American consumers received good news recently when news broke that the Justice Department is preparing to sue Live Nation Entertainment, Ticketmaster’s parent company, as soon as this month.
Live Nation has a well-documented history of leveraging its market dominance to bully other industry actors, so this is a welcomed development. Now is the time for the Justice Department to take the logical next step and file its long-anticipated antitrust lawsuit against the company.
Live Nation’s abuse of venue operators goes back years. In 2019, the Justice Department took significant enforcement action by extending the company’s antitrust consent decree by five and a half years. The extension was in direct response to Live Nation repeatedly violating the previous decree by coercing venues into using Ticketmaster lest they miss out on profitable events.
Justice officials said they identified “numerous instances” of the company making threats and retaliating against venues. The extended and modified decree made clearer that Live Nation is prohibited from these tactics, as if the company needed to be reminded of such a basic understanding.
But years later and despite the Justice Department’s reprimand, Live Nation continues these actions.
The department is reportedly investigating numerous episodes, including the Barclays Center’s 2023 switch from SeatGeek to Ticketmaster after only one year into a seven-year agreement. After Barclays inked the deal with SeatGeek, the number of shows promoted by Live Nation at the arena decreased.
The only reason these threats and retaliation are possible is because the Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger gave the combined company massive influence over every aspect of live events. The harm the merger would have on consumers was obvious at the time, yet the Obama Justice Department permitted it anyway to the detriment of American consumers.
Live Nation now controls an estimated 70% of the primary ticketing market, the segment most familiar to consumers. The company also has made a concerted effort to expand its presence in the resale, or secondary, market. Live Nation says it controls 20% to 25% of the resale market, even as it denigrates other resellers to distract from its scandals.
But Live Nation operates beyond ticketing. It is also the world’s largest concert promoter, a manager of more than 380 artists in 2023, and a major owner of event venues.
According to its annual report, Live Nation “owns, operates, has exclusive booking rights for or has an equity interest for which we have a significant influence in 373 venues globally.”
All this means Live Nation can box out artists from major venues if they don’t hire the company for management or promotion services, and it can withhold concerts from venues that don’t sell tickets via Ticketmaster. The Justice Department has tried to tamp down this racket, but it persists.
Live Nation’s threats and retaliation have their intended effect of reducing competition, which allows the company to vacuum up more market share. The decrease in competition lets Live Nation get away with everything that frustrates fans, including higher ticket prices, crashing websites, poor service, fewer choices and arbitrary ticket restrictions.
The harm Live Nation has inflicted on consumers has captured attention in Washington beyond the Justice Department. Members of Congress from both parties have called out Live Nation, including Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Mike Lee, R-Utah.
The two leaders of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights wrote, “For too long, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have wielded monopoly power anticompetitively, harming fans and artists alike.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., agreed, saying “you can make a pretty strong case that the Justice Department needs to bring suit to force them to divest some of the pieces of their company.” His comment came after the Senate held a hearing on Live Nation in which Sen. Hawley noted of its business practices, “this is how monopolies work.”
Recent reports indicate Live Nation is stonewalling the Justice Department’s investigators. That is not the sign of a repenting actor looking to change ways.
There’s only one path forward to protect consumers, and that’s for the Justice Department to file an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment. The sooner that happens, the sooner consumers will have the protection they deserve.
George Landrith has served as president of Frontiers of Freedom, since 1998. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was Business Editor of the Virginia Journal of Law and Politics.To learn more about Frontiers of Freedom, visit www.ff.org. Read George Landrith's Reports — More Here.