Live Nation says there’s ‘nothing new’ in DOJ’s amended antitrust complaint

Yesterday, we reported that 10 more states were joining the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, with an amended complaint accompanying the news. Now, the company has responded in a statement sent to Music Ally.

“There is nothing new in the amended complaint — the lawsuit still does not resolve the issues fans are concerned about regarding ticket prices, service fees and access to popular shows,” the spokesperson said. “We look forward to sharing more facts as the case progresses.”

As for the amended complaint, The Verge reported on some of the additions, which focus on Ticketmaster’s “SafeTix” feature, which uses refreshable barcodes on e-tickets to combat fraud.

At least that’s how Live Nation presented it, but the Justice Department argues — based on internal Ticketmaster documents unsealed during the trial — that it was also about “making it more difficult for fans who want to buy or sell a SafeTix-encrypted ticket through a second platform to use a competing platform such as StubHub or SeatGeek.”