Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster merged in 2010 in a deal that raised concerns about its impact on competition. This Thursday, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in court requesting the group’s breakup, accusing the company of exercising an illegal monopoly on live shows, something the group denies. Thus opens a long legal battle, the outcome of which may depend on the future of the multimillion-dollar sector of musical concerts, sporting events and other shows.
Political pressure on Live Nation (the group’s parent company, dedicated to the promotion of shows) and Ticketmaster (the now subsidiary, specialized in ticket sales) had grown as a result not only of the skyrocketing prices of concerts, but also of managing ticket sales for some of them. Problems buying tickets for Taylor Swift’s tour took the case to Congress last year in a session full of nods to the singer in which promoters and artists denounced the harm caused to them by the dominance of the merged giant. “The only way to regain competition in this sector is to separate Live Nation and Ticketmaster,” Jack Groetzinger, the head of competitor SeatGeek, said at the time.
That is precisely what the Attorney General of the United States, Merrick Garland, and the prosecutors of 29 States plus the District of Columbia are asking for. “In recent years, Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s exorbitant fees and technological failures have been criticized by fans and artists alike. But we’re not here today because Live Nation’s conduct is inconvenient or frustrating. “We are here because, as we allege, this conduct is anti-competitive and illegal,” Garland said at a press conference in Washington. “We allege that Live Nation has illegally monopolized the live concert markets in the United States for too long. It is time to dismantle it,” he added.
The lawsuit contends that Live Nation Ticketmaster has become ubiquitous in the live entertainment industry. It controls at least 80% of primary ticket sales at major concert venues, directly manages more than 400 artists, and controls more than 60% of concert promotions nationwide. At the same time, it owns or controls more than 60% of the large venues in the United States. It processes 500 million tickets a year in more than 30 countries.
“We allege that to maintain this dominance, Live Nation relies on unlawful anti-competitive conduct to exert its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States and over the fans, artists, independent and local promoters who drive the industry. The result is that fans pay more. Artists have fewer opportunities to give concerts. “Smaller promoters are pushed out and venues have fewer real options for ticketing services,” Garland said.
The Justice Department accuses Live Nation of practices such as using long-term exclusive contracts to prevent venues from choosing rival ticket sellers, blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers, and threatening venues that they could lose. money and fans if they don’t choose Ticketmaster. “Live Nation stifles its competition using a variety of tactics, from acquisitions of promoters and smaller regional venues, to threats, retaliation and deals with rivals designed to neutralize them.”
With exclusive agreements that cover more than 70% of concert ticket sales at the country’s major venues, Ticketmaster can impose a seemingly endless list of commissions on fans, Garland charges. He has cited ticketing, service, convenience, Platinum, master price per order, management and payment processing fees. The lawsuit refers to those surcharges as a “Ticketmaster tax.” The group has also been accused of failing to facilitate equal distribution and implementing dynamic pricing systems that lead to exorbitant amounts for entry.
Abuses of dominant position, according to the lawsuit, also work in the opposite direction. Long-term agreements with venues and its direct control of many of them allow it to illegally pressure artists to accept its promotional services. In fact, according to the Justice Department, the group often sacrifices profits as a venue owner, preferring to leave venues empty rather than open them to artists who do not use Live Nation’s promotional services, even during peak concert season, according to the demand.
“The Department of Justice has filed this lawsuit on behalf of fans, who should be able to go to concerts without a monopoly standing in their way,” Garland said in his speech this Thursday. “We have filed this lawsuit on behalf of artists, who should be able to plan their tours around their fans, and not be dictated to by an illegal monopolist. We have filed this lawsuit on behalf of independent promoters and venues, who should be able to compete on equal terms. And we have filed this lawsuit on behalf of the American people. It’s time for fans and artists to stop paying the price for Live Nation’s monopoly. It’s time to restore competition and innovation to the entertainment industry. “It is time to end the Live Nation-Ticketmaster union,” he concluded.
In his appearance in Congress last year, the president of Live Nation Entertainment, Joe Berchtold, assured that Ticketmaster has not gained market share, but has lost it since the merger and admitted that the company had things to improve, but assured that it did not act as a monopoly. He apologized for his mismanagement of ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s tour, which literally broke the box office. Berchtold blamed the bots of the collapse of their system.
This Thursday, the company has responded with a statement in which it says that the lawsuit “will not reduce ticket prices or service rates.” According to the company, “there is more competition than ever in the live events market, which is why Ticketmaster’s market share has decreased since 2010.” Furthermore, it indicates that the group’s profits and margins indicate that it does not exercise monopolistic power. “This lawsuit diverts attention from real solutions that would lower prices and protect fans, such as allowing artists to limit resale prices,” he says.
According to Live Nation, the lawsuit “ignores everything that is really responsible for rising ticket prices, from rising production costs to the popularity of artists, to the 24/7 online ticket resale that reveals the willingness of the public to pay much more than the primary tickets cost.” The Department of Justice “blames Live Nation and Ticketmaster for the high service fees, but ignores that Ticketmaster only keeps a modest portion of those fees,” the company says.
All the culture that goes with you awaits you here.
Subscribe
Babelia
The literary news analyzed by the best critics in our weekly newsletter
RECEIVE IT
#United #States #calls #split #Live #Nation #Ticketmaster #antitrust #lawsuit