Live entertainment company Live Nation has said that it supports US President Joe Biden’s call for fee transparency in the sector.
Yesterday (Wednesday) President Biden pledged to crack down on surprise fees sprung on consumers on things like TV cable bills, hotel rooms and concert tickets.
Biden told reporters: “We’re just getting started. There’s tens of billions of dollars and other junk fees across the economy that I’m directing my administration to reduce or eliminate.”
In a statement, Live Nation said: “We applaud President Biden’s advocacy for fee transparency in every industry, including live event ticketing. Live Nation Entertainment advocated for the all-in pricing mandate passed in New York earlier this year, which requires face-value prices and fees to be shown upfront – and we support the FTC mandating this nationally.
“We operate ticketing marketplaces in 30+ countries around the world and have seen all-in pricing adopted successfully in many countries when mandated across the board. This only works if all ticketing marketplaces go all-in together, so that consumers truly have accurate comparisons as they shop for tickets.”
Reuters reported that shares of Live Nation-owned ticketing giant Ticketmaster fell 4% yesterday in response to the news.
Biden’s speech follows a recent meeting held by the White House Competition Council, where federal agencies were ordered to take steps to reduce or remove hidden fees, add-on costs and other charges that were chipping away at family budgets.