Justice Department sues Ticketmaster and Live Nation over reside occasion monopoly

In a transfer that primarily has penalties for music, however may additionally bleed into the world of sports activities, the Department of Justice introduced Thursday that it was transferring ahead with a lawsuit towards Ticketmaster and mum or dad firm Live Nation Entertainment.

The supply of the swimsuit is what the federal government asserts is a big breach of antitrust regulation, with the businesses working in live performance to dominate the reside occasion business on the expense of performers, venues and artists. Attorney General Merrick Garland posted the next assertion.

“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. 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. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”

The swimsuit alleges that Ticketmaster and Live Nation lock venues into long-term contracts which prevents them from working with different ticket operators, in addition to stopping competitors from rivals on pricing — which in turns hurts shoppers.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation got here below hearth from Taylor Swift followers in 2023 as a part of their rollout of gross sales for Swift’s Eras tour. Fans complained about skyrocketing costs, in depth charges, and unfair practices. However, that is one thing sports activities followers have been enduring for years below Ticketmaster as effectively.

At the time of writing tickets can be found on Ticketmaster for Celtics vs. Pacers for his or her first residence sport in Indiana. The firm costs the tickets at $183 every, however over $75 of charges accumulate on a two ticket buy.

Ticketmaster claims the charges are break up by the corporate and the venue, although this apply has at all times been suspect with out a lot transparency. There isn’t any restrict on the service expenses corporations can cost, and with a digital lock on all reside occasions it’s turn into not possible for followers to disregard.

Time will inform how this lawsuit may change the reside occasion business.