The US Department of Justice is expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, the owner of Ticketmaster

Live Nation/Ticketmaster have come under fire in recent years for what many concert-goers and bands condemn as price-fixing and artificially inflating ticket prices and scalping/reselling. The US government launched an investigation into the brand following major public outcry from fans following the ticket fiasco, e.g Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, and most recently Blink-182. Now Aaccording to published reports by CNN and The Washington Post The U.S. Department of Justice and several states are expected to file a lawsuit against Live Nation Inc as early as Thursday, citing alleged antitrust violations stemming at least in part from the market dominance of the unit’s Ticketmaster, the person briefed said about planned legal actions. If this lawsuit is successful, it will send shockwaves through the music industry, the concert industry, all the way to booking agents, bands and fans. Live Nation was former recipient of anger especially from metalheads after proving collusion with bands to create a resale market with mainstream bands like Metalicca (Editor’s Note: Virtually every major touring band has a representative who manages their relationship with Live Nation), causing great embarrassment for the team. Refuting the case against them (but before submitting the application) (one of them is that they have an unfair monopoly on the entire concert industry), they claim that they are not dishonest and that entities entering the ticket sales market have caused them to defend their brand . They tried several campaigns to offset the failure of this lawsuit, including support for the “Fair Ticketing Act,” the launch of “total pricing” options, and On the way program with Willie Nelson to help locals and put an end to the practice of in-store cutbacks.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/22/business/live-nation-ticketmaster-doj-antitrust/index.html

Live Nation’s previous plan to prevent their disbandment!

Live Nation Entertainment announces support for the Fair Ticketing Act

https://www.livenationentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2022.11.27-Letter-from-J.-Berchtold-to-Sen.-Klobuchar.pdf

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR THE FAIR TICKING ACT

Fans and artists pushing for ticketing reform:

Fans are everything to artists, and the best way to ensure a fair ticket purchase for live music fans is to put more control in the hands of the artists themselves.

ARTISTS SHOULD SET RULES FOR SALES.

Protect artists’ ability to use face value exchange and limited transfer to keep prices lower for fans and prevent scalpers from exploiting fans.

PROHIBITION OF ILLEGAL SPECULATION TICKETS SALE.

Scalpers use fraudulent tactics to trick fans into spending more money or buying tickets that the seller doesn’t even have – this is misleading to fans and should be banned.

EXPAND THE BOTS ACT.

Policymakers should expand the scope of the BOTS Act and increase its enforcement to deter those who break the law by defrauding artists and fans.

TRANSLATE SALES SITES THAT ARE A SAFE HAVEN FOR SCALPER.

Sales sites that turn a blind eye to illegally purchased tickets, allow ticket speculation and ignore artists’ policies need real consequences from policymakers to curb their bad behavior.

ALL-IN PRICE LIST IN THE COUNTRY.

Avoid surprises at checkout and give fans the ability to easily compare prices while shopping by requiring an all-in quote that shows the full cost of tickets and fees at a glance.

We already use many of these common sense principles and are willing to make additional changes, but we can’t do it alone. We need the entire industry and policymakers to stand up for fans and artists.

Promoting FAIR Ticketing has never been more important as artists actively lose the ability to control their tickets in states across the country – hurting fans and helping scalpers.

6 states have already passed laws protecting resale:

–Illinois

– Colorado

–Connecticut

– New York

– Virginia

–Utah

Five more states are considering new laws to protect resale:

– California

– Florida

– Georgia

– Maryland

– Washington

Why is this important?

Scalper lobbyists use terms like “fan freedom” to sound like they care about consumers – but unlimited resale protects scalpers more than fans. Programs such as fan-to-fan face value swaps are specifically designed to give fans maximum flexibility when purchasing tickets, but ticket prices remain at the prices set by the artists. Unchecked resale laws make such programs illegal.

How to fix it?

To truly protect consumers, Congress should pass federal law preventing artists from controlling their tickets. Together we can create a FAIR system that benefits everyone.

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