Ticketmaster, SeatGeek pledge to show all-in pricing for customers up front: White House

Ticketing companies, including Ticketmaster, pledged to eliminate junk fees and roll out all-in pricing numbers for customers, President Biden announced Thursday.

The president was joined by representatives of the companies taking the pledge, including Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation, as well as SeatGeek, xBk, Airbnb, the Pablo Center at the Confluence, TickPick, DICE and the Newport Festivals Foundation, at the White House on Thursday.

“This is a win for consumers, in my view, and proof that our crack down on junk fees has real momentum,” Biden said at the top of the meeting.

The White House had vowed to take on so-called junk fees dating back to September. In Biden’s State of the Union address to Congress in February, he called out junk fees as an unnecessary expense on Americans.

Live Nation, shortly after his address, told the Biden administration it was interested in announcing its new commitment, according to the White House. The commitment for upfront, all-in pricing for shows at venues and festivals owned by the company will roll out in September, and Ticketmaster will also have a feature to give consumers the option to receive all-in upfront pricing for all other tickets sold on the platform.

Additionally, SeatGeek will roll out features this summer to make it easier for customers to see an all-in price, the White House announced.

“One of the major categories of junk fees are ones that companies charge right at the end of the purchasing process, after you’ve already spent the time comparing your options. The solution is what is called all-in pricing and that’s where companies fully disclose their fees, up front when you start shopping so you’re not surprised at the end, when you check out,” Biden said.

The ticketing industry has been under pressure to improve after Ticketmaster customers in November experienced outages and extremely long wait times as they sought to buy tickets to Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour. The situation led to outrage from customers and investigations at the state level. The Senate also held a hearing in January about Live Nation and competition in the industry. 

The White House touted Thursday that other companies have taken steps to eliminate junk fees since September, including Airbnb, which in December introduced a tool to allow customers to see all fees before taxes.

— Updated at 2:25 p.m.