Justice Department says Ticketmaster and Live Nation's illegal monopoly drives up prices for fans

The Justice Department has filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, accusing the companies of exercising an illegal monopoly on live events in the United States and stifling competition.
Associated Press/May 11, 2009

WASHINGTON The Department of Justice filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment on Thursday, accusing them of exercising an illegal monopoly on live events in America, stifling competition and driving up prices for fans.

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, was filed against 30 state and district attorneys general and seeks to break the monopoly that they say crowds out small promoters and harms artists.

We allege that Live Nation relies on illegal and anticompetitive conduct to exert its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States, to the detriment of fans, artists, small promoters, and venue operators. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. The result is that fans pay more in entry fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters are squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices when it comes to ticketing services. It's time to disband Live Nation-Ticketmaster.

The Justice Department accuses Live Nation of a series of practices that allow it to maintain a stranglehold on the live music scene, including the use of long-term contracts to prevent venues from choosing competing ticket offices, the ban on venues resort to multiple ticket sellers and venues threaten that they could lose money and fans if they don't choose Ticketmaster. The Justice Department says Live Nation also threatened retaliation against a company if it did not prevent a subsidiary from competing for artist endorsement deals.

Live Nation has denied engaging in practices that violate antitrust laws. When it was reported that the company was facing a federal investigation in 2022, the concert promoter said in a statement that Ticketmaster enjoys such a large market share because of the large gap that exists between the quality of the Ticketmaster system and that of the best competitors. main ticketing system.

But competing ticket sellers have long complained that Live Nation makes it difficult for them to disrupt the market with practices such as withholding acts if those venues don't agree to use the Ticketmasters service.

The lawsuit is the latest example of the Biden administration's aggressive antitrust enforcement approach targeting companies accused of engaging in illegal monopolies that eliminate competitors and drive up prices. In March, the Department of Justice filed a complaint against Apple alleging that the tech giant has monopoly power in the smartphone market. The Democratic administration has also taken on Google, Amazon and other tech giants.

Today's action is a step forward in making this era of live music more accessible to fans, artists and the industry that supports them, Assistant Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.

Ticketmaster, which merged with Live Nation in 2010, is the world's largest ticket seller, processing 500 million tickets each year in more than 30 countries. About 70% of tickets for major concert venues in the United States are sold through Ticketmaster, according to data from a 2022 federal consumer lawsuit. The company owns or controls more than 265 North American concert venues. North and dozens of prominent amphitheaters, according to the Ministry of Justice.

The ticket seller sparked outrage in November 2022 when her site crashed during a pre-sale event for a Taylor Swift stadium tour. The company said its site was overwhelmed by both fans and bot attacks, which posed as consumers to grab tickets and sell them on secondary sites. The debacle prompted hearings in Congress and bills in state legislatures aimed at better protecting consumers.

The Justice Department allowed Live Nation and Ticketmaster to merge on the condition that Live Nation agree not to retaliate against music venues for using other ticketing companies for 10 years. In 2019, the department investigated and concluded that Live Nation had repeatedly violated this agreement and extended the ban on retaliation against music venues until 2025.