DOJ sues Ticketmaster/Live Nation over ticket monopoly
The Justice Department is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit in federal court against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation, according to multiple reports. The dispute centers on Live Nation's alleged monopoly on live entertainment programming in the United States and the resulting exorbitant fees charged by Ticketmaster.
Live Nation Entertainment consists of promoter and venue operator Live Nation and ticket sales agency Ticketmaster. Despite concerns about a possible monopoly, the two companies merged in 2010 and now control about 70% of the U.S. live entertainment and ticketing market.
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The crackdown was triggered by pop superstar Taylor Swift's "The Eras" tour, which Ticketmaster canceled its November 2022 public pre-sale date because it made the mistake of selling out early All 2.4 million tickets.
This marks the first time in the California-based ticket distributor’s 47-year history that it has canceled a previously announced pre-sale due to low inventory.
"It's really hard for me to trust outside authority in these relationships and loyalties, and to watch mistakes happen with no recourse," Swift wrote in an Instagram post at the time. It pains me. "There are many reasons why it's so difficult for people to buy tickets and I'm trying to figure out how to improve the situation in the future."
The Justice Department opened its investigation shortly after the Live Nation fiasco, according to The New York Times .
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights, wrote to Ticketmaster calling it “the very definition of a monopoly.”
Conductor’s Defense
Dan Wall, Live Nation's head of corporate affairs, has defended his company's policies, claiming in a blog post earlier this year that ticket prices are set by artists and their teams, while additional The service fee is set by the venue itself.
"Fans were also told that the service fee was Ticketmaster's means of increasing ticket prices," he wrote. “In fact, unlike venues, Ticketmaster does not set service fees and most of the money goes to the venues.”
In December 2022, a Taylor Swift fan filed a class-action lawsuit against Live Nation over the incident, accusing it of fraud, price-fixing and antitrust violations. The lawsuit, involving thousands of fans, accuses Ticketmaster of being a "monopoly" that "intentionally misleads millions of fans."
A year later, fan Michelle Stroeve dropped her lawsuit. While she never stated why, reports recently surfaced that the two sides were "in ongoing settlement discussions."
A lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice could be filed as early as next month.
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