could talk all day long about ticketing distribution. We could talk about how the secondary for the shows like Zach Bryan and Kid Rock fit because they just don't have any demand on the primary, and the resellers and bots are forced to lower their prices where fans pay cheaper prices. But that doesn't happen for the 30, 40 outlier shows per year. They're getting gouged, the bots are making all the money. But in the scenario you're talking for acts that underperform the secondary market is a benefit for fans, but it's not the case for the 30, 40 outlier shows that fans are begging to get tickets for that they had they stand no chance of getting them against the bots on Ticketmaster every day.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

Hey, Scott, we got to get you on every single show we produce. Keep sounding the alarm, Scott. Great stuff, buddy. Shout

Guest Wrap And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_02 14:20

it from every mountaintop. You're an awesome guy. Uh, Ticket Talk Network, the only network that covers all major live events from concerts to sporting events to theater shows. They eat, sleep, breathe tickets every day, 24 hours, seven days a week.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

There it is, right there, appreciate me, Scott Freeman. It is Guns here, of course. It is behind the scenes. And we're gonna be talking with City Up Saturday, coming up next.