Federal government sues to break up ‘monopoly’ Live Nation after Taylor Swift scandal

PublishedMay 23, 202412:12pm (Eastern Daylight Time)

Federal authorities vowed Thursday to break up music industry giants live nation Concert goers have been complaining for years about exorbitant prices and unavailability of tickets, most notably: Taylor Swift‘s recent Elas tour.

Attorney General merrick garland announced that Ministry of JusticeTicketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, along with 30 states, has committed “unlawful and illegal actions to exercise monopolistic control over the U.S. live events industry at the expense of fans, artists, small promoters, and venue operators. The company filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the company relies on competitive conduct.

“As a result, fans pay more, artists have fewer concerts, small promoters are squeezed out, and venues have fewer substantial options for ticketing services,” Garland said in a statement. Stated. “The time has come to disband Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”

The lawsuit accuses Live Nation of creating a circular business model that allowed it to completely dominate the industry. They receive fees and revenue from concert attendees and sponsorships, use those profits to pressure artists into exclusive promotional deals, and use them to pressure venues into long-term exclusive deals. These agreements allegedly prevent venues from switching to better or cheaper ticketing systems, and even prohibit them from using multiple ticketing companies at an event. The lawsuit alleges that rival companies are being threatened with financial retaliation. Ultimately, that would increase ticket prices for fans and stifle competition.

Dan Wall, Live Nation’s executive vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs, called the claims “ridiculous.” “This claim places the blame for soaring ticket prices on concert promoters and ticket sales companies, who have no control over ticket prices. “It ignores all the real causes of ticket price hikes, right down to 24/7 online ticket resale, which makes it clear that they are willing to pay much higher prices,” he said in a statement.

Ticketmaster, which controls more than 70% of the ticket sales and live event market, was responsible for rolling out Swift’s record-breaking Eraser tour, but the site crashed on the first day of sales, blocking tickets for millions of fans. Can’t get tickets Until it sells for a high price on the resale market.