Tong joins Connecticut in DOJ antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation/Ticketmaster

HARTFORD, Conn. – Attorney General William Tong announced Thursday that Connecticut has joined the federal government and 29 other attorneys general in an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, alleging that monopolistic conditions have led to excessive fees for consumers.

“I think we all know that Ticketmaster and Live Nation are a monopoly. We live it, feel it, breathe it the same way we announced our antitrust actions against Amazon, Apple, Google. I don’t have to prove it to you, right? Tong said at a press conference Thursday, but went further and outlined what he and the U.S. Department of Justice believe are the factors that

Tong said Live Nation and Ticketmaster control 80% of all tickets to major concert venues. They also control 60% of concert promotions in major concert halls across the country, 70% of concert tickets sold in major concert halls, and 65% of headline tickets sold in large amphitheaters. The company also owns or controls 265 concert halls in North America and 60 of the top 100 amphitheaters.

“So as you can see, they are not just focused on selling tickets. “The idea is that Ticketmaster and Live Nation enable them to dominate at the venue level, at the promotion level, at the artist representation level, at the ticketing and technology level, and then at the fan interaction level,” Tong said. “By the way, when they inspect the facilities, they also inspect the food, T-shirts and parking. They make money and come and go at every level. What they shouldn’t do is make things worse and buy up even more of their competitors to further strengthen this mode.

At a separate news conference in Washington, Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Kanter announced the Justice Department’s justification for the lawsuit.

“Our lawsuit explains through detailed allegations how Live Nation-Ticketmaster has weaponized and entrenched its power at the expense of artists and music fans across the country,” Kanter said. “Just by way of example, the lawsuit alleges how Live Nation-Ticketmaster sought to avoid costly bidding wars that would have made more money for performers. This is bad news for all artists, but it’s especially bad news for working musicians who don’t have the strength to fight back. Despite its enormous size and power, Live Nation-Ticketmaster has even acquired small and regional promoters that Live Nation fears could one day threaten its dominance.”

Live Nation executive vice president Dan Wall denied the allegations in a statement.

“The complaint – and even more so the press conference announcing it – attempts to paint Live Nation and Ticketmaster as the cause of fan frustration with the live entertainment industry. He blames the high ticket prices on concert promoters and ticketing companies – neither of which controls ticket prices, Wall said. “It ignores everything that is actually responsible for higher ticket prices, from rising production costs to the popularity of artists to 24/7 online ticket scalping that exposes audiences’ willingness to pay much more than the original cost of tickets. He blames Live Nation and Ticketmaster for high service fees, but ignores the fact that Ticketmaster only keeps a modest portion of those fees. In fact, primary ticket sales are one of the cheapest digital distributions in the economy.”

Wall also noted that it was the Obama administration that allowed the merger in the first place, and the previous administration admitted it was unable to prove that vertical integration of the two companies would significantly harm competition.

“It is also clear that we are yet another victim of this administration’s decision to hand over antitrust enforcement to populist pressures that simply reject how antitrust law works. Some people call it ‘anti-trust,’ but in reality it’s just anti-business,” Wall said. “The central premise of these populists is that antitrust laws should focus on companies that have grown so large that they, in some nebulous way, ‘dominate’ markets – even if they have achieved their size through market success rather than practices that harm consumers, which is under the spotlight of antitrust laws.”

Ticket prices have increased dramatically in the years since the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. According to a study by Apollo Academy, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, ticket prices increased by 34% between 2018 and 2023, from an average of $90 to $120.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal also released a statement supporting the lawsuit.

“These enforcement actions should be music to consumers’ ears – a strong step to support fair competition,” Blumenthal said. “Fans, artists, venues, small promoters and many others will enjoy enormous benefits. Live Nation’s monopolistic control of the industry has eliminated competition for far too long, leading to astronomical price increases and exorbitant hidden fees. The Department Identifying Unlawful and Anti-Competitive Conduct Makes Clear: Termination of Live Nation and Ticketmaster Merger Possible.”

Live Nation owns two venues in Connecticut, including the Xfinity Theater in Hartford and the Toyota Oakdale Theater in Wallingford. Ticketmaster owns the Hartford Healthcare Ampitheater in Bridgeport.

Asked about Ticketmaster’s response suggesting that they don’t control ticket prices, artists do, and they don’t control additional fees, concert halls do, Tong called it “absurd” and added that consumers pay many different taxes to Ticketmaster on all tickets purchased.

“If they don’t control it, who will?” Tong said. “They control the promotion. They control where an artist can play. They control places. As I said, they control food, T-shirts and parking at the facilities. They control ticket sales, technology and software. No one else even comes close. OK, when I said they control 265 concert halls and 60 of the top 100 amphitheaters, there is no number two. Nobody even comes close. So if they don’t have control, who does?”

When asked about the XL Center and Rentschler Field’s difficulty booking concerts, and whether it was simply because two outdoor amphitheaters are currently taking over the business, Tong thought it was a good question and said he didn’t know the answer to that question because he didn’t he was an industry specialist.

“Although I think we know and have evidence showing that Ticketmaster/Live Nation are in the business of engineering the concert booking process to maximize their profits,” Tong said. “For example, if there is a promoter, small-time promoter or entertainer who doesn’t want to play ball and doesn’t follow the rules, they will exclude him from the facility even if he wants to play in Hartford. They will leave Hartford empty or dark, or they will leave Bridgeport empty or dark, unless they get their way.

He continued: “That probably happened to some extent. I can’t say why they aren’t booked every night. I’m sure there’s a business dynamic around it. But we know they have the skills, they are so dominant that they control who can play, where and when.

Tong said the point of the dispute is that Live Nation and Ticketmaster can no longer exist under one roof.

“Everything is on the table,” Tong said. “We want them to get it right for consumers, which means we don’t want them to charge all these ridiculous fees.”

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