Senator Klobuchar continues to push Fans First Act as Live Nation faces federal antitrust lawsuit

Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she will continue to use federal legislation to improve consumer protections and transparency in ticket sales, even though the Justice Department filed a wide-ranging antitrust lawsuit Thursday against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment.

The lawsuit accuses them of having an illegal monopoly on live events in America – stifling competition and raising prices for fans.

“They didn’t cut corners,” the Minnesota Democrat said in an interview. “They asked the attorney general of the United States to stand up and say, ‘We have to break the monopoly.'”

Klobuchar said she will continue to push her Fans First bill because the case will likely take some time in court.

However, she said a change could come soon because Live Nation has already been announced and any actions could be included in the lawsuit.

“They have to really watch their behavior,” she said. “I hope that this will immediately result in a change in behavior and that the end result will be to break the monopoly.”

Klobuchar believes in free markets, but said: “You can’t have a free market if you exclude competition.”

She said the changes that come from the case will be good for music and sports fans.

“It’s really about standing up to a big monopoly so that consumers get better rates,” she said. She compared it to consumers getting better long-distance rates after the AT&T breakup.

Klobuchar noted that she and the late Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah first expressed concerns about the merger in 2009. Klobuchar also wrote a book on monopolies and serves as chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.