A US antitrust lawsuit says it’s time to break up Ticketmaster

The California-based company came under fire in 2022 after mishandling US ticket pre-sales for Taylor Swift’s hugely popular Eras Tour concerts.

Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment have been sharply criticized by the U.S. Department of Justice in a civil antitrust lawsuit for having a monopoly and thwarting competition in the live concert industry.

In a statement released yesterday (May 23), the department’s Office of Public Affairs said the lawsuit aims to “restore competition in the live concert industry, provide fans with better choices at lower prices, and open the doors of venues to working musicians and other performing artists.”

Headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, Ticketmaster is a global ticket sales and distribution company well known for selling tickets to concerts and tours planned by the world’s leading entertainers and entertainers. In 2010, it merged with Live Nation and today calls itself the largest live entertainment company in the world.

The company was recently mired in controversy after facing widespread criticism over its handling of ticket pre-sales for the US leg of Taylor Swift’s 2022 Eras Tour.

Shortly after the popular concert went on sale, the Ticketmaster website crashed, leaving millions of people without customer service. There were also reports that third parties purchased large numbers of tickets and sold them separately at exorbitant prices.

This led many to believe that Ticketmaster had demonstrated incompetence in conducting unprecedented sales and brought to the attention of regulators the need for competition in the live concert industry. Last year, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee stepped in.

Now, a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New York alleges that Ticketmaster, along with its parent Live Nation, “unlawfully” exercises monopoly power in violation of U.S. antitrust laws.

The department believes that US music fans are “deprived” of ticketing innovation and “forced” to use outdated technology, paying more for tickets than fans in other countries.

It also alleges that Ticketmaster uses its power in a way that harms competition and limits the market entry and expansion of its competitors.

“We allege that Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopoly control over the U.S. live events industry at the expense of fans, artists, smaller promoters and venue operators,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“As a result, fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play shows, smaller promoters are squeezed out and venues have less real choice in ticketing services. It is time to part ways with Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”

Live Nation owns or controls more than 265 concert venues in North America, including more than 60 of the top 100 amphitheaters in the U.S., according to the department. The company generates annual revenues of more than $22 billion worldwide.

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