Rapino responds to Klobuchar’s all-in pricing criticism

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino has defended the company in response to a letter from US Senator Amy Klobuchar that called for an update on the promoter’s progress towards implementing all-in pricing.

Rapino previously stated his support for “mandatory all-in pricing legislation” following a meeting between US President Joe Biden and representatives from a number of ticketing companies.

However, Klobuchar suggested in a letter to Rapino last week that Live Nation’s efforts had been sluggish by stating: “Live Nation-Ticketmaster committed to ‘roll out an upfront all-in pricing experience in September showing just one clear, total price’. In your own press release, Live Nation-Ticketmaster touted that it will ‘lead the industry with new all-in pricing’. Yet, it is still too difficult for consumers to find the all-in price of a ticket before checkout.”

Rapino responded by saying that such an apparent delay can be explained by the fact that Live Nation has no right to impose all-in pricing at venues owned or operated by other companies.

“Not everyone in the live entertainment industry shares our views on all-in pricing,” he said. “Without all-in pricing legislation, there will be patchwork adoption of all-in pricing at best.”

Rapino’s response added: “We agree wholeheartedly that tickets to live entertainment events should be marketed, listed and sold to fans using the full ticket price, all per ticket fees included. The all-in price should be the price fans see throughout the shopping and purchase process.

“We have supported mandatory all-in pricing legislation for years… And unlike several of our major competitors, Ticketmaster complies with both the letter and spirit of existing all-in pricing laws such as in New York.

“Anyone can confirm this by searching for tickets to a sporting event or concert in New York on Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek and Vivid Seats. On Ticketmaster the fan sees the all-in price; on the other sites the fan first sees a price without fees which increases substantially if they try to buy tickets.”