US DOJ is going to try to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
By the time you read this, the US Department of Justice may have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, the owner of Ticketmaster, accusing the company of monopolistic practices. (Update: The lawsuit has been filed. Here it is.)
The lawsuit will say two main things:
- That Live Nation got so big and powerful by using Ticketmaster and its exclusive ticketing contracts with venues.
- That Live Nation has an unfair advantage with their control of concert tours and venues that it owns.
The contentions is that Live Nation maintained a monopoly and was free to raise prices and fees. Ticketmaster is also slammed for limiting innovation in the ticketing industry, harming would-be rivals and driving up prices.
The lawsuit points out that Ticketmaster sells about 600 million tickets around the world every year and up to 80% of all ticket sold in the US.
Live Nation/Ticketmaster denies all the allegations. Here’s their statement.
Me? Even if the US Government and the DOJ are successful in breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, it won’t make a damn bit of difference to the music fan. Ticket prices will NOT come down because THEY CAN’T. Watch this space for more.
What’s most important is Ticket Master needs to be stopped from allowing scalper bots from accessing tickets before fans and then profiting from this practice.