Justice Department sues to break up Live Nation, Ticketmaster
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The U.S. Justice Department and almost 30 states sued Live Nation Entertainment Inc. seeking to force the company to sell off ticketing giant Ticketmaster.
In a complaint filed Thursday in New York federal court, antitrust enforcers alleged that Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally monopolized the live-events industry by engaging in a variety of anticompetitive practices. Those include locking venues into long-term exclusive contracts and retaliating against rivals and venues that seek to use alternatives.
The lawsuit was first reported by Bloomberg.
Live Nation controls more than 265 concert venues in North America and manages more than 400 musical artists, according to the Justice Department. Overall, Live Nation controls at least 80% of major concert venues’ ticketing for concerts. The Justice Department said that has led fans to pay more in fees because “there are no other options.”
Live venues fear they will lose concerts and revenue if they don’t work with Ticketmaster, according to the Justice Department.
“It is well understood across the live concert industry, as a result of Live Nation’s historical conduct and exactly as Live Nation intended, that choosing ticketers other than Ticketmaster carries enormous risk and financial pain,” the Justice Department said in the complaint.
The suit is the fourth major monopolization case being pursued by the Justice Department’s antitrust unit, along with twin cases against Alphabet Inc.’s Google and a lawsuit filed earlier this year against Apple Inc.
A bipartisan group of states and territories joined the complaint, including Texas, Florida, California, New York and Washington, DC.
Ticketmaster, the largest U.S. ticketing company, merged with Live Nation, the biggest concert promoter, 14 years ago following a lengthy antitrust investigation. The Justice Department required the combined company to pledge that it wouldn’t tie its services together or retaliate against venues that switched promoters or ticketing services.
In 2019, the Justice Department alleged that the company had violated that promise and entered a new settlement imposing an external monitor to ensure compliance and investigate any further disputes.
The Biden administration opened a new antitrust probe into the company that has garnered widespread public interest after Ticketmaster bungled the massive demand for Taylor Swift tickets in 2022.