The real purpose behind Ticketmaster’s drive for nontransferable tickets, as alleged in the freshly updated complaint within the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, was to make it tougher for fans to utilize competing platforms such as StubHub and SeatGeek. The complaint, which was modified on Monday after ten states joined the DOJ’s lawsuit, references internal Ticketmaster documents acquired during the legal proceedings.

In 2019, Ticketmaster introduced SafeTix, replacing static barcodes on electronic tickets with encrypted barcodes that refreshed every 15 seconds. Ticketmaster promoted SafeTix as a means to curtail ticket fraud, yet the complaint asserts that reducing competition was a “primary motivation” for this new ticketing system.

A document from an executive meeting in 2014 labeled the “non-transferrable digital ticket” as a “game-changer.” At a meeting three years later, the rotating barcode was depicted as a “product enhancement [ ] for market share” and an opportunity to “REDUCE TM’S ECONOMIC RISK,” as stated in the complaint.

The revised complaint incorporates fresh details about Ticketmaster’s dominance in the events market. One internal Live Nation document cited in the complaint indicates that Ticketmaster is the primary ticket provider for approximately 80 percent of arenas nationwide that host NBA or NHL teams. As of 2022, Live Nation-promoted events accounted for 70 percent of all amphitheater shows across the country, as mentioned in internal Live Nation events within the complaint.

The DOJ contends that due to Ticketmaster’s actions, consumers have “paid more and continue to pay more for fees related to tickets for live events than they would have in a free and open competitive market.” The precise amount of financial harm remains unknown, the complaint claims, and will require exploration of Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s records, as well as those of its third-party rivals.