The U.S. Department of Justice, along with 29 states and the District of Columbia, filed an antitrust suit against Live Nation this morning (May 23). The action aims to force the concert giant to divest its interest in Ticketmaster, with which it merged with in 2010.
In the long-in-the-works suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the DOJ alleges Live Nation abused its power by forcing venues into exclusive ticketing contracts with Ticketmaster. The suit further claims Live Nation pressures artists to use its services, which harms competition. It also said the fees added on to ticket prices are “essentially a ‘Ticketmaster Tax’ that ultimately raise the price fans pay.”
“We allege that Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services.”
In a statement posted on its website, Live Nation argued that the lawsuit won’t reduce ticket prices and fees.
“The complaint—and even more so the press conference announcing it—attempt to portray Live Nation and Ticketmaster as the cause of fan frustration with the live entertainment industry,” Dan Wall, executive vice president, corporate and regulatory affairs, wrote. “It blames concert promoters and ticketing companies—neither of which control ticket prices—for high ticket prices. It ignores everything that is actually responsible for higher ticket prices, from increasing production costs to artist popularity, to 24/7 online ticket scalping that reveals the public’s willingness to pay far more than primary tickets cost. It blames Live Nation and Ticketmaster for high service charges, but ignores that Ticketmaster retains only a modest portion of those fees. In fact, primary ticketing is one of the least expensive digital distributions in the economy.”
Additionally, Live Nation said that its market share for ticketing has decreased in recent years, which proves it is not a monopoly.