Live Nation-Ticketmaster Monopolizing Markets

Earlier this month, in a bid to increase transparency for consumers, the House of Representatives passed the TICKET Act, which would force Live Nation and other ticket sellers to list all the costs and fees within a live event ticket price.

The bill, which was introduced in the Senate by Ted Cruz of Texas, has been supported by hundreds of prominent musicians, including Billie Eilish, Dave Matthews and Nile Rodgers, who wrote in a joint statement:

“We are joining together to say that the current system is broken: predatory resellers and secondary platforms engage in deceptive ticketing practices to inflate ticket prices and deprive fans of the chance to see their favorite artists at a fair price.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alongside a bipartisan coalition of nearly 30 states and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), has now filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ticketmaster LLC (Live Nation-Ticketmaster), for monopolization and other unlawful conduct that thwarts competition in markets across the live entertainment industry.

The lawsuit, which includes a request for structural relief, seeks to restore competition in the live concert industry, provide better choices at lower prices for fans, and open venue doors for working musicians and other performance artists.

In 2010, two major ticketing and entertainment companies, Ticketmaster and Live Nation, merged to form a conglomerate called Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.

Since then, the organization has dominated the advertising, ticket sales, and concert production market, becoming the self-declared “largest live entertainment company in the world.”

Live Nation, through Ticketmaster, began demanding exclusive and anticompetitive contracts with venues under threat of punitive economic action. Then, the company leveraged its monopoly on ticket sales and amphitheaters to coerce performers into similarly restrictive promotional contracts.

With such a high degree of control over the tickets, the venues, and even artists themselves, the company was able to take advantage of consumers through price hikes, obscure fees, and reduced choice.

Attorney General Paxton and coalition partners are requesting the court to enjoin Live Nation from continuing its anticompetitive practices, require Ticketmaster and Live Nation to separate, and provide restitution to customers negatively affected by the anticompetitive monopoly.

“Mega-corporations cannot control entire industries to create anti-competitive environments, drive up prices, and take advantage of consumers,” said Attorney General Paxton. “With this lawsuit, we aim to ensure fair competition for ticket sellers, concertgoers, venues, and others in the entertainment space who have been affected by this merger.”

In a lengthy statement provided to CleverJourneys, Live Nation wrote in part: “The DOJ’s lawsuit won’t solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees, and access to in-demand shows. Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment, such as the fact that the bulk of service fees go to venues, and that competition has steadily eroded Ticketmaster’s market share and profit margin.”

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