Why Is The Justice Department Suing Ticketmaster And Live Nation?

As hinted at last month, the US Department Of Justice has officially filed an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, according to the Associated Press. The lawsuit has been a long time coming; while the suit was rumored to be in the works in April, Ticketmaster and Live Nation were subject to Congressional hearings last year (producing some groan worthy Taylor Swift puns) and the DOJ had been investigating them since late 2022.

In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland explained why the DOJ has filed the suit. “We allege that Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators,” he wrote. “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. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”

According to the suit, among Ticketmaster’s illegal practices are tactics like using long-term contracts to keep venues from choosing other ticketing companies, blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers, and threatening venues into choosing Ticketmaster by withholding Live Nation artists from performing there. This allegedly gives Ticketmaster and Live Nation an effective monopoly, with the resulting lack of competition allowing them to set prices and fee structures as high as they want.