Finnish Antitrust Watchdog Probes Ticketmaster Over Exclusive Venue Deals

The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority has initiated an inquiry into whether exclusive ticketing agreements across the live entertainment industry improperly restrict market competition. The regulatory agency confirmed the review following submissions from industry competitors, examining how long-term agreements between ticketing platforms and performance venues affect broader market access. The agency declined to offer further comment while the investigation remains underway.

In the live event sector, an exclusive contract binds a performance venue to sell tickets for all of its events through a single designated ticketing vendor. Under this arrangement, independent event organizers and tour promoters cannot choose their preferred ticketing service, despite bearing the primary financial and commercial risks of staging concerts and public gatherings.

Several major venues in Finland operate under these exclusive frameworks. For example, all events hosted at Helsinki Arena, also known as Veikkaus Arena, must sell their admission passes exclusively through Ticketmaster, which is owned by the United States entertainment conglomerate Live Nation. Live Nation previously secured a 20-year lease agreement to manage and operate the arena. Conversely, Paviljonki in Jyvaskyla has operated under an exclusive ticketing arrangement with Lippu.fi, the service operated by Lippupiste and owned by Eventim.

The regulatory inquiry follows a formal dossier submitted approximately one year ago by Liveto, an independent ticketing technology company that offers sales services to organizers. Antti Korhonen, the chief executive officer of Liveto, voiced concern over the fairness of existing industry standards. "We want to spark a discussion about whether the ticket sales market currently works in a genuinely competitive manner," Korhonen stated, adding, "If an event organizer cannot put one of the core services of its event out to tender, it is reasonable to ask who the system ultimately serves." Although exclusive deals are not inherently illegal under competition statutes, Korhonen argued that their duration and scope warrant thorough regulatory scrutiny.

Promoters have voiced similar dissatisfaction with compulsory vendor partnerships. Jari Vaylio, who leads the mid-sized event production company Soldout Management, likened the contractual restrictions to buying a prefabricated house package and being forced to hire excavation equipment and fencing from that same supplier. "I do not have the competence to say what is legal or illegal, but I think that if we take the financial risk of doing a tour, we should have the right to decide the partners with whom we carry that risk," Vaylio said. Other major market players, including the Finnish promoter Nelonen Media Live, declined to comment on the matter.

Ticketmaster defended its operational practices, maintaining that the vast majority of significant entertainment venues in Finland do not hold exclusive contracts with the firm. The company noted that venues independently evaluate whether an exclusive ticketing partner suits their business model, as well as which vendor they ultimately select. Ticketmaster argued that exclusive agreements deliver essential operational advantages by centralizing ticket distribution, door scanning, customer assistance, fraud prevention, and day-of-event logistics within a single, integrated platform. Meanwhile, Christian Colmorgen, communications director at Eventim, declined to comment on the ongoing examination.

Contractual exclusivity in the ticketing market has triggered regulatory intervention in Finland before. In 2007, Lippupiste lodged a formal complaint against Lippupalvelu, the entity that later became Ticketmaster Finland, accusing it of abusing a dominant market position. The competition agency closed that case in 2010 after Lippupiste surpassed its rival in market share, eliminating claims of dominance, though regulators cautioned that exclusive deals could hinder new entrants. The current scrutiny in Finland also coincides with legal battles in the United States, where a federal jury determined in April that Live Nation and Ticketmaster operated an unlawful monopoly that inflated concert ticket costs, a finding that Live Nation has formally moved to appeal.