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Ticketmaster Accused of Price Gouging Drake Tickets in New Lawsuit

Lil Baby & Friends Birthday Celebration Concert - Credit: Prince Williams/Wireimage/Getty Images
Lil Baby & Friends Birthday Celebration Concert - Credit: Prince Williams/Wireimage/Getty Images

Ticketmaster is facing a new lawsuit and allegations of price gouging, this time from a Montreal man who purchased tickets to Drake’s upcoming “It’s All a Blur” tour.

As the Toronto Star reports, the suit was filed by the law firm LPC Advocat Inc. on behalf of a Montreal man who bought two “Official Platinum” seats for Drake’s July 14 show at the Bell Centre for $789.54 each. The next day, according to the suit, Drake announced a second show at the Bell Centre and the price of those same seats dropped about $350.

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The suit claims that Ticketmaster “intentionally misleads consumers for their own financial gain.” It goes on to allege that the company knew Drake would perform two shows in Montreal, but “concealed this information” to “squeeze out” money from fans.

Reps for LPC Advocat, as well as Ticketmaster, did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.

LPC Advocat is angling to turn the lawsuit into class action complaint, which will have to be approved by the Quebec Superior Court. If it does go forward, the suit will seek $300 punitive damages for each customer who joins the class, as well as compensatory damages covering “the difference between prices charged for ‘Official Platinum’ tickets and what their regular prices out to have been.”

“Ticketmaster unilaterally decides which tickets it advertises and sells as ‘Official Platinum’ based on a given event,” the suit says. “The result is that most, if not all, of the tickets advertised and sold as ‘Official Platinum’ are neither ‘premium tickets’ nor ‘some of the best seats in the house’ and are, in fact, just regular tickets sold by Ticketmaster at an artificially inflated premium in bad faith.”

Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation have faced lawsuits and an uptick in scrutiny in recent months over some of their practices and prices. The debacle that accompanied the on-sale date for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, led to a federal class action lawsuit, as well as a separate one in California. The Department of Justice and Congress also got involved with their own investigations and hearings, prompting Live Nation to advocate for new legislation that would crack down on scalpers and ticket resale.

Still, the complaints have continued — especially over the fees Ticketmaster and other sellers take — as various tours have gone on sale in recent months. Beyoncé fans complained of high fees when tickets to the Renaissance tour went on sale in February, while just last week some Cure fans wound up with fees that eclipsed the actual price of the ticket to the concert (some partial refunds were ultimately approved thanks to the efforts of frontman Robert Smith).

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