West Virginia joins Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation

This illustration shows the Ticketmaster website on a computer screen on November 18, 2022 in Miami, Florida. (Joe Raedle | Getty Images)

West Virginia is one of 29 states, along with Washington, that have signed on to an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, the owner of Ticketmaster, accusing the company of stifling competition by monopolizing significant entertainment markets.

The lawsuit was initiated by the U.S. Department of Justice and filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster in 2010, creating a “massive organization” in the live event ticketing market that controls 80% of primary U.S. ticket sales, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office said in a news release Thursday.

“Competition is the lifeblood of a free market economy and those who resort to inappropriate means will be held fully accountable,” Morrisey said. “Companies should not resort to sinister plans to control the market while harming consumers. “Such predatory practices inflate prices and incur enormous costs.”

“The more choices consumers have, the better it is for them to make informed decisions about which company to choose,” he said.

The lawsuit comes about two years later technical problems with Ticketmaster botched ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s 2022 Eras tour.

IN press conference on ThursdayU.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland noted that Live Nation has been criticized by artists and fans alike in recent years for “exorbitant fees and technological failures.”

“But we are not here today because the behavior of Live Nation and Ticketmaster is inconvenient or frustrating,” Garland said. “We are here because we argue that this behavior is anti-competitive and illegal. Our complaint makes clear what happens when a monopolist devotes its resources to strengthening its monopoly position and isolating itself from competition, rather than investing in better products and services.”

The lawsuit alleges that Live Nation has harmed fans by charging higher fees and limiting the amount of information fans have about the ultimate cost of watching the show. It also says the company maintained its monopoly by closing venues under restrictive, long-term, exclusive contracts and threatening venues to lose access to tours and artists if they signed with a competing ticket seller, and used its network of venues to force artists to choose Nation’s live concerts as a promoter over competing companies.

The lawsuit seeks to secure financial compensation for fans who were overcharged by the company, prohibit the company from engaging in anti-competitive practices, and order Live Nation to sell Ticketmaster.

IN statement on the company’s websiteLive Nation argued that the live music market was more competitive than ever and that Live Nation’s market share had declined since 2010.

“The complaint – and particularly the press conference announcing it – seeks to paint Live Nation and Ticketmaster as the causes of fan frustration in the live entertainment industry,” the statement read. “He blames the high ticket prices on concert organizers and ticket selling companies – neither of them controls ticket prices. It ignores everything that is actually responsible for higher ticket prices, from rising production costs to the popularity of artists to the 24/7 online ticket scalping that reveals the public’s willingness to pay much more than the cost of the original tickets.

“It blames Live Nation and Ticketmaster for high service fees, while ignoring the fact that Ticketmaster only keeps a modest portion of those fees,” the statement continued. “In fact, primary ticket sales are one of the cheapest digital distributions in the economy.”

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