Christopher BarrettA further 10 US state attorney generals (AG) have joined the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust lawsuit calling for Live Nation (LN) and its subsidiary Ticketmaster to be broken up.
With the state prosecutors of Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Vermont having added their names to the lawsuit, first launched in May, some 39 US states are now involved in the lawsuit that accuses LN-Ticketmaster of monopolisation and other unlawful conduct.
Among the DOJ’s allegations against LN are blocking venues from using multiple ticketing firms, restricting artists’ access to venues and threatening and retaliating against venues that work with rivals.
On 19 August, the co-plaintiffs filed an amended complaint alleging “additional details about Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s anticompetitive course of conduct in markets across the live entertainment industry”.
New York AG Letitia James said, “Live Nation and Ticketmaster have abused the market to overcharge consumers and harm venues and artists, and my office will ensure this illegal conduct is stopped. Through this version of the amended lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, my office is seeking to recover damages for New York consumers who were overcharged by Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
“It’s time for a new era where fans, venues, and artists are not taken advantage of by big corporations that run the world of live events.”
LN has updated an online post by its LN EVP corporate and regulatory affairs Dan Wall entitled Breaking Down The DOJ Lawsuit, in which Wall writes, “Live Nation is in the business of bringing the joy of live entertainment to people and to that end connecting artists to fans and supporting a productive live entertainment ecosystem.
“That is what we do—better than anyone else—and what we will continue to do as we challenge this lawsuit. Is the ticketing marketplace confusing to consumers? Yes, it certainly is. And we have been very clear in the halls of Congress and at the DOJ that we favour genuine reforms that would actually help fans get tickets at the price the artist has set for them to pay.
“Fans want to see the bands and sports teams they love, and it infuriates them that tickets sell out on Ticketmaster and are then available by the hundreds on secondary online sites at double and triple the cost. But the Government has chosen to do nothing about this. Instead, it has filed a case which misleads the public into thinking that ticket prices will be lower if something is done about Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
“DOJ is not helping consumers with their actual problems. This is why the government has never been less popular—because they pretend, they are fixing your problems when instead they are pandering to a narrow set of political interests.”