Ticketmaster owner Live Nation facing monopoly lawsuit - after criticism from Taylor Swift

The US Justice Department (DOJ) is suing Live Nation, arguing the big concert promoter and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, have been "monopolising" the live events industry.

ticketmaster owner live nation facing monopoly lawsuit - after criticism from taylor swift

Taylor Swift criticised Ticketmaster for how they handled the ticket sale for her Eras tour in 2022. File Pic: AP

The antitrust lawsuit was launched on Thursday by the DOJ, 30 US states, and the District of Columbia, with US Attorney General Merrick Garland saying: "It is time to break up Live Nation."

The entertainment company merged with Ticketmaster back in 2010. Through Ticketmaster, Live Nation now controls roughly 80% or more of big venues' primary ticketing for concerts, the suit says.

A Live Nation spokesperson said the company would defend itself "against these baseless allegations" and said the DOJ would lose in court because the case "ignores the basic economics of live entertainment".

Ticketmaster, which overwhelmingly dominates the ticketing industry, has for years left fans and artists frustrated by hidden fees, rising costs, and limited ticket availability due to presales.

Its dominance in the industry came under scrutiny by US politicians in 2022, when Ticketmaster was forced to cancel its general sale of tickets to Taylor Swift's much-anticipated Eras tour due to "extraordinarily high demands".

At the time, the superstar criticised Ticketmaster on social media, saying it was "excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse" after Swift's fans reported long wait times and site outages during the presales.

The star said 2.4 million fans had been able to purchase tickets, which was "truly amazing... but it really p***** me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them".

Thursday's legal action underscores the aggressive approach President Joe Biden's antitrust enforcers have adopted as they seek to create more competition in a wide range of industries, from "big tech", to healthcare, and groceries.

In March, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging that the tech giant has monopoly power in the smartphone market.

"Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry

in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators," Mr Garland said.

He added that, as a result, fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to perform, and smaller promoters get squeezed out.

The lawsuit says Live Nation directly manages more than 400 musical artists and controls around 60% of concert promotions at major venues.

It also owns or controls more than 265 concert venues in North America.

'Taylor Swift bill' signed into Minnesota law

Matty Healy reacts to Taylor Swift's 'diss track'

In 2010, the Justice Department approved Ticketmaster's controversial merger with Live Nation, with conditions intended

to stop the combined company from harming competition.

In 2020, a court extended most of the DOJ's oversight of the merger to 2025 because, the department said, Ticketmaster

retaliated against stadiums and arenas that opted to use other ticketing companies.

Live Nation has said in the past that it was confident its business practices were legal, and that the probe had been prompted by complaints from rivals, including re-sellers.

A spokesperson for the company said on Thursday that the lawsuit "won't solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees, and access to in-demand shows".

Live Nation added that "calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment" - stating that most service fees go to venues.

OTHER NEWS

23 minutes ago

Kingdom Hearts, As Told By Steam Reviews

23 minutes ago

England vs Slovenia player ratings: Jude Bellingham and Conor Gallagher disappoint at Euro 2024

23 minutes ago

Superstar Calvin Harris is Coming to Bahrain on This Date!

23 minutes ago

Austria beat Netherlands in five-goal Euro 2024 thriller to top Group D

23 minutes ago

Rocky Mountain tourist learns the hard way not to get between a mother bear and her cubs

24 minutes ago

Creative Overwatch 2 Fan Comes Up With Baldur's Gate 3 Skin Concepts

24 minutes ago

Life By You is Canceled, But Another Sims Competitor is Still Coming

24 minutes ago

Afghanistan in T20 World Cup semifinal: A real fairy tale?

24 minutes ago

Eagles' Brandon Graham happy Saquon Barkley joined team, says losing star RB 'sucked for the Giants fans'

24 minutes ago

Watch: San Diego Zoo celebrates birth of endangered Baird's tapir

24 minutes ago

Why the Netherlands wear orange whilst playing football

24 minutes ago

Elden Ring Fan Creates Incredible Acrylic Painting of The Lands Between

24 minutes ago

England 0-0 Slovenia: player ratings from the Euro 2024 Group C game

24 minutes ago

Cups thrown at England manager Gareth Southgate after 0-0 draw with Slovenia

24 minutes ago

Airplane suddenly drops 25,000 feet midflight, injuring 17 passengers

25 minutes ago

Asia-Pacific markets mostly lower ahead of Australia's May inflation figures

25 minutes ago

After losing home, family hopes for historic café’s survival as Rapidan Dam collapse looms

27 minutes ago

Attractions work on affordability to draw staycationing Calgarians this summer

29 minutes ago

Video: Lemurs in the wild serenade each other with a distinct rhythm, study finds - suggesting the ability to sing evolved early in primates

30 minutes ago

Joe and Jill Biden refinanced their Delaware home 20 times — raking in $4.2M from the $350K property

30 minutes ago

Boxing-Usyk vacates IBF heavyweight title

30 minutes ago

FTX customers to vote on multi-billion dollar repayment plan

30 minutes ago

New footage of Adelaide Westfield shopping centre incident emerges

30 minutes ago

Lytton, B.C., rebuild continues three years after wildfire destroyed most of town

30 minutes ago

Report: Dallas Cowboys’ Stephen Jones Is ‘Pulling’ Jerry Jones Back From Going All-In On Free Agency

30 minutes ago

‘We’re confident’: Not over yet for Cats great

30 minutes ago

Anti-Labour placards backfire for the Green Party

30 minutes ago

Millionaire residents fury that town has turned into dumping ground

30 minutes ago

Bears D-line gets poor ranking ahead of 2024 season

30 minutes ago

Cole Palmer speaks after making Euros debut against Slovenia

33 minutes ago

Claim Trump can make tips tax-free needs context

34 minutes ago

Whistleblower's attorney says Baylor St. Luke's heart surgeons were routinely double or triple-booking surgeries

34 minutes ago

Israelis' lawsuit says UN agency helps Hamas by paying Gaza staff in dollars

36 minutes ago

Kylian Mbappé scores but encounters issues wearing protective mask on return for France at Euro 2024

36 minutes ago

Inflation expected to ‘slightly rise’ in May

36 minutes ago

Almost half of people on antidepressants could quit

36 minutes ago

Einhorn’s Greenlight Slams ‘Head of Macro’ in Fresh Lawsuit

36 minutes ago

Packers Rookie Preview: Kitan Oladapo

36 minutes ago

International court issues warrants over Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians

36 minutes ago

Issues about nuclear waste are a 'smokescreen'