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New Post: U.S. Justice Department moves to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation over antitrust violations - https://lnkd.in/gh3_Z3iQ - Good news for anyone who's ever found themselves in the Ticketmaster trenches: The U.S. Justice Department seeks to break up Live Nation Entertainment, Ticketmaster's parent company, over antitrust law violations. The lawsuit, filed this morning (May 23), alleges that the music giant illegally controls a monopoly in live entertainment by engaging in long-term exclusive contracts with venues and threatening financial retribution against venues and artists who use Ticketmaster. It argues that these practices violate antitrust laws and drive up ticket prices. According to The New York Times, the lawsuit aims to break up the monopoly. SEE ALSO: Meet the Swifties trying to take down Ticketmaster "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," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "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."Live Nation denies that its practices violate antitrust laws. SEE ALSO: For fans, Ticketmaster is misery business Ticketmaster, the largest ticket-selling company in the country, merged with Live Nation in 2010. At the time, Ticketmaster operated roughly 70 percent of the concert ticket market in the U.S., and Live Nation was the world's largest concert promoter. The tides turned against Ticketmaster in 2022 when the site crashed during presale for Taylor Swift's wildly popular Eras Tour. The company said it was overwhelmed by unprecedented demand for tickets and attacks by bots. But fans swiftly turned against the ticketing giant, which eventually led to the government getting involved. - #news #business #world -------------------------------------------------- Download: Stupid Simple CMS - https://lnkd.in/g4y9XFgR -------------------------------------------------- or download at SourceForge - https://lnkd.in/gNqB7dnp

BREAKING: Justice Department Takes Aim at Ticketmaster and Live Nation for Antitrust Violations In a significant move, the U.S. Justice Department and 30 state and district attorneys general have taken action against Live Nation Entertainment, Ticketmaster's parent company, aiming to dismantle its monopoly over concert ticket sales. The lawsuit, filed today (May 23), alleges that Live Nation's dominant position in the live entertainment industry results from illegal practices, including long-term exclusive contracts with venues and retaliatory measures against those who don't comply. These actions, according to the suit, violate antitrust laws and inflate ticket prices, negatively impacting fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated, "Live Nation's monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States comes at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators. This lawsuit seeks to end these unlawful practices and restore competition in the market." Despite these allegations, Live Nation maintains that their practices are lawful and do not breach antitrust regulations. The merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation in 2010 consolidated Ticketmaster's control over approximately 70% of the U.S. concert ticket market with Live Nation's status as the world's largest concert promoter. This case could reshape the live entertainment landscape, potentially lowering ticket prices and increasing opportunities for smaller players in the industry. The outcome of this lawsuit will have significant implications for all stakeholders involved. What do you think should happen next? Should Live Nation and Ticketmaster be broken up to foster fair competition, or do their current practices serve the industry's best interests? Let me know your thoughts. Mitch Jackson Lawyer | Private Mediator __________ Read more from the Office of Public Affairs here https://lnkd.in/gBn9g-XD and see the actual lawsuit here https://lnkd.in/gA_2CJBw

New Bill in California Aims to Force Ticketmaster to Play Nice With Others A caller measure introduced by an influential California authorities legislator takes purpose astatine Ticketmaster, whose stranglehold connected the amusement manufacture has agelong vexed concertgoers with its fees and out-of-control pricing. Time to Tackle the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster Turmoil | TechModo Democrat Buffy Wicks, who presently serves arsenic the seat of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, has introduced authorities that her bureau says would springiness event-goers substantially much options erstwhile it comes to purchasing tickets for events. Politico, which was first to report connected Wicks’s new legislation, describes a argumentation that would “lift restrictions” connected the resale of tickets portion creating much options for consumers. Wicks envisions a aboriginal script much akin to the user acquisition of question websites, wherever event-goers person a prime betwixt a assortment of antithetic sellers, not conscionable 1 omnipotent platform. Wicks authorities takes purpose astatine “exclusivity” clauses, which person historically allowed platforms similar Ticketmaster to laic assertion to venues, barring them from contracting with different summons sellers that would springiness consumers options. As immoderate commentators have noted, Ticketmaster’s exclusivity contracts efficaciously enactment venues up against a wall, forcing them to judge the company’s draconian presumption oregon hazard being incapable to publication the monolithic stars that Ticketmaster keeps for itself. Wicks legislation, AB2808, was introduced successful the California authorities legislature successful February and would unit summons sellers similar Ticketmaster to see an API that allows competing sellers to connection tickets for an lawsuit connected their ain platform. The measure would further marque it “unlawful” for a ticketing supplier oregon a venue “to supply [ticketing] services” connected an “exclusive oregon discriminatory basis, arsenic specified,” presumably referring to an exclusive statement successful which companies similar Ticketmaster hog each the summons sales. The measure would besides escaped up the summons reseller market, allowing for greater options for consumers. Firms that were recovered to beryllium successful usurpation of the law’s stipulations would beryllium ordered to wage fines. “We privation to marque definite that we person contention and prime for consumers truthful we don’t extremity up with situations similar the Taylor Swift concerts—like ‘Lord of the Flies’ attempts to get tickets,” Wicks told Politico. Ticketmaster has been the de facto spot to bargain performance and sporting events tickets ever since it completed a $2.5 cardinal merger with Live Nation, a monolithic...

AEG CEO Jay Marciano Calls Live Nation A Monopoly, Predicts DOJ Victory in Lawsuit https://ift.tt/Dex5FaN AEG chairman/CEO Jay Marciano says Live Nation acts like a monopoly and agrees with the U.S. Department of Justice’s effort to break the concert giant and Ticketmaster up, according to an email Marciano sent out to employees on Friday (May 31). In the memo, the executive accuses the company of “preventing other businesses from competing” and “leaving consumers to suffer the consequences.” In the two-page email, Marciano said the lawsuit was an important milestone for addressing alleged monopolistic behavior in the concert business, noting “the entire ecosystem of our industry” is at stake as the case winds its way through the U.S. legal system. Related To Understand Live Nation's Real Antitrust Issue, Look to Microsoft 05/31/2024 “Notwithstanding its claims about its profit margins or its market share, it is a monopoly, and it uses its monopoly power to impose its will on the live entertainment business,” wrote Marciano of Live Nation, later writing, “We strongly believe that DOJ’s lawsuit will succeed and ultimately bring sweeping changes.” Billboard obtained a copy of the email, which can be read in full below. An AEG spokesman did not respond to a request for comment regarding the letter. Live Nation had not responded to a request for comment at press time. From: Office of Jay Marciano No doubt all of you are closely following the ongoing media coverage in the wake of the Department of Justice lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. As I mentioned in my note from last week, we spent the last few days carefully reviewing the DOJ filing, as well as Live Nation’s subsequent response to the complaint. AEG has long maintained that Ticketmaster has a monopoly in the U.S. ticketing marketplace and uses that monopoly power to subsidize Live Nation’s content businesses, preventing other businesses from competing in those areas and leaving consumers to suffer the consequences. This lawsuit is not simply DOJ suing to break up a monopoly; at stake is the entire ecosystem of our industry, one that has long suffered from a badly broken ticketing model. As you know, the cornerstone of Live Nation’s monopoly is Ticketmaster’s exclusive ticketing contracts with the vast majority of major concert venues in the United States. These agreements block competition and innovation and result in higher ticketing fees, denying artists the ability to choose who will ticket their shows and how much their fans should pay. Following the DOJ filing, Live Nation issued several public comments in service of its ongoing strategy to maintain its dominance – unfairly blaming others for industry problems they have created, making false and misleading statements, and dismissing the significance of the case. Artists, venues, and brokers are not responsible for the broken live entertainment business model in this country – that res...

"U.S. Calls for Breakup of Ticketmaster Owner Accused of violating antitrust laws, Live Nation Entertainment faces a fight that could reshape the multibillion-dollar live music industry. The Justice Department on Thursday sued Live Nation Entertainment, the concert giant that owns Ticketmaster, asking a court to break up the company over claims it illegally maintained a monopoly in the live entertainment industry." ..."the government accuses Live Nation of leveraging its sprawling empire to dominate the industry by locking venues into exclusive ticketing contracts, pressuring artists to use its services and threatening its rivals with financial retribution. Those tactics, the government argues, have resulted in higher ticket prices for consumers and have stifled innovation and competition throughout the industry. The suit asks the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to order “the divestiture of, at minimum, Ticketmaster,” and to prevent Live Nation from engaging in anticompetitive practices." #Capitalism requires free and fair competitive markets & prices. And it demands #Accountability & #Justice for #Anticompetitive practices. I am really starting to like these folks at the Justice department, seems like they are quite busy! #Corruption #WhiteCollarCrime #TicketMaster #LiveNation #ArcOfJustice #BendItLikeBeckham

On May 23, the DOJ and 30 state attorneys general sued Live Nation/Ticketmaster to make right the merger approval wrong that was made in 2010. Americans now appreciate how pervasive the monopolistic abuses are, the data the company harvests about fans, and the throttling powers Ticketmaster has on its competing ticket sellers. I am proud of our work to help launch of the BreakUp Ticketmaster campaign, which delivered more than 100,000 fans demanding action of the Justice Department. Live music is my fuel. Last year I attended more than 50 shows and being present when AC/DC took the stage for the first time in 8 years was a gift! Being on stage in front of 15,000 fans recently with an internationally acclaimed rock band and looking out at the crowd reminded me of why our ticketing policy work at Vision360 Partners is so important. Bit by bit we are improving the market that connects those fans with the shows and games they love. We have worked with professional sports leagues, with Broadway theater producers, and in the ticketing side of the live events industry since 2016. I serve as Advocacy Director of Protect Ticket Rights and Vision360 has been working hard to also launch and manage the Ticket Buyer Bill of Rights and its coalition of national and state consumer protection advocates, to advance meaningful reforms at the state and federal levels. We are making progress! In true David vs. Goliath form, we have beaten back special interest legislation cleverly shrouded in consumer benefit that hides handouts and advantages to Ticketmaster and its venue and music artist partners (to be sure, not all venues and artists and their proxies are to blame). We convinced a governor to veto a bad bill last year and pass a better bill this year that will soon become law and improve the ticket buying experience for fans in the state. We de-fanged anticompetitive bills in several states in 2024 and in the U.S. Senate. Despite challenges from a well-resourced set of adversaries, we passed an entirely pro-consumer bill out of the House of Representatives this year on a 388-24 bipartisan basis! We are proud to work with a coalition that trusts in our advice and strategy, and we benefit from having the facts and fans at the core of our many successes. Whether it’s earned media, digital advocacy, grassroots mobilization, coalition building, or government relations, we’ve laid it all on the table. The fight is far from over, but this fan is fortunate to be a public affairs pro backed by a team that won’t rest until the job gets done. Our clients are seriously fortunate that as a private company we answer to them and not shareholders. This week is a week to celebrate, before we get back to the campaign trail to fix what is broken in ticketing. Bravo, team Vision360 Partners!

The latest in a series of aggressive #antitrust enforcement efforts by DOJ to combat anticompetitive practices. Excellent blog post related to the #Ticketmaster #LiveNation lawsuit by my colleagues Xan Wolstenholme-Britt and John McKnight. Thanks to Danya R. for leading the ongoing discussions on this matter.

The US government did not mince words yesterday: Live Nation and Ticketmaster need to split. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and 30 state and district attorneys general sued Live Nation, which refers to itself as the “largest live entertainment company in the world,” lodging a 120-page complaint that it purposefully stifles competition, hurts consumers, and unfairly jacks up ticket prices. The suit alleges that Live Nation threatened to retaliate against venues that didn’t use its ticketing service and that artists who don’t use Live Nation’s tour promo services can’t perform at any of its venues. The DOJ said the company controls over 70% of ticket sales at major concert venues in the country. Plus, Live Nation controls 265 venues in North America and 60 of the top 100 amphitheaters in the US. “This is a travesty!” Cried the Justice Department, which allowed the merger to happen 14 years ago. Industry pros had begged the DOJ to prevent Live Nation from buying Ticketmaster, warning of the same concerns the DOJ now cites in seeking to break them up. Then came Taylor Swift… The Eras Tour’s ticket-buying process was such a mess that a bipartisan group of senators brought Live Nation execs to Capitol Hill last year to grill them on the company’s practices. The DOJ’s investigation was announced shortly after the Swiftie debacle, though the agency claimed it had already been investigating the company. Live Nation called the lawsuit “baseless.” In a company blog post, an executive claimed that the suit ignores price factors like artists’ popularity and scalpers. The post also says that Live Nation’s net profit margin was only 1.4% last year, too low to indicate a monopoly. A long road ahead…the whole thing is expected to take years to move through the courts, especially since the suit requests a jury trial (which is unusual for this type of case).—MM https://lnkd.in/eesSYA8b

"The main reaction from everyone — well, almost everyone — has been: It’s about time ...The word “Ticketmaster” has become shorthand for how companies with monopolistic control over a market segment degrade American life. ... As Jonathan Kanter, the head of the Justice Department’s anti-trust division, put it in a news release announcing the case, “The live music industry in America is broken because Live Nation-Ticketmaster has an illegal monopoly.” It’s not possible to say no to Ticketmaster, not if you want to see a live show. They’ve stuck their greedy snout in so many parts of the process, they are all but impossible to avoid. Little wonder CNBC’s Jim Cramer, hardly an avid trustbuster, said Thursday that he has long recommended the company’s stock because “it’s the best gouger in the world.” (“Alleged gouger,” he quickly added.) .... The few defending the company seem half-hearted at best. Their complaint, on both the left and the right, seems to amount to “doesn’t the Biden administration have anything more serious to do with their time?” That reaction misunderstands the situation. #First, the rule of law matters, even when we’re discussing something as frivolous and discretionary as concert tickets. #Second, many Americans quite reasonably think no one in government listens to — never mind addresses — their political and economic concerns. That’s the sentiment that got Donald Trump elected to the White House in 2016 and could do so again this year. Ever-growing #monopolies are a major part of this problem. The Biden administration, to its credit and to the fury of both Wall Street and Silicon Valley, is pursuing anti-trust violations with a vigor not seen in decades. The Federal Trade Commission recently filed suit against the proposed merger of grocery store giants Kroger and Albertsons, arguing that it will raise grocery prices and harm workers. The DOJ has filed anti-trust suits against Google and Apple and already stopped a proposed JetBlue-Spirit merger in court." #CorruptionIsWinnable #Accountability #AntiTrust #AntiCompetition #Crime #WhiteCollarCrime #Ticketmaster #TooBigToFail #BigPharma #BigGrocery #BigOil #BigTech #BigBadWolfofWallStreet #Justice #ArcOfJustice #BendItLikeBeckham

“Following the US government’s explosive lawsuit against Live Nation last week, a class action has been filed with the New York courts potentially on behalf of millions of American ticket buyers. Like the government’s litigation, the class action lawsuit accuses Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary of anticompetitive conduct. Although the impact of Live Nation’s dominance on the ticket resale sector seems to be of particular concern. “Over the past three decades”, the new lawsuit states, “Live Nation and Ticketmaster collectively built empires in several key markets within the live concert and event economy”. The merger of the companies, in 2010, then created “a vertically integrated monopoly and juggernaut trust”. As with the government’s legal action, the class action sets out Live Nation’s dominant position in tour promotion, venue management, and both primary and secondary ticketing across the American market. The allegation is that it exploits its dominance in the various different strands of live music to force venues into exclusivity deals, and to prevent rival ticketing companies and ticket brokers from selling tickets to many major shows, even when Live Nation itself isn’t the promoter. And where Live Nation is the promoter and the primary ticket seller, it also seeks to restrict the flow of tickets to rival resale platforms.” #LiveNation #Ticketmaster #Live #DOJ #Legal #Fans #Touring #Talent #Artists #Music #MusicBusiness #Musica #MusicIndustry #Musique #Musik #MusicBiz