Ticketmaster was ordered to pay $10 million by the Department of Justice on Wednesday to resolve charges that it invaded the computers of a rival company, Songkick. The five criminal charges, which were filed in the Eastern District of New York, included wire fraud, conspiracy, and computer intrusion.
This latest settlement stems from accusations alleged in an anti-trust suit brought against Ticketmaster by Songkick over two years ago. In that suit—which Ticketmaster settled for $110 million—the ticketing giant acquired some of Songkick’s remaining technology assets and patents for an undisclosed sum.
Related: Live Nation President Expects Major Concerts To Return By Summer 2021 [Watch]
Prior to Ticketmaster acquiring those assets back in 2018, an unnamed employee came over from Songkick to Ticketmaster. While there, this worker provided his former employer’s login information to that of his new one and accessed internal Songkick accounts between August 2013 and December 2015.
This information was specifically used to investigate a Songkick feature called artist toolbox which allows artists to track pre-sale tickets that go up before the general on-sale, usually amounting to around 8% according to Reuters.
This login information was disseminated throughout Ticketmaster, prosecutors for the U.S. attorney’s office said, and screenshots of the artist toolbox page were included in slideshows shown to executives. In a post-hearing statement on Wednesday, Ticketmaster claimed that in 2017 it fired the employee who provided the information as well as Zeeshan Zaidi, another employee who accessed the information and is facing separate charges.
“Their actions violated our corporate policies and were inconsistent with our values,” the statement said. “We are pleased that this matter is now resolved.”
In 2019 Zaidi, the former head of Ticketmaster’s artist services division, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit computer intrusions and wire fraud in relation to the case and is currently awaiting sentencing.
The $10 million fine is part of a deferred prosecution agreement which also requires Ticketmaster to maintain an ethics program designed to prevent future crimes. While the fine is certainly not devastating to the international ticketing giant, it comes at the end of a year when the company has seen revenue drop over 90% across the board.
[H/T The New York Times]
The post Ticketmaster Fined $10 Million For Breaching Songkick Computers appeared first on L4LM.
