The Justice Department\u2019s endeavor to break up Live Nation, Ticketmaster\u2019s parent company, has officially made its way to the courtroom. <\/p>\n
The antitrust case, which began with jury selection Monday, is unfolding in federal court in New York. Opening statements are scheduled to start Tuesday, with the trial expected to last six weeks.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit, filed in 2024 by the Justice Department and dozens of state attorneys general, as well as Washington, D.C., alleges that Live Nation has illegally dominated the live concert industry by monopolizing ticketing, concert booking, venues and promotions.<\/p>\n
The complaint, which was filed in the Southern District of New York, accuses the company of engaging in \u2018anticompetitive conduct\u2019 that leads fans to pay more in fees, artists to get fewer opportunities to play concerts and venues to have limited choices for ticketing services.<\/p>\n
Ticketmaster has for years been the target of scrutiny by music fans who reported frustrations with buying tickets through the platform. <\/p>\n
Live Nation directly manages more than 400 musical artists and owns or controls more than 265 concert venues in North America. And through Ticketmaster, the lawsuit says, it controls around 80% of major concert venues\u2019 ticketing \u2014 as well as a growing share of the resale market.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough interconnected agreements associated with Live Nation\u2019s various roles as ticketer, promoter, artist manager, and venue owner,\u201d the complaint says, \u201cLive Nation has created a feedback loop that pushes ticketing and ancillary fees higher while allowing Live Nation to be on all sides of numerous transactions and thereby double-dip from the pockets of fans, artists, and venues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what else to know.<\/p>\n
Attempts to advocate for ticketing reform have spanned decades. The rock band Pearl Jam tried to push the issue forward 30 years ago when its members testified before Congress, saying Ticketmaster had refused to agree to low concert ticket prices and fees. The case was dismissed a year later, and Ticketmaster\u2019s dominance has persisted over the decades that followed.<\/p>\n
But frustration over Ticketmaster began to boil over when it incurred the wrath of one of the country\u2019s largest fan bases: Swifties, aka followers of Taylor Swift.<\/p>\n
In late 2022, overloaded presale queues for the domestic leg of Swift\u2019s 2023 Eras Tour caused the site to crash and led Ticketmaster to cancel the sale. The fiasco even drew the attention of Swift herself, who called it \u201cexcruciating\u201d to watch. <\/p>\n
Soon afterward, in January 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing examining Ticketmaster\u2019s dominance in the industry. During the bipartisan hearing, which probed whether Ticketmaster\u2019s outsize control has unfairly hurt customers, even senators couldn\u2019t refrain from making references to Swift.<\/p>\n
The Swifties also brought their own lawsuits against Ticketmaster in December 2022. One class-action suit was dropped by the end of 2023, while another suit, filed together by 355 individual ticket buyers, still awaits trial.<\/p>\n
Live Nation Entertainment has denied that it\u2019s a monopoly. <\/p>\n
The company has told NBC News that the Justice Department\u2019s lawsuit \u201cwon\u2019t solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees, and access to in-demand shows.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCalling 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 bulk of service fees go to venues, and that competition has steadily eroded Ticketmaster\u2019s market share and profit margin,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n
Last week, Live Nation asked U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian to pause the case so it could appeal his decision denying the case\u2019s dismissal. <\/p>\n
Subramanian, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, declined to delay the trial and ruled to allow the Justice Department\u2019s claims to proceed. <\/p>\n
Potential witnesses for the trial include: musician Kid Rock (whose real name is Robert Ritchie), Minnesota Timberwolves CEO Matthew Caldwell, Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez, Live Nation Entertainment CEO Michael Rapino and Mumford & Sons keyboardist Ben Lovett.<\/p>\n
Kid Rock is expected to testify about \u2018competitive conditions for concert promotions and primary ticketing, including the impact of Defendants\u2019 actions on artists and fans,\u2019 according to the potential witness list provided by the plaintiffs\u2019 attorneys. In January, he told the Senate Commerce Committee at a hearing that the ticketing industry is \u2018full of greedy snakes and scoundrels.\u2019 (It appears Kid Rock is still partnering with Live Nation for his \u201cFreedom 250\u201d tour, with tickets currently being sold exclusively through the platform.)<\/p>\n
Lovett\u2019s testimony, meanwhile, would be likely to address \u2018artist preferences and competitive dynamics associated with the promotions and amphitheaters markets,\u2019 according to the plaintiffs\u2019 potential witness list document. He\u2019s also listed on the defendants\u2019 potential witness list document.<\/p>\n
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino and former Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff are also expected to take the stand. They were instrumental figures in the 2010 merger.<\/p>\n
Azoff, who represents major artists such as Harry Styles, is \u2018likely to testify about industry trends, dynamics, and competition, the selection of live event promotion companies, and tour and show routing and venue selection, as well as ticketing provider preferences,\u2019 according to the potential witness list provided by the defendants\u2019 attorneys. <\/p>\n
Rapino\u2019s expected testimony would focus on \u2018the company\u2019s business, its corporate structure, strategy, and finances, including the different lines of business and how they interact, as well as industry trends, dynamics, and competition.\u2019 The defendants\u2019 attorneys also said he would be likely to \u2018rebut the plaintiff\u2019s allegations of misconduct and anticompetitive effects.\u2019 <\/p>\n
Last year, the Federal Trade Commission separately sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster over allegations of illegal and deceptive business practices that it says caused consumers to pay \u2018significantly more\u2019 than the face value of a ticket.<\/p>\n
Seven states \u2014 Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia \u2014 joined the FTC\u2019s suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.<\/p>\n\n
The Justice Department\u2019s endeavor to break up Live Nation, Ticketmaster\u2019s parent company, has officially made its way to the courtroom. The antitrust case, which began with jury selection Monday, is unfolding in federal court in New York. Opening statements are scheduled to start Tuesday, with the trial expected to last six weeks. The lawsuit, filed <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":36772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}