PBS News Hour | Department of Justice Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Ticketmaster, Live Nation

GEOFF BENNETT: The Justice Department wants the courts to divide Live Nation.

It is the parent company of Ticketmaster and the largest concert promoter in the USA

The entertainment conglomerate has long been subject to intense scrutiny over the prices of major artist concerts.

One of the most notable recent incidents involved Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour tickets, when the Ticketmaster website crashed during pre-sales, sparking widespread outrage.

The company blamed high demand.

Swifties, however, suspected foul play as the tickets quickly disappeared, only to reappear on resale sites at much higher prices.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland presented his case today.

MERRICK GARLAND, Attorney General of the United States: Our complaint explains 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.

We allege that Live Nation has illegally monopolized the concert industry markets in the United States for too long.

It’s time to break this down.

GEOFF BENNETT: More than twenty states and the District of Columbia have joined the lawsuit.

This also applies to California.

Rob Bonta is the state’s attorney general and joins us now.

Welcome to the NewsHour.

ROB BONTA (no), California Attorney General: Thank you for having me, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, as we mentioned, you are one of dozens of state attorneys general supporting this lawsuit.

Why?

ROB BONTA: Because it is important for us as regulators to ensure a free, fair and lawful market with competition, in which monopolistic and anti-competitive behavior does not distort, manipulate and bend the market to its will.

Live Nation can be a successful and law-abiding company.

They don’t do that at the moment.

Their behavior is illegal and against the law and they must not do it.

So in the interest of supporting a free and fair market, providing consumers with a better experience with higher quality and lower prices, ensuring that artists can choose the right promoter rather than being forced to choose Live Nation, ensuring that venues are able to choose the ticket seller they want, and not be forced to choose in Ticketmaster’s interests, and to enable start-ups, entrepreneurs and new entrants to actually enter the market and compete.

That’s why we’re bringing this case.

This is an example of ensuring that monopolistic and anti-competitive behavior does not enter our market and that it is free, fair and open to competition.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, our team has reached out to Live Nation for comment.

And they told us so.

“Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be PR

“It will win for the Department of Justice in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores basic principles of the live entertainment economy, such as the fact that most service fees go to venues and that competition continues to erode Ticketmaster’s market share and profit margin.”

So they are essentially saying that ticket prices reflect the current costs of doing business.

How do you react to this?

ROB BONTA: If Live Nation hasn’t engaged in monopolistic and anti-competitive behavior, they have nothing to worry about.

I don’t think deflecting or pointing the finger elsewhere is the most productive approach here.

We have a state, federal, and District of Columbia coalition and a 29-state district entity, as well as a bipartisan federal government.

Texas and California are jointly involved in this lawsuit and have analyzed the facts, applied the law, and come to the same conclusion that Live Nation is engaged in illegal conduct and cannot continue to do so.

I think it’s important for Live Nation to look at its own conduct.

They failed to honor the terms of the 2010 merger.

They force artists to use them as promoters rather than allowing artists to choose any promoter they want and forcing Live Nation to compete for him in a competitive environment.

They force venues to use Ticketmaster and only Ticketmaster, a reseller that is very frustrating for fans who know how low the quality is and, as mentioned earlier in this article, caused the website to crash when people tried to access their beloved concert and see Taylor Swift.

I think the behavior speaks for itself.

The application of the law, the federal Sherman Act, violates both Sections 1 and 1, and that’s why we brought this lawsuit, because we felt we had no other choice to protect consumers and create a free, competitive market.

GEOFF BENNETT: Coming back to your point about preserving competition in a free market, what do you say to people who might see this as government intervention in a free market?

ROB BONTA: The government has a role to play in creating a free market.

This is not a free-for-all market where violence and illegal tactics and activities can be used.

It is the responsibility of the regulators, the judges, if you will, to make sure that the rules are followed.

There are rules in our market.

There are things that are illegal and not allowed.

Unfortunately, Live Nation engages in some of these activities that are illegal.

We have antitrust law, prohibitions on monopolistic and anticompetitive behavior, and free market principles that have existed for decades and centuries.

They still exist.

They must be imitated.

So nothing is certain, the bigger – – companies can use their size, their dominance, their control to root out competition and prevent mom and dad, the entrepreneur with a great idea, from creating competition.

You can’t do that – it’s not allowed.

So we just make sure the rules are followed.

And then the market and competition will decide what happens next.

But the most important thing is to make sure that the rules are followed and there is no illegal behavior.

That’s why we brought this case.

GEOFF BENNETT: California Attorney General Rob Bonta, thank you again for joining us this evening.

ROB BONTA: Thank you for having me.