Conn. joins the antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster, Live Nation

HARTFORD, Connecticut and dozens of other states have joined the legal fight against Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation.

“Ticketmaster-Live Nation is a dominant, vertically integrated monopoly. It’s time to break it up,” said William Tong, Connecticut’s attorney general.

The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit on Thursday, accusing the company of dominating the industry and illegally maintaining a monopoly.

RELATED: Justice Department Says Illegal Monopoly by Ticketmaster and Live Nation Raises Prices for Fans

“We don’t have an effective choice for consumers,” Tong said. “There is no competition on the market. We can’t go somewhere else, buy tickets through someone else.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said the world’s largest concert promoter and ticketing company holds 80% of the market, leaving little room for competition and price inflation beyond what the average American family can afford.

“To go to a concert this summer, if you have teenagers like me, I have three kids, hundreds of dollars (per child),” Tong said. “With food, parking and tickets. I don’t have a few thousand for an evening at the Meadowlands, who does? That’s what it means. This is what monopoly rents are all about. This is the price we pay for controlling them.”

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The company’s monopoly power came under scrutiny during Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour, a stressful time for fans when Ticketmaster’s website, the only place selling seats to the show, kept crashing.

“I almost missed my afternoon class because I spent hours waiting for tickets,” Haley Grayson, a Swift fan from UConn, said at the time.

However, when fans dealt with this problem, they saw shocking prices.

“I’ve never spent this much on concert tickets before, and when you added up all the fees, it was outrageous,” said Margaret Pfohl, who took part in the pre-sale of tickets for Taylor Swift’s tour.

Not only is the live music scene at the mercy of Ticketmaster, but so are the events and sports venues under contract with Live Nation, including the Xfinity Oakdale Theater in Wallingford and the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater in Bridgeport.

RELATED: Justice Department sues Live Nation and Ticketmaster over alleged monopoly on event tickets, according to reports

“These enforcement actions should be music to consumers’ ears and a strong step to support fair competition. Fans, artists, venues, small promoters and many others will enjoy huge benefits. Live Nation’s monopolistic control of the industry has eliminated competition for far too long, leading to astronomical price increases and exorbitant hidden fees. In identifying unlawful and anticompetitive conduct, the Department makes clear: consideration should be given to dissolving the Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger,” Sen. Richard Blumental, D-CT, said in a statement.

Live Nation called the Justice Department’s allegations “baseless,” disputing claims that it has a monopoly on the industry and adding that artists and bands set ticket prices.

Bridgette Bjorlo is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Keep following her Facebook, XAND Instagram.

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