Department of Justice Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Live Nation-Ticketmaster

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit last Thursday against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, in federal court in Manhattan, New York. The antitrust lawsuit accuses Live Nation-Ticketmaster of “maintaining an illegal monopoly on live events in America,” AP News reports.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and 30 district and state attorneys general are asking the court to end a monopoly that he says locks out smaller promoters, harms artists and charges buyers unnecessary fees.

“It’s time for fans and artists to stop paying the price for Live Nation’s monopoly,” said Attorney General Garland. “It’s time to restore competition and innovation to the entertainment industry. It is time to part ways with Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”

Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation in 2010 and is the world’s largest seller of live event tickets – 70 percent of major concert hall tickets in the United States are sold through Ticketmaster, according to data from a federal lawsuit filed by consumers in 2022 . The company’s annual report confirmed that it sold over 620 million tickets in 2023.

The Department of Justice accused Ticketmaster of stifling competition and charging fans “an endless list of fees,” as well as using “anti-competitive practices” such as “using long-term contracts to prevent venues from selecting competitors, blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers, and threatening venues with that they could lose money if they don’t choose Ticketmaster,” AP News reports.

“Live music should not be available only to those who can afford to pay the Ticketmaster tax,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

Live Nation has denied violating antitrust laws and said the government’s lawsuit “will not resolve fan concerns related to ticket prices, service fees and access to popular programming.”

“Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may gain PR for the Justice Department in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores basic principles of the economics of live entertainment,” Live Nation said.

Live Nation said artists determine ticket prices and that certain factors, such as increased production costs, artist popularity and online ticket scalping, “actually account for higher ticket prices,” said Dan Wall, the company’s executive vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs . .

The company also said service fees go directly to properties and competition in the market “continues to decline.” Ticketmaster promises to fight such “baseless allegations.”

This is the Biden administration’s latest attempt at antitrust enforcement.