'Time to break it up': Garland announces antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation

Earlier today, the Department of Justice, joined by 29 States and the District of Columbia, sued Live Nation Entertainment and its wholly owned subsidiary, Ticketmaster for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. In recent years, Live Nation Ticketmasters exorbitant fees and technological failures have been criticized by fans and artists alike. But we are not here today because Live Nation Ticketmasters conduct is inconvenient. Or frustrating. We are here because, as we allege, that conduct is anti competitive and illegal. Our complaint makes clear what happens when a monopolist dedicates its resources to entrenching its monopoly power and insulating itself from competition rather than investing in better products and services. We allege that Live Nation has illegally monopolized markets across the live concert industry in the United States for far too long. It is time to break it up. Live Nation Ticketmaster has made itself ubiquitous in the live entertainment industry. It controls at least 80% of primary ticketing at major concert venues. It directly manages more than 400 artists and controls more than 60% of concert promotions across the country. And it owns or controls more than 60% of large amphitheaters in the United States. We allege that to sustain this dominance, Live Nation relies on unlawful. Anti competitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States and over the fans, artists, independent promoters, and venues that power the industry. The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services. As detailed in our complaint, Live Master Live Nation Ticketmaster locks out competition and ticketing through the use of long term, exclusive ticketing contracts with venues that can last over a decade, as well as by acquiring venues themselves. With exclusive agreements that cover more than 70% of concert ticket sales at major concert venues across the country, Ticketmaster can impose a seemingly endless list of fees on fans. Those include ticketing fees, service fees, convenience fees, Platinum fees, price master fees, per order fees, handling fees and payment processing fees, among others. For fans in the United States, this illegal conduct means higher prices.