The Department of Justice wants to break up the concert giant Live Nation

The Justice Department, 29 states and the District of Columbia filed an antitrust lawsuit Thursday accusing Live Nation and Ticketmaster of operating as a monopoly in the concert industry and trying to break up the company.

The complaint, filed in federal court in New York, alleged that Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster tried to push competitors out of every aspect of the concert industry, including promotions, venues and ticketing.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, speaking to reporters during Thursday’s announcement, said the company had reduced competition, reduced revenues for artists and other promoters and increased prices for consumers.

“We allege that Live Nation has illegally monopolized the markets for the live events industry in the United States,” Garland said. “It’s time to break it up.”

Live Nation and Ticketmaster “are encroaching on the center and periphery of virtually every aspect of the live music ecosystem,” the lawsuit said.

According to the complaint, the company owns or controls more than 60 percent of the nation’s major performing arts venues, more than 60 percent of concert promotions and 80 percent of ticket sales for live music venues.

The lawsuit says the company has annual revenues of more than $22 billion and is about eight times larger than its closest U.S. competitor

The Justice Department and states are seeking to force the sale of Ticketmaster and end contracts with potential competitors such as Oak View Group that prevented them from competing with each other.

In the announcement, Garland stated that the company took a wide range of actions to strengthen these monopolies, including buying out competitors, criticizing those it did not buy, and leaving the facilities empty rather than opening them to artists who did not take advantage of its promotional services.

This allows the company to force artists to use its services and charge consumers exorbitant fees, Garland said.

At the same time, it means worse services for consumers, such as technological failures, the complaint said.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged in 2010 and own most of the country’s large concert halls. At that time, the Justice Department approved the merger.

Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Kanter told reporters Thursday that the approval only applies to the specific merger and not to the company’s broader “systemic and systematic pattern” of monopolistic conduct.

A company spokesman in a statement Thursday criticized the lawsuit for exaggerating Live Nation’s power in the industry. Dan Wall, executive vice president of Live Nation, said the Justice Department complaint has scapegoated the company because of broader consumer frustration with the concert experience.

“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 audiences’ willingness to pay much more than the original cost of tickets,” Wall said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights, praised the Justice Department’s lawsuit in a statement Thursday.

“Hidden fees, confusing processes and stifling competition have long harmed fans. As a result, live event entertainment is becoming increasingly out of reach for many Americans,” Klobuchar said.

The panel’s ranking member, Sen. Josh Hawley, D-Missouri, called the Justice Department’s antitrust enforcement a “bright spot” for the administration.

Ticketmaster’s practices have attracted congressional scrutiny for years, as members of both parties have raised concerns about the company’s practices.

In 2019, Klobuchar and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent a letter to the Trump administration asking it to investigate whether the company had violated the terms of the agreement approving the 2010 merger.

In 2020, the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing on price transparency in the ticketing industry. There, members raised concerns about the company’s pricing and data collection practices.

Last year, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing after the company took on Taylor Swift’s record-breaking “Eras” tour, during which fans paid thousands of dollars for tickets.

In 2023, Klobuchar and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex. introduced a bill that would require greater disclosure of information about ticket prices and marketing practices, and would also require increased protection against mass ticket purchases by bots.