The U.S. Department of Justice and 30 states Thursday filed an antitrust lawsuit seeking the breakup of Beverly Hills-based LiveNation Entertainment and its Ticketmaster unit over what they allege is the company’s unlawful dominance over the concert ticket sales industry.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, accuses the company of creating a monopoly over the live entertainment market that has harmed music fans, artists and promoters around the United States through higher prices and frustrating consumer experiences.
“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “It is time to break up LiveNation.”
In a website called “Breaking Down the DOJ Lawsuit,” LiveNation denied the company wields monopoly power. The company said the lawsuit “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 LiveNation 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.”
The complaint stems from a years-long probe into the company following a debacle over presales for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Ticketmaster, which controls more than 70% of the market for ticketing and live events, crashed during the first day of sales, leaving millions of fans ticketless or left to seek higher-priced tickets on the secondary market.
The lawsuit accuses LiveNation of seeking to lock out competitors and using exclusive contracts with venues that allegedly prevents the concert halls from switching to different ticketing systems.
“For too long, LiveNation and Ticketmaster have unfairly and illegally run the world of live events, abusing their dominance to overcharge fans, bully venues, and limit artists,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “When companies like LiveNation control every aspect of an event, it leads to bad blood — concertgoers and sports fans suffer and are forced to pay more. Everybody agrees, LiveNation and Ticketmaster are the problem and it’s time for a new era. Today, we are taking this important action to protect consumers and force big companies to stop abusing their influence and get in formation.”