Lucas Leverett’s Post

The Department of Justice (DOJ), along with various state attorney generals, have recently filed a case against Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster for violation of competition laws. The Department has alleged the following among other things: 1) Live Nation has acquired actual and potential competitors, and leveraged control over concert promotion and key venues to monopolize the ticketing market and exclusive dealing respectively. 2) Live Nation weaponized its control over large venues to force artists to use its services as their concert tour promoter. This control over tour was circled back to further cement its position in large venues market. 3) Ticketmaster’s long-term exclusive agreements with terms ranging from three to 14 years block rivals from the only significant channel of distribution to major venues. The petition could be accessed here: https://lnkd.in/gHZ-BHAt The Department has sought trial by jury for most of the allegations made. #Livenation #Tickmaster #largevenues #concertpromotion #ticketingservices

LiveNation owns well over 300 venues worldwide and manages over 400 music acts, effectively monopolizing the live music scene in all metropolitan cities. LiveNation tacks on specious fees, often amounting to 70-80% the cost of the original ticket. LiveNation fails to stop bots and cyberattacks from swarming TicketMaster and flooding the resale market, gouging actual fans and concertgoers. LiveNation withholds touring music acts from playing at venues that don't use TicketMaster to handle their ticket sales, effectively abusing their power in the market and making shows less accessible. LiveNation takes a generous cut of artist merch sales, however, artists don't receive any cut of concession items sold at their shows. "'Live Nation’s net profit margin last fiscal year was 1.4% - nowhere near other DOJ targets in the tech sector,' the company said in a statement, noting Apple and Google – both subjects of the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuits, have margins north of 24%." 🤔 So, because LiveNation is not the Jeffrey Dahmer of corporate should they not be held accountable for "lesser" crimes still committed? Quit deflecting.

As a 49ers fan, I can attest that it does not end well for your team when Taylor Swift is cheering against them on the big stage. Let's see if Live Nation and Ticketmaster fare any better. In the meantime, check out this summary and the implications of the DOJ's complaint against Live Nation and Ticketmaster from last week.  

Consider centralization (Monitoring)Prime Contractors especially, Kansas City Missouri, JE Dunn, Turner Construction, McCown Gordon. Difficulty in accessing procurement opportunities, restrictive bid specifications, excessive experience requirements, and overly burdensome insurance and/or bonding requirements, for example, might be addressed by KCMO without resorting to the use of race or gender in its decision-making. Effective remedies include unbundling of contracts into smaller units, providing technical support, and developing programs to address issues of financing, bonding, and insurance important to all small and emerging businesses.77 Further, governments have a duty to ferret out and punish discrimination against minorities and women by their contractors, staff.

Fans Demand Freedom: Why Ticket Choice Matters In this video, we explore the desire for freedom in ticket purchasing. Fans express frustration over restrictive sales practices by venues and Ticketmaster, advocating for choices that prioritize their needs and preferences in buying concert and event tickets. #TicketingFreedom #FanChoice #ConcertTickets #EventAccess #ResaleMarket #LiveEvents #TicketmasterAlternatives #MusicFans #CustomerRights #LiveEntertainment

Take Control of Your Concert Experience: The Fight for Ticket Ownership Discover why fans should have the right to determine what they do with their concert tickets. Learn about the frustrations fans face and the need for laws to put ticket control back in their hands. Let's discuss the implications and solutions to this issue. #TicketOwnership #FanRights #ConcertExperience #TicketControl #TicketingSystem #Ticketmaster #Resellers #ConcertTickets #FanFrustrations #ConsumerRights

The Repurposing of AM Radio • Is the shutdown of WCBS-AM predictive of the future. • What they’re thinking when owners hand over a station to a competitor in the same format who could erode ratings and hurt billing (WCBS-AM to ESPN). • What’s ahead for owners unable to sell their AM stations. • What other AM stations could be next. • Is EMF now going to be a player in renting from desperate owners? https://lnkd.in/evp9_2Ta

In what year did scalping of tickets (sports and concerts) become legal? It the days I grew up, you “scalped” your tickets if you couldn’t go… now days Companies buy up ALL the tickets at a venue, and mark them up 10x’s or more… at what point did this become legal??? I think Taylor Swift and all other Sports and Concert personnel should band together and out law this practice. It’s wrong in so many ways. The only ones makin money are scalpers and stub hub and scammers, praying on the individual consumers. So wrong in so many ways.

Dont know if it drives up prices, but it certainly drove me up the wall and definitely drove my heart beat and blood pressure, trying to buy concert tickets at the Sports Hub earlier this year. Interesting to see how the legal case pans out and how or if it would affect ticket sales in Singapore. *** "The Justice Department and more than two dozen states sued Live Nation on Thursday, alleging the entertainment giant has a monopoly in ticketing and concert promotion and should be broken up. The lawsuit, filed in a New York federal court, alleges Live Nation used its power to squelch competition and retaliate against promoters and venues that threatened its dominance. The company chokes off competition in key pieces of the concert system, driving prices and fees higher for fans, the department said... ...Among the exclusionary practices the department challenges are long-term ticketing contracts that Ticketmaster has with venues where high-profile acts perform. Those agreements typically run between three and five years and Ticketmaster often gives lucrative financial advances that entice the venues to sign up for long-term deals. The lawsuit will also claim that Live Nation cooperated too closely with Oak View Group, an operator of stadiums, arenas and convention centers. The department says Oak View Group avoided bidding against Live Nation to attract tours and influenced venues to sign exclusive agreements with Ticketmaster. Live Nation’s head of corporate affairs, Dan Wall, defended the company against claims that it has a monopoly, in an essay published on the company’s website earlier this year. Ticketmaster doesn’t set prices, he wrote, artists and teams do, and they are subject to high demand and low supply, while the majority of fees go to venues..." https://lnkd.in/gNxeid6J

The problem here is a much larger one that permeates American society. When the marketplaces we build do not adhere to free-market principles they will fail systemically. Similar anticompetitive endeavors are omnipresent in technology innovation, the airline industry, the clothing industry, you name it. Government is responsible for establishing the theory that determines what can be discovered. We must establish a theory that determines the workings of all marketplaces, not just the Ticketmaster one. To go after one is the denial of a bigger governmental responsibility. Read up on an article on the subject I wrote in 2008 here: https://lnkd.in/efS3sXNe