This debacle led to a hearing in the US Senate On consolidation in the ticketing industry. In May, the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit Efforts are being made to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which have been accused of abusing their alleged ticketing monopoly to crush competitors.
In a statement to WIRED at the time, Live Nation denied the claim. “The DOJ's lawsuit will not address fans' concerns regarding ticket prices, service fees, and access to on-demand shows,” the company wrote. “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, such as the fact that the vast majority of service fees go to venues, And that competition has steadily eroded Ticketmaster's market share and profit margins.”
The original lawsuit brought by Swift fans accused Ticketmaster and Live Nation of breach of contract, fraud, misrepresentation, and antitrust violations. The complaint alleges that Ticketmaster broke its promise to make tickets available to fans who qualified for presale. The lawsuit claims that, meanwhile, by entering into exclusivity contracts with larger venues and forcing fans to resell tickets through its own resale marketplace, Ticketmaster established a monopoly that it was able to exploit for its financial benefits. Raises ticket prices to make a profit.
“This case concerns Ticketmaster's anti-competitive conduct in charging high prices to concert attendees in the presale, presale, and resale markets,” the complaint states. “Ticketmaster implemented this anti-competitive scheme by forcing fans of the musicians to use Ticketmaster exclusively for presale and sale prices, which are above the competitive market price.”
The new lawsuit is nearly identical to the original federal case, but expands the scope to include fans of artists other than Taylor Swift and adds an alleged RICO violation to the list. The new charge rests on the premise that Ticketmaster and Live Nation coordinated with partner organizations to dominate the market and squeeze consumers, which meets the definition of “enterprise” under the RICO Act.
“Live Nation and Ticketmaster leverage their and Live Nation-owned relationships with stadium venues to achieve their enterprise objectives, and have done so since the Department of Justice blocked their merger nearly a decade and a half ago.” Approved with ill advice. First,” the complaint states.