Ticketmaster's pre-sale for Kendrick Lamar and SZA's 'Grand National Tour' has sparked widespread customer outrage, highlighting ongoing issues with the ticketing giant's practices.

Fans report multiple issues during the pre-sale process:

• Extended wait times and queue problems
• High service fees ($60 fees on $159 tickets)
• Expensive nosebleed seats ($350)
• Concerns about broker preferential treatment

While Ticketmaster denies prioritizing brokers, claiming significant investment in anti-scalping technology, the company faces serious legal challenges:

• The U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general are suing Live Nation/Ticketmaster over alleged monopolistic practices
• Key allegations include:
  • Forcing venues into exclusive ticketing agreements
  • Requiring artists and venues to partner only with Live Nation for concert promotion
  • Retaliating against competing promoters
  • Restricting competition in the promotional services space

A former Ticketmaster executive recently pleaded guilty in a separate case involving:

• Hacking a competitor's platform
• Stealing 85,000 company documents
• Sharing trade secrets after moving to TicketWeb (a Ticketmaster subsidiary)
• Using confidential information to improve Ticketmaster's artist platform

These ongoing issues highlight broader concerns about competition and consumer protection in the concert ticketing industry, with the DOJ seeking to potentially dissolve the 2010 Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger.

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