Ticketmaster is the king of fees: a handling fee, a processing fee, a just-cause-we-can fee. These fees can add anywhere from 20 to 50 percent to the price of the ticket, and Ticketmaster has collected over $5 billion in these fees over the last 5 years._[1]

Unfortunately, it may get even worse. Ticketmaster wants to merge with Live Nation, its leading competitor. That would give them a virtual monopoly on ticket sales, and without competition there would be nothing to stop them from hiking up their fees even higher.

The Student PIRGs have joined musicians, independent concert promoters, and consumer groups to stand up to this price-gouging and fight this ticket monopoly from forming.

Ticketmaster fees are already extreme. For example, a report by the Washington Post found a typical concert where Ticketmaster added $16.60 in fees - $4.10 for "processing," $3.50 for "facilities," and a $9 "convenience charge" -- to a $56 dollar ticket, adding about 30 percent to the price of the ticket.

The Department of Justice is reviewing the merger and is expected to make a decision in the next few weeks, so now is the time to act.

Take action here: http://studentpirgs.org/action/stop-ticketmaster-merger

You can read our federal Consumer Program Director's testimony before Congress on the merger here.

_{[1]. John Seabrook, "The Price Of The Ticket." The New Yorker, Aug. 10, 2009}