The Attorneys General of Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Vermont joined a civil antitrust lawsuit filed by the Justice Department, 29 other states and the District of Columbia against Live Nation-Ticketmaster for monopolisation and other unlawful conduct in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act.
The department and its now-expanded group of 40 co-plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in the Southern District of New York.
The amended complaint also alleged additional details about Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s anticompetitive course of conduct in markets across the live entertainment industry.
“We are here because, as we allege, that conduct is anticompetitive 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,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in May.
“And it owns or controls more than 60% of large amphitheatres in the United States,” the U.S. attorney added.Â
Garland said, “We allege that, to sustain this dominance, Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive 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 – LiveNation-Ticketmaster locks out competition in 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.Â
“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, Pricemaster fees, per order fees, handling fees, and payment processing fees, among others.”
